"Smug Alert!"
We bought a 1985 Mercedes-Benz turbo diesel last week which is converted to run on 100% waste vegetable oil (WVO). 340k miles but the car's in cherry condition (photos below). Dual tank, cold weather converted (the rear tank is heated - see picture below) with an on-board computer for flushing the engine, 40 gallons of capacity and 23 mpg so about 900 miles per fill-up! The car was converted in February and has been running on pure WVO since then. Apparently, the oil will keep cleaning the engine for awhile and the mileage should improve by 4 or 5 miles. It also has a sweet interior and a killer sound system (1200 watt amp in the trunk).
We bought one tank full of oil from some South African rasta underground veggie oil dealer in Oakland named Rubadub for $3/gallon. The next step is to trade him unfiltered for filtered oil but by the end of the summer, we're determined to be doing our own filtering. We bought a hand pump yesterday so we should be able to start collecting our own oil from restaurants (we talked to one Japanese restaurant owner who was quite open to the concept). We also have a 55 gallon oil drum (photos below) that has been customized to pump the oil into the car so we've got our fueling station all set. Lots to learn, though. If anyone can share any tips or is interested in learning more about the whole deal, drop me a note.
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