Vegi Stroke

[Diesel Rookie]

Just out of curriosity does anyone have any experience with the Vegi Stroke setup on one of these trucks. I have been reading about it on the interenet and it looks very interesting but would like to hear from someone who has some expereience with it.

Would Bill need to write different tunes for this or would it work with the ones I have?

Just currious.

Thanks
Joe

[F-127]

I haven't converted a Powerstroke, but I can tell you some things about some work I did this past summer converting a New Holland tractor to a two-tank vegetable oil. This tractor was a 6.7 Iveco common-rail. Not a HEUI, but it was similar in being electronically controlled. There was no modification in tuning, but max power was decreased about 80% due to the less energy in VO compared to diesel. You should not need programing, but granted there might be slight and I'm guessing very slight variations being a Ford ECM takes shift points, etc. into consideration based off of throttle position(being you need 25% more fuel to achieve same output). If you want power to return to where you currently are, you could do it with programing, as long as you aren't maxing out the injectors already.

[Diesel Rookie]

Thanks for the info. Do you feel it was worth the work? Have you seen any cost return? With the 20% loss in power you saw was the tractor still able to do what is was supposed to do?

Thanks

Joe

[F-127]

I guess it mostly depends on the situation. If you have a readily available, low cost waste oil you can get and all you need to do is filter it, I can see you being able to cash flow it somewhat easily. However if you need to purchase a screw press or other large investment, its going to take longer. I worked on this as a research project and we were able to 'use' a screw press at no cost from a local cooperative, and the local county highway department used the fuel at no cost(we needed to find a operator who was willing to participate). In the situation, the tractor mowed road ditches and did not have any problems with lacking horsepower. I would say its not short term payback, but definitely long term. Although I haven't really taken into consideration labor costs, which most people don't care because if they are doing this they probably have a general opinion of "screw foreign oil" and are going to do whatever it takes.

[Cory S]

i have ia v3 vegistroke system and a v2 vegistroke system. waiting for the v3 system to come in for my truck which will be my 3rd install what questions do you have. i have noticed the motor runs considerably quiter but no loss of power on stock programming if there is a loss of power it is very small. what queations do you have?

[muns53]

I've been running a V3 on my '02 7.3L Excursion for about almost a year now (20K-ish miles) and I love it. It's really more about whether or not you want to be a oil-burner. It takes some effort in the beginning to figure out collecting and filtering, but I don't find it difficult at all any more.

I collect in cubies from three restaurants, then I use a settling system with a WVO Designs centrifuge to clean the oil. Then, it's just pump from my 275-gallon clean oil storage tote into my 40-gallon undercarriage tank and away we go. The Vegistroke I have is fully automatic, so my wife isn't really intimidated by it at all - which I really like. I know they sell less-automated versions as well. (Dino Fuel Alternatives | Alternative Fuel, Vegetable Oil Fuel Systems, Vegistroke & Bio Diesel)

I got the PHP Gryphon and am running Bill's 80HP Performance veggie tune that he customized for me to burn Veggie about 99% of the time. I also have a 65HP Tow veggie tune and a regular 80HP Performance diesel tune loaded in there at the moment. For me, it was worth a few extra bucks to get a veggie-specific tune. It is not drastically different than the regular diesel tune, but enough that it matters to me. FWIW, I taught my wife how to use the Gryphon, too, and she has no problem with it either.

I don't notice any power loss between vegi and D2, but I believe there is some small amount - like 5% range. There are a few people who have documented this with Powerstroke motors on actual dyno runs. Also, I get 1-2 mpg less mileage on vegi. I have been averaging in the 16-18 mpg range... but I like throwing the Ex around a bit. Highway mileage is much better.

I took a 4300 mile cross-country trip shortly after my install and only burned about 15 gallons of diesel the whole way - the rest was all veggie oil. I am taking a 2500 mile trip around Easter and hope to achieve the same results.

PM me if you have any other questions you want to ask.

[muns53]

Awesome tractor set-up, Thomas!

Regarding the ROI question, I figured mine at 2 years based on how much money I've spent overall on my system, the install, my veg-filtering crap, etc. It will pay me back faster if I drive more miles/year than anticipated and if diesel stays at $3 or goes higher. Also, because I have oil and a real comfortable Excursion, we can now drive on family trips for next to nothing in incremental cost, whereas before we'd be paying $2K+ to fly places.

There are many reasons people start greasing. But it's definitely a hobby NOT to take lightly. And if done wrong (as in improper filtering or using a lot of the crappy veg kits out there), it could do a lot of harm to a fine diesel motor. If done right (as in good de-watering/filtering and a Vegistroke or Frybrid system), it works out great.

[Diesel Rookie]

Thanks guys for the response.

I guess I have a few more questions.

Did you guys install it yourselves and if so how difficult was it. I am fairly competent and have swapped transmissions and pulled motors but never messed with a diesel fuel system.

I heard mention of filtering and drying the vegi oil. What does that entail? Is that an investment in some more equipment?

What worked best for you guys on collecting oil from local restaurants as far as getting permision?

Thanks
Joe

[soutthpaw]

just pulled a hokey veggie system of a buddy's Excursion last week... The key is to having a source for the waste veggie oil. If you can get and store all that is available then its definitely a great way to go... If you really want to get off foreign oil then you should look at CNG powered vehicles.. I have owned a couple of them and there are lots of benefits but the infrastructure for refueling sucks here in CO
Pls also support the Natural Gas Act, there is lots of good info here... http://www.pickensplan.com/index.php

CNG and Biodiesel can be 100% domestically produced in the good ol USA.

as the saying goes, Follow the money! If we stopped buying oil from countries hostile to the USA we would shut down Al Queda and many other anti American interests...

[muns53]

Joe, If you've done that kind of stuff, you should have no problem installing a Vegistroke system. I had a friend in NJ lead the install (he put one on his own Ex previously) and me and another buddy played grease monkey. Register at the DFA forum and post tons of questions - lots of people there are real helpful.

Waste veg oil gets water in it for various reasons. Heating it up and letting the crud and water settle to the bottom of the container is the first step. Then, drain the crud off the bottom and you have "mostly dry" and "somewhat clean" oil. Then, it's a matter of getting the fine particles out. I used to use pump the oil through a bag filter (5 microns), but I recently switched to a bowl-type centrifuge (wvodesigns.com).

You can do a crappy DIY filtration setup for cheap and spend a lot of time monkeying around with oil and miss a lot of stuff that ends up in your injectors. You can build a "good" setup for ~$500. You can build a "great" setup for ~$1200. I started with "good" and upgraded to "great" and now I spend very little time on filtering and I get 100% of the water out and every bit of crud out down to .5 microns.

As for getting restaurant's permission, you just have to go up and ask. Mom and pop restaurants are the best for this because most of the chain fast-food joints have regional supplier contracts, etc. Depending on where you live, there are still plenty of restaurants paying waste-haulers to take their oil. In other places, they are getting paid for their oil - but it isn't much. You don't want garbage oil, either. If you can find a place that's agreeable and has decent oil, make sure you are reliable and clean in return and it's a win-win.