Well, I found one. Tuesday, I was watching several prospective Mercedes on Ebay. One was of particular interest to me. I had sent a couple of questions to the seller and his answers indicated that this was the car I was looking for so I used the Buy It Now option. I left the Greyhound station in Birmingham at 9:00 PM Tuesday night and arrived at Pittsburgh at 3:00 PM Wednesday. The seller was there to meet me and took me back to where the car was located, near Kittanning. We got the transfer paperwork completed, filled the tank with diesel and I started down the road.
I originally intended to stop for the night in Cincinnati, but got sleepy early. When I got too sleepy to continue on safely, I was in a remote area with no motels so I pulled into a rest area and slept for an hour. When I woke up, I started back driving and drove until about 4:00 AM this morning. I got sleepy again and pulled into another rest area and slept for another hour. After that, I drove the rest of the way in and arrived home about Noon today.
The car is a 1979 Mercedes 300D with about 283K on it. It runs good and I had no problems during the nearly 900 mile trip home. Tomorrow I start evaluating the car to see what changes I have to make to my custom WVO conversion plans to use them with this specific vehicle.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Still No Veggie Vehicle
Finally got a response from my Thrifty Nickel ad. It was a lady with a 1981 Isuzu Pickup. The truck ran out nice, but the paint was in bad shape, a lot of bare rusty spots. It really needed too much work for me to undertake it. I certainly am not looking for a pristine vehicle, but I would like for the exterior to at least be stable, so I can concentrate on the veggie mods.
Word from my sisters mechanic is 'stick with the German diesels.' I suspect he is right. I intend to zero back in on the Mercedes 300D and the 240D. Extremely reliable vehicles, a lot of parts available and good results already being reported from folks who have done veggie conversions on them.
Word from my sisters mechanic is 'stick with the German diesels.' I suspect he is right. I intend to zero back in on the Mercedes 300D and the 240D. Extremely reliable vehicles, a lot of parts available and good results already being reported from folks who have done veggie conversions on them.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
It's Hard To Get a Receipt
Every so often, I get up a load of things that I no longer need and donate them to a local charity. Usually it is the Hannah Home / Kings Ranch. They do good work and are located only a few miles from me, so it is convenient. I always get a receipt because when I do my taxes, I check to see if I am better off itemizing, usually I am. The only trouble is that I seem to always go when the attendant has walked off. This morning I left around mid-morning going to Coosa County. I had a load of things that my daughter had gotten up yesterday to donate so I went by the donation location for HH/KR in Alabaster. Trailers were all there, wide open, but no attendant. No problem, I'll just come back through Sylacauga on my way back and leave it there.
In all fairness to the guy at Sylacauga, I went by there around 12:20, so I guess he was gone to lunch. I've never known for sure what days and hours the HH/KR donation locations are manned. I suspect that there is someone there most of the time, I think that I am just very bad at picking my time to donate. If anyone out there has some insight on this matter or has a similiar experience, I would like to hear about it. Is it just me? Is my timing bad? Do most people who donate have this problem, or is it just that most folks don't get a receipt?
In all fairness to the guy at Sylacauga, I went by there around 12:20, so I guess he was gone to lunch. I've never known for sure what days and hours the HH/KR donation locations are manned. I suspect that there is someone there most of the time, I think that I am just very bad at picking my time to donate. If anyone out there has some insight on this matter or has a similiar experience, I would like to hear about it. Is it just me? Is my timing bad? Do most people who donate have this problem, or is it just that most folks don't get a receipt?
Thursday, October 07, 2004
No Diesel Yet
Well my efforts to find a diesel vehicle have not yet met with success. No calls on my Thrifty Nickel Ad. I've missed a couple of fairly good prospects on eBay. One while we were gone to Florida and another, down the road in Thorsby, that was posted as a Buy It Now and snapped up. Now I have started checking the recently listed items a few times per day so maybe that won't happen again.
This extended search time has enabled me to do more research and to come up with some plans of my own. I've done some online searchs for thermal transfer rates and other data. Based on what I have found, I think I will use coiled copper tubing for a heating element. It will enable me to have no joints in the tank itself and be a lot less likely to leak coolant in the veggie oil tank. Also I may use copper lines for coolant instead of the normal rubber lines. I figure if I use copper for coolant and copper for veggie oil and encase all of them in thermal pipe wrap, I can eliminate the need to put the fuel line in one of the coolant lines.
This extended search time has enabled me to do more research and to come up with some plans of my own. I've done some online searchs for thermal transfer rates and other data. Based on what I have found, I think I will use coiled copper tubing for a heating element. It will enable me to have no joints in the tank itself and be a lot less likely to leak coolant in the veggie oil tank. Also I may use copper lines for coolant instead of the normal rubber lines. I figure if I use copper for coolant and copper for veggie oil and encase all of them in thermal pipe wrap, I can eliminate the need to put the fuel line in one of the coolant lines.
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