[ale] Car topic

Wed Sep 7 12:52:29 EDT 2011

You could get a diesel VW jetta or rabbit or an old diesel Mercedes for 
your next project car.  Then, at least at the moment in GA, you'd be 
exempt from emissions testing.  I have an old Mercedes 300 SD I'm hoping 
to convert to run on veggie oil when I get the money and time.  For now, 
I just run it on petroleum periodically to keep it limber.  Note that 
older diesel cars like mine generally smoke quite a bit as a normal 
occurrence (especially on acceleration) but accept a conversion to 
veggie oil better.  Newer diesel cars smoke far less but are less 
willing to run on veggie oil.  If you want to go down that road, I think 
you need to look for indirect fuel injection.  It's been a while since 
I've done the reading on it.  Be aware that, if anything breaks on a 
Mercedes that's non trivial, it will cost you lots of money for 
repairs.  There are some exceptions to that, but MB's typically are 
expensive to fix.  Almost all mechanics are pricey these days, MB 
mechanics especially so.

Here's a computer related piece of trivia.  MB had engine computers in 
their cars as early as 1985 I believe.  That was a big surprise to me.  
That's 26 years ago, an eternity in computer time.  I think the non 
computerized cars work better with veggie oil fuel.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 9/7/2011 12:29 PM, David Hillman wrote:
> Thank you all.  Well, it looks like I would have to spend over $805 in 
> emissions repairs to get a waiver.  Replacing just the pump (sealed) 
> and the valves will still put me over the limit of what I had budgeted 
> for this mostly project vehicle.  I have another car I can use.  I 
> picked up the VW for very little money, it was supposed to be 
> something me and my friends could tinker with and use for road trips. 
>  Shedding weight, in the form of a large, heavy pump and associated 
> gear, is something I felt would make a nice improvement.  Spending 
> money to fix a problem that doesn't improve engine performance or 
> increase the capability of the car in any meaningful way goes against 
> my principles--especially, when it'll take funds away from my "fun" 
> project.  I now have no choice but to get rid of a solid vehicle that 
> is otherwise perfect for our project.  I won't get another car that 
> has been engineered this way.  If you can't beat 'em and you don't 
> want to join 'em, go in a different direction.
>
> On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 11:52 AM, Michael Trausch <mike at trausch.us 
> <mailto:mike at trausch.us>> wrote:
>
>     On 09/07/2011 10:56 AM, David Hillman wrote:
>     > Is there to get around the emissions requirements in Georgia?  I
>     called
>     > the tag office, but I got put on hold for an eternity.
>
>     If you show that you have spent over a certain amount of money to
>     fix a
>     problem, you can get a waiver for that year only.  The next year
>     you'll
>     have to spend the same amount in order to get a waiver again.
>
>     Modifying the programming of the ECC is *not* a task that you want to
>     take on yourself.  If you can show that the removal of the system does
>     not affect the compliance with emissions standards for that model
>     year,
>     you might be able to get away with modifying it, but you'll have
>     to get
>     to know the programming of your ECC quite intimately and if any
>     updates
>     to the firmware become available that get pushed to your computer
>     while
>     it is in the shop, you'll have to patch those updates as well.
>
>     Personally, I wouldn't even attempt it.
>
>            --- Mike
>
>     --
>     A man who reasons deliberately, manages it better after studying Logic
>     than he could before, if he is sincere about it and has common sense.
>                                       --- Carveth Read, “Logic”
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-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com

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