Well after 4 weeks I finally got my pics uploaded of my homebrewed WVO system on my Reg Cab. I got an Artic Fox heat exchanger off an L9000 Ford for nothing, and I robbed the Artic Fox tank heater off my Peterbilt, an aluminum tank my friend scored off craigslist for $75. I had to buy a couple $40 selector valves and 25' of fuel hose for another $40. I reused the coolant lines from the Pete for the heater and other then some misc fittings didn't have to buy much else.

I didn't spend much over $200 for the whole thing. I also reused a Peterbilt temp gauge I had laying around for a fuel temp gauge, the switches are in an overhead console I got out of a junk yard that I installed in the truck years ago, so again no money spent.

The tank fit PERFECTLY between the stacks and the tool box, the only way it would have been better is if it had been red....I built a plate with pipes welded through it as a way to get the coolant lines through the bed floor cleanly. I have a piece of diamond plate that I have to plasma out holes for the stacks and am going to put it over the tank between the tool box and the front of the bed to hide it a lil better.

I installed an IH filter head unit, with a water fuel seperator and an electric pump on the frame near the factory selector valve to assist in pumping fuel to the engine. after killing 2 factory PSD fuel pumps I didnt want to tax another with sucking thick oil from the bed through the selector valves and the heat exchanger. I had this exact filter and pump on my ext. cab for years and never had any problems, I plan on putting one on my crew cab also. The spin on filters are $14 if you buy a case, beats the heck out of paying $30 for the factory ones....

Ok here is a link to the album, have fun looking and let me know what ya all think. pages 4 and 5.

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Diesel Rod

 

Looks good man! Thanks for sharing!!

A couple of suggestions:
- consider insulating that filter somehow - especially for cold weather. You'll lose alot of heat from that thing. Btw, the PSD elect. pumps do fine as long as primary filtration is on the pressure-side...
- I like the alum fuel lines! I put mine INSIDE the heater hose, but you'll benefit greatly from wrapping the fuel line and heater hoses with something like Armaflex insulation.
- you can gain ALOT more heat by 'looping' the return VO back into the suction line instead of dumping it back into the tank.
- I have seen the tube-in-shell HE's slap full of polymerized oil. Many have copper tubing in them... (it does make a clean install for you though and that thing looks HUGE!)
- also dig the truck bed penetration! But it is a heat sink detracting from your VO heat to some extent, maybe try to insulate it from heat loss somehow?
- many of us have found the coolant flow of the PSD to be very anemic, especially at low rpms. An aux coolant pump does a great job of insuring adequate flow for good heat to the VO loop.
- I didn't see your coolant tap, but I like to go parallel with the heater core and then put a valve on the supply to the heater core. In summer, I close the valve to heater core to increase flow to the VO loop - AND give me colder A/C!! In winter, I find 1/4 way open is enough to provide adequate cabin heat while still favoring the VO loop.

Enjoy your veggie smile miles and keep us posted! I'm sure your truck will appreciate the high-cholesterol diet as long as you feed it clean and dry WVO. Btw, how are you filtering/dewatering your oil?

 

I didn't say it earlier but after a couple weeks I discovered if I returned the fuel to the tank side of my suction selector valve I only have to flip one switch to either suck oil, or purge everything back to the tank and refill it with diesel, so I am looping the oil instead of dumping it to the tank. Strangely I have gained 0 temp looping It, I am pretty sure the filter is sucking out a lot of heat, I plan on makin some sort of aluminum box around it to help protect it.

I just hooked everything in series with the heater core. On a 70 degree day I'm getting 150 oil out the top of the heat exchanger, it still has to go throuh the factory pump an filter which prolly adds more yet. on a 40 degree day its only 130 so I am pretty sure the frame mounted filter is to blame for the lost heat.

I'm not to worried about the pipes through the bed, I only need enough heat through those pipes to liquifiy the cold oil in the tank. Its the last thing in the system too, hot water comes out the head, Into the heater core, then heat exchanger, then back the bed, then to the top of the water pump.

As for filtering oil, I settle it in the cubies i get it in for about a week, then I suck the good oil off the top, then centerfuge it. After that it either goes to a 60 gallon holding tank or I blend it with the stuff already in the holding tank and heat it too 100 and send it through a goldenrod fuel/water filter and into my tank.

Someday I hope to do tube in hose, this was the quick and dirty method. The wife wanted me to sell the truck so I had to get It done so I could drive for free.

 

Something like this works well heating for the VO filter. Put this on the return-side of the coolant loop (after tank, etc):


Or you could just put Armaflex (insulating tape) on the filter itself. I'll put a modified soft-sided cooler over this in winter months just to keep the 80mph frigid air off of it.

The only problem with going in series with the heater core is that cuts down the already anemic flow rate even more. Adding a coolant pump (<$60) would mitigate this.

I bet you gain a ton of heat by making a bundle with your coolant hoses and fuel lines and wrapping it with Armaflex or similar!! Maybe a combo of that and foam pipe insulation on all the sections the lines are close together. You can also split cheap fuel hose and put it over the exposed sections of alum tubing to prevent heat loss there.

Instead of looping back to the supply, loop all the way back to the tank. This will take advantage of all the heat added by the TOH (tube on hose).

The water separating filter does not/can not remove water from VO. Besides wasting money, it is only a 15mic filter. This is not the 'insurance policy' many think it is... The regular goldenrod elements are 10mic and are a better choice IMHO. If settling and CF are doing their job, then there will be no water here anyway. Don't worry about condensation too much, these water droplets will fall straight to the bottom. Just plan to drain the bottom of the 'holding tank' every so often and run that oil thru the process again.

Sharing the stock filter is not a good idea. You can never fully purge it before shutdown and are getting a dose of cold VO at every start up while contaminating the diesel tank. Take a full bottle of Coke and start adding water to it. Let me know how many GALLONS it takes before it is clear. Trust me, 10-15 miles of driving prolly isn't enough to displace all the VO. Besides, if that filter plugs or gels (it WILL gel in coooold weather with ANY VO in it...) - you will be on the side of the road. Usually just farther than you will want to walk back home. Oh, you wife/mother-in-law/boss or someone else important will be waiting - pissed off - in the cold truck while ya try to make it run again. It will also be cold as hell and raining sideways with big rigs zipping by 2ft away at 80mph - and you'll be late to the airport with non-refundable plane tickets on your way to a non-refundable cruise. Actually, mother-in-law will be the one who is late... In any case, they will stop being proud and all the 'I told you so's will begin'.

JMHO, but its based on experience. I will wager that I have had the good fortune to personally meet more VO'ers than anybody else on the planet. The things I've seen are sometimes frightening - so saying YOU did good really is a compliment, I have alot to compare to!!

Keep us posted! Post your mileage on VO every once in awhile and tell us what you've learned!