This weekend, I will be assisting with a conversion, my first. (I purchased my car already converted from Lovecraft Biofuels in LA). A friend purchased a beautiful 1983 300SD a couple of weeks ago. I will be working the digital camera and observing as I am the least mechanically inclined of the group.

My goal is to document the conversion as best I can and post it all on the site. This conversion will be almost identical to mine. A single-tank conversion using the Davco filter (model 234).

Stay tuned…

Global Energy, in Madison, WI is a company that sells large quantities of SVO and WVO. They sell in quantities over 10,000 gallons, for as little as $0.90 per gallon.

In this post I will document a recent filter change. I didn’t experience any performance problems, I just noticed on my routine inspection of the filter, that when the car was cold, the oil level in the filter was near the top.

Here is a photo of the old filter. Notice that when the engine is cold, the oil level in the filter is near the top. This indicates that the filter is ready for a change. (Note: this is perhaps the greatest advantage of using the Davco filter with the transparent dome.)

STEP 1: The first step is to empty all of the oil from the filter. I removed the top of the filter dome and started the engine. As it runs, the level of oil in the filter falls. Make sure you cut the engine before the oil level drops all the way down. You don’t want the engine to take in any air.

STEP 2: The remaining oil in the filter can be drained using the valve at the base of the Davco filter.

I like to collect the oil in a small dish and to make room for that, I remove the windshield washer fluid reservoir. This valve has a threaded hole at the base. I am going to buy a fitting to screw in to that hole and add a 6 inch piece of tubing. This will allow me to drain the oil into a bucket or bowl beneath the vehicle.

STEP 3: I open the valve and drain the remaining oil into the cup.

Notice the particulate matter that was filtered out by the filter. This is only a bit of it. There was actually quite a bit, perhaps two teaspoons full.

STEP 4: The next step is to remove the dome. Unscrew the black sleeve at the base of the dome.

STEP 5: Now the entire dome can be removed.

This filter is black from use. I drove around 3,000 miles on this one.

See the coloration compared to the new filter.

STEP 6: Remove the old filter by lifting it up.

There is quite a bit of debris here on the base of the Davco unit. I removed this dirt with a paper towel. Note: the o-ring is part of the Davco filter unit and is reused.

Replace the o-ring in the groove at the base of the dome.

STEP 7: Put the new filter in place. It just kind of seats itself there.

STEP 8: Replace the clear dome over the filter and then slip the black sleeve over the top of the dome, down to the base and screw it into place.

STEP 9: Fill the filter with oil by pouring it into the opening at the top of the dome.

Screw the top back onto the top of the dome. Now, before starting the car, I pump the fuel primer pump located on top of the engine’s injector pump for a minute or two. My understanding is that this purges air from the fuel line.

Now, you are ready to start the car. After starting it with a new filter, I rev the car for a few minutes. I have been told that if there are some small air bubbles in the line, they will just “blow through” if you are running at 2,000 or so rpms. On this filter change I just let the car idle for 10 minutes and had no problems.

If you have any questions, just drop me an email.

Good luck!

This is the fuel filter/heater that I have in my 1984 Mercedes 300D. This is the description from the Davco Technology, LLC website.

The Model 234 is the first Fuel Filter, Water- Separator, Heater of its kind developed for the Alternative Diesel Fuel Market.This unique system uses heat drawn from the cooling system, or the automatic transmission, and routed through an internal radiator to provide the maximum amount of heat during operation and maximum life with its Plus sized filter.

My experience has been excellent with this system. I especially appreciate the transparent dome on the unit. This allows me to easily see when the filter is dirty and ready to be changed. When the car is cold and the fuel level in the unit is still near the top, it is time to change the filter.

If you had any doubts about Michael Hayden’s unacceptability as CIA Director, this Washington Post editorial should clear them all up (emphasis added).

AT THE SENATE intelligence committee hearing Thursday on Gen. Michael V. Hayden’s nomination to head the CIA, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked the nominee a simple question: Is “waterboarding” an acceptable interrogation technique? Gen. Hayden responded: “Let me defer that to closed session, and I would be happy to discuss it in some detail.” That was the wrong answer. The right one would have been simple: No. Last year Congress banned cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment of detainees; one of its explicit aims was to stop the CIA’s use of waterboarding, which induces an excruciating sensation of drowning and is considered by most human rights organizations to constitute torture. So why couldn’t Gen. Hayden say clearly that the technique is now off-limits?

Bush/Cheney family values: torture, indefinite detentions, humiliation and secret prisons.

Just returned from a trip to the Bay Area. Drove roughly 400 miles and used around 16 gallons of wvo (25 miles per gallon).

Regular gas is selling for $3.39/gallon in much of the Central Valley of California at the moment. Diesel is around $3.49. I must say that though I sympatize with those struggling to afford gasoline at the current levels, I think it is hugely beneficial for the country.

1. People are waking up to how Bush is really an oil guy embedded in the presidency
2. People are giving more consideration than ever to using alternative energy sources for their autos, homes and offices
3. Conservation is becoming more popular, by fiscal necessity
4. Investmet in alternative energy is skyrocketing
5. People are finally starting to realize the stupidity of our addiction to crude oil

29%

Do I hear 28?

Here are the lyrics for Neil Young’s new song, Let’s Impeach the President. Let’s!

Let’s impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

He’s the man who hired all the criminals
The White House shadows who hide behind closed doors
And bend the facts to fit with their new stories
Of why we have to send our men to war

Let’s impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees
Would New Orleans have been safer that way
Sheltered by our government’s protection
Or was someone just not home that day?

Let’s impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

Thank god he’s cracking down on steroids
Since he sold his old baseball team
There’s lot of people looking at big trouble
But of course the president is clean

Thank God

What is most noteworthy about Bush’s abysmal poll numbers is that even the right-wing-nut-ocracy is turning on him.

USATODAY.com – Bush approval rating hits new low: “President Bush’s approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.
…
Bush’s fall is being fueled by erosion among support from conservatives and Republicans. In the poll, 52% of conservatives and 68% of Republicans approved of the job he is doing. Both are record lows among those groups.

Moderates gave him an approval rating of 28%, liberals of 7%.

‘You hear people say he has a hard core that will never desert him, and that has been the case for most of the administration,’ says Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin who studies presidential approval ratings. ‘But for the last few months, we started to see that hard core seriously erode in support.’

Only four presidents have scored lower approval ratings since the Gallup Poll began regularly measuring it in the mid-1940s: Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and the first George Bush. When Nixon, Carter and the elder Bush sank below 35%, they never again registered above 40%.

Truman twice sank into the low 30s and then rose into the 60s, but the third time his rating fell, it stayed below 40% as well.”

The scary part is that Truman probably turned around his poll numbers by dropping two atomic bombs on populous cities.

MSNBC did a story on Lovecraft Biofuels, the company from which I bought my car. See the MSN video