So I'm trying to make some biodiesel

[ProGunProgressive]

I followed the instructions from journey to forever. This is fun! Lye is dangerous and takes some precautions to handle, but I'm thinking its time to get some methanol and oil in large batches and go to town. Just need the containers to store it in.

If I can figure convenient ways to make this work, I think I'm going to start assembling cheapie, easy to do kits at home and distributing them.

[Brian]

i have seen some kits on the net, dont remember the price, do some research and let us know how it comes out.

[ProGunProgressive]

So I don't have to type everything twice...you can follow my journal of my biodiesel making efforts at this link:

http://www.corner-carvers.com/forums...ad.php?t=29848

[pwf100200]

Bio-diesel.org has several links to companies who sell kits for around 3-6 grand (depending how elaberate you want to get) to make your own bio diesel.
I will be very interested in the out come of your product because making my own is of great interest to me too.
If you want I'll forward you the information I have from them and the Bio-Diesel National organization if you are interested.
They are trying to get as many people as possible on board to start pushing the need for this. The trucking industry, shipping industry, ect could make a tremendous savings if they pushed for the product.
The company I was looking to purchase my fuel producing products from also has a calculator on the web site to help you figure out if buying a kit would be advantagious to you to make your own fuel, versus buying it out right.

[ProGunProgressive]

It's been coming along pretty well, and I think I'm about ready to go with full scale production.

Anyone know how finely the stock fuel filter actually filters? I've been reading that a lot of fuel out there has particles from 5-10 microns, and sometimes your bio can as well. I was thinking I should get a 5 micron filter to run my finished product through...although my wash process probably gets a lot of the junk out of the oil.

More to follow...

[ProGunProgressive]

So wish me luck, we're driving down to the Outer Banks tonight, I'm taking some biodiesel with me, hoping to make the whole trip on bio. It'll be about 800mi total...so I'll probably have just enough. Here goes!

[lilredpowerstroke]

Good luck let us know how it turns out.

[ProGunProgressive]

Anyway, it went pretty well. I'll cut and paste my input from another forum. The long and the short is that make sure your bio is dry before you travel, drying it on the road is a major PITA.

Originally Posted by me

Meantime, the journey to the OBX and back went well. Had to buy a few gallons of petro diesel on the way home because beepbeepbeepbeep driving on the beach burns up some fuel. I pulled out two Explorers that were stuck up to their bumpers in the fine NC sand (including one with a young blonde who was probably about 19 or so and looked smokin in a bikini and short shorts) and an F550 Dually who had gotten himself stuck trying to extricate one of the Exploders. My truck was the hero a few times...but I did have to air down to 25psi or so to drive on the beach. Never had to do that in my 1998 or 2001 F150s, but the F350 is a heavy beast.

As mentioned earlier, trying to dry your biodiesel at the beach is a BAD idea. Grit and sand and bugs get all up in it; at first I wondered why my fuel light was coming on...then I captured some of the drain-off and realized what I'd done. I primed the pump a few times, drained as much as I could, and ran another tank through. I saved the fuel by filtering it through an old pair of jean shorts. I'd read that denim filters down to about 35-50 microns, and the onboard filter seemed to do the rest. I changed it when I got home. It was gunky, but the truck is running find and the drain-off is clean. I dodged that bullet, hopefully. Lesson learned--take real bag filters with you if you're going to portage your fuel with you. Seems like just about every problem you read about on the powerstroke or dieselstop forums with diesels relates back to the fuel filter. Flat tire? Change the fuel filter. Overheating? Change the fuel filter. Need an alignment? Change the fuel filter. Headlights burned out? You guessed it...change the fuel filter and then change it again. So I swapped it. I noticed my drain off did contain white bits of stuff that was quite slippery in my fingers--my guess is that it's no BS that bio strips the paraffin and gunk from petro diesel outta your tank. With 100K on it, I'd imagine I shouldn't be surprised if a few more filter changes are in my near future.

I did notice that my truck likes the bio--when I had to switch back, the increased engine noise was noticeable. Paying $3.00+ for fuel pains my heart.