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RE: Engine Conversions and fuel economy:

To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Engine Conversions and fuel economy:
From: Chuck Renner <crenner@dynalivery.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 12:02:21 -0600
> I'm looking at driving the 'B the rest of my life, and I 
> think that by 2010
> gasoline will be at least $5/gallon. With this in mind, my 

Why's that?  Gasoline where I'm at is about $1.40 a gallon right now.
Around 1990, it had dipped below a $1.  Since then, it's been bouncing in
that range.

> Another thought I had was using a small European diesel and 
> use alternative
> diesel fuel in it (there are books on how to turn used 
> restaurant grease
> into diesel-fuel with little more than a washing machine 
> motor and a 45
> gallon drum). I wonder how much it would take to turn a VW 
> 1.9L diesel 90
> degrees?

Interesting idea.  What happends if biodiesel takes off?  Can the deep
fryers at McDonald's really crank out enough waste oil to satisfy the
demand?  If gas prices rise the way you predict, diesel will go up as well,
and you can bet that the biodiesel market will take off too.
Of course, from a pure efficiency standpoint, diesel is the way to go.

> Then there's converting to natural-gas or true corn fuel 
> (pure ethanol). The
> natural gas conversion would probably be easy, and would 
> lessen pollutants.
> The Ethanol is popular in many parts of the country, but not others.

Ethanol has less energy per gallon than gasoline or diesel, and the only
reason it's affordable is because of government subsidies to corn producers.


Lots of folks have converted cars to LP gas (esp. in Australia), which
requires relatively little modification.  The only problem in the U.S. is
the refilling infrastructure.

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