The Grease Car Culture :: Things to be aware of
The grease car culture has it's up side and it's down
sides. Here are some of the things to think about.
1) older cars are usually used for these reasons
- the older the fuel injection system is, the less
complex it is. My 1981 does not have any computer
controls on it, so it can handle a bit more rough
treatment. Newer cars are very finely tuned with
computer controls. Fry oil has more junk in it and is
a thicker fuel. . .this could clog the system.
- a fry oil kit will kill any warranty on a car, so
people use older cars for this reason.
-people burning fry oil usually don't have as much
money to buy newer cars.
2) getting and processing the waste oil is sort of a
hassle
- 1st you have to land a resturant. Mine gives me 60
gals a week, which is more than I can use. No other
greasers know about my source. My source is ideal
because they give me the oil in the 5 gallon cubes
that it comes in. Alot of resturants pour it in a 55
gal drum outside and you have to scoop it out.
- after you have the oil, you have to filter it. You
must have a garage to do this. I have a rental house
where I use the entire garage. It is full of the oil
that I can't use and it is where I filter. To filter
the oil you have 3 bag filters that look like large
tube socks. You pour the oil in in the first one, then
the 2nd one, then the 3rd one. I can filter about 20
-25 gallons in an hour. So when fuel is $3 a gallon,
I am earning about $60 a hour.
3) the older mercedes are great as grease cars because
they have a very strong fuel pump to move the thicker
fry oil. Any diesel will work however other cars don't
have such a strong fuel pump. Many people put an
additional electric fuel pump on the fry oil to help
save the factory fuel pump. On the mercedes, the
factory pump (often called a lift pump) cost $1200 to
replace.
4)Grease cars are really only good on longer trips.
You can't burn fry oil until the engine it hot. The
hot engine heats the oil. The oil must be hot to burn.
Also it's not good to switch from oil to diesel fuel
alot. My grease car is a second car that I only use
for longer distances.
5) to buy a grease car, you could look on eBay or on Greasecar.com they have a classifed section. You could also look on Craigslist for any benz and have someone convert it
for you. My friend would do the converstion for approx
$1200.00. I paid $1400 for my car and I have about
$3500 in it after conversion and repairs. . . however
that cost will be recovered in fuel savings soon.
6) The bag filters that I am using in the video that is posted in this site, can be purchased at www.mcmaster.com. Once you get to the McMaster site, you can search for "Felt Filter Bags". I usually buy a 25/10 (nested) micro bag, a 10/5 (nested) micro, and a 1 micro. The idea is that the 25/10 filters out the large stuff and the 1 micro will filter the finest stuff out of the oil.
Not too long ago, a guy in Illinois was fined and threatened with felony prosecution, for using untaxed biodiesel. Click here to read about it.
Recently a guy named Rolf called to talk to me about greasecars. He seemed to be very knowledgable, experienced and very willing to share information. If you would like to pick his brain on this topic, I am sure he would be willing to talk with you. He gave me his phone number to share for this reason.
760-658-0689.
Piper and Sarah and I collect waste oil together. I love this photo because it looks like it's from 1971.
