Crunch Time!

We plan to leave on our ultimate volksvegan adventure two weeks from now. It’s time to move fast! This week is my last week of work, and I’ve been getting ready for the big yard sale this Saturday.

Seneca has been working on the bus of course. Today he is installing the auxillery battery (it fits perfectly under the driver’s seat). It will run the stereo, super-bright headlights, and anything plugged into the cigarette lighter socket (like my laptop!) so we don’t have to take power away from the main battery. Just a little added reliability is nice. Eventually we could get a solar panel that charges the batteries as well. If we had the money for that sort of thing…

We are also figuring out a more portable option for filtering grease on the road, and decided to get a new pump that can be powered by the bus (instead of having to plug it in) and it’s much smaller and more powerful. We’ll use the filters in casings that we have now, but Sen ordered one for the end that goes down to 1 micron. Clean grease is very important, especially now that our baby got a new engine.

And in other news, I recently bought a domain name for this blog, volksvegan.org. It’ll take a bit to set it up, but I’ll let you know when to update your bookmarks! I’m off to get ready and plan this trip!

 

A Test Run with the New Engine

We recently put a new engine in the Volksvegan. The 1.6L engine was just too small for our big bus! So we got a 1.9L Turbo Diesel engine from a ‘95 Passat and Seneca and our friend the VW expert installed it last week. As you can see, the engine is pretty darn clean. She runs great! We actually were able to go up hills going 50 in third gear instead of 30 in second gear.

We had plans to go to the Okanogan Family Faire Volunteer Summit last weekend, and we were determined to take the bus. Thankfully, she was running great in time for the weekend. Seneca filtered grease and filled the tank while I cleaned out the interior a bit and packed all our gear in the handy-dandy cabinets on Friday. Before we left, Seneca was even able to install new shocks, for a better ride and added safety in the wind (since the bus is about as aerodynamic as a big sheet of plywood).

I even got some interior shots of the bus, since I haven’t shared views of the inside much yet. I dig the retro brown and green upholstery on the chairs & curtains. We’re going to replace the white upholstery stuff that’s on the walls and ceiling, on the back of the door, and inside of all the cabinets, which you can’t see from the picture but it’s buckled and peeling off. We’re waiting for a nice warm weekend at home for that project. It’s a cozy little home!

We left Friday afternoon and headed North to the faire site near Tonasket, Washington. After about thirty minutes we switched on the grease system and she purred along just fine. However, after a few hiccups going uphill on grease, Seneca switched back to diesel. When he switched back to grease again, the switch seemed to be out! We stopped to check it but the grease system wasn’t getting power at all. We’ve come to conclude that we should’ve coughed up the cash for a really nice Frybrid system, Greasecar’s components are a little cheapy. We’re also thinking it may have not worked correctly because the Turbo Diesel engine runs a lot cooler (and is more efficient), which means that less heat is going to the grease and it may not be hot enough to reach the ideal temperature for the engine. So, we plan to install an in-line heater on the grease lines. It was a bit nerve-racking dealing with the grease mishaps, but that’s why this is a test run and we’re taking a couple of them before our big trip! It’s good to get all the kinks worked out.

Anyway, the bus ran just fine on diesel for the rest of the trip, but unfortunately we didn’t find any bio-diesel. I guess having two tanks is good, but we were upset that our trip wasn’t as sustainable as we wanted it to be. Send some good vibes to that grease system, we’re a little worried about it with our new engine because it is still quite experimental. And that’s one hell of an expensive experiment…

The trip was awesome and we had a great time meeting other volunteers and the organizers of the faire we’ve attended in the fall for the last several years. I even volunteered to help with the redesign of the faire’s web site, so it was a great networking opportunity as well. The bus was the perfect home for the weekend. The only problem was that we found out we were out of propane when we got there! So we couldn’t cook on the stove or turn the propane on to power the fridge. Drat! We brought enough food and the family fed us though, so all was well. And now we know we need to refill that tank before the trip! It sure was nice to roll in late Friday night and not have to pitch a tent in the dark. We just turned on the light in the bus, popped the pop top, and put down the seat. Viola – cozy bed! And it really doesn’t feel quite like camping when you get to use real sheets and blankets instead of sleeping bags!

We enjoyed our weekend in the bus, even with the mishaps it was still exciting trying out the new engine. We even passed someone going uphill in the bus! That was a first, and it certainly wouldn’t have been possible with the old engine. The Turbo Diesel is more efficient and runs cooler than the old engine as well, so we should get similar mileage. It’s about time that the engine was powerful enough for the size of the bus. We’re one step closer to our big volksvegan adventure, although the bus is still a work in progress, as usual… there’s lots to do!

 

A New Engine is On the Way!

Seneca recently ordered a new engine for our bus! We got a 1.9 Litre VW Turbo Diesel that’s slightly used (about 30,000 miles). We’ll be basically doubling our horsepower! No more crawling up hills in second gear going 20 mph! Woohoo!

It took a bit of research and some advice from friends to arrive at our decision to get that engine. TDIs are pretty finicky with grease, so we decided to stick with a TD. We decided to get a 1.9 instead of a Turbo 1.6 so we’d have the extra power to tow a small trailer (full of grease!) and go on the highway without having a trail of honking cars behind us.

Our friend Steve will be helping Seneca with the installation, which they should be starting next week. I’m so glad we decided to invest in a new engine rather than dealing with the underpowered one that’s been giving us so much trouble. If only we’d done it sooner…

Once the new engine is in, Sen will finish installing an auxillary battery, change all the hoses so they’re bio-diesel ready, and we’ll put in the new upholstery. Then she’ll definitely be road-worthy, and possibly even worth living in! We plan to do a lot of traveling this summer, and we’re even considering storing or selling all our stuff and living life on the road in the bus for a while. Stay tuned!

 

She Runs!

Good news! The bus is running! Seneca towed it to a shop to get re-timed and they did some other minor repairs, and he fixed the starter switch and electrical stuff himself. She’s actually running now, yay! We haven’t been collecting grease much this winter since the bus hasn’t been running and it’s been so cold out (therefore grease solidifies pretty quickly) but we’re going to try to start collecting it on a regular schedule again. We also ordered some new upholstery for the interior walls, cabinets, etc. so that is our next project. It’s good to be making headway on restoring the bus! Hopefully many greasy travels await us…

 

We Need a Garage

It sure would be nice to have a garage this time of year. Seneca has been working on the bus a little bit, but he can’t last long when his fingers freeze. A garage is definitely something we’re looking for in our next place, but in the meantime we’re hoping to set up a makeshift shelter for the bus so we can actually work on it during the winter. Seneca installed the new starter switch, but found out that the battery has died. It’s just one problem after another, and it’s pretty obvious that this bus sat for a long time and a lot of the parts need to be replaced. So we’re doing that one part at a time…

We hope to move in the spring, hopefully to Eugene, Oregon, or somewhere around there. It sure would be nice to get the bus running first though, and get a trailer hitch on it so we can move all our stuff (or what remains after a huge yard sale). The bus is kinda on hold until a warmer day in the meantime…

 

Stagnation

Not much news on the bus-front lately since it isn’t running at the moment. Sen & his dad spent lots of time on the injector pump and then found that the starter needs more work. Now we’re just waiting for paychecks and warm sunny days for working on the bus. A garage would come in pretty handy right now…

We made it to the Okanogan Family Faire, but the bus didn’t. It was still a fun trip and I can’t believe we packed all our stuff, Juneau, and a friend in the car on the way there. We had several friends from all over camp with us and I traded and sold lots of massage oil & soap, and a necklace. We even brought home 3 gallons or so of quite clean waste veggie oil from the curly fry booth near our booth!

I’ll update when there’s news, Seneca should be working on the bus tomorrow. Until then, we’re still regularly collecting grease and have quite a bit in our barrel. It’s much more difficult to work with now that it’s so cold though. It solidifies in the cubies that we leave it in to settle out the hydrogenated & animal oils, and sometimes we have to bring them inside by the heater (ew!). Once we get the grease in the big storage barrel we can just heat it with our little tank heater which goes inside the barrel, so pumping it into the car tank from there isn’t too difficult.

Well, I better get ready for our Halloween party & finish up some work – ciao for now!

 

Send good vibes!

The bus is temporarily out of commission, and we need all the good wishes we can get to get it back up & running by next weekend for the biggest, bestest barter fair ever! Seneca and his dad have been working on it the past week installing a new starter and rebuilding the injector pump. The injector pump was quite a project, and now it’s in the shop getting calibrated, then they have to install it and hopefully that will be the end of the leakage. On our last trip we went through way too much grease because of the injector pump leak, so hopefully this fixes it!

We are headed to the Okanogan Family Faire, the biggest and last one of the season, October 12-15. We are volunteering to be on “dog patrol” and will be running a booth out of the bus. Of course we’ll be making the trip on grease, which we have been collecting pretty regularly from a few of our sources.

The grease has had a harder time separating now that it’s getting colder, so we may need to move it into the garage and use a heat mat when we first bring it home and let it settle. We put baking soda in it when we first collect it which makes all the hydrogenated oil and animal fat fall to the bottom. Much of it settles out naturally as well, but when it’s cold the grease solidifies more easily and the separation doesn’t work as well. Starting the bus in the cold will require us to run on diesel a bit longer before the grease is warm enough to switch over as well, and cold starts are always interesting in diesels, so wish us luck for the cold season!

Good vibes are needed for a speedy calibration & installation of the injector pump. That should be the last repair we need to do for a while (at least until we replace the engine with a newer, more efficient, and more powerful turbo diesel one). Stay tuned for stories of the bus at the barter faire (hopefully it’s fixed in time)!

 

Maiden Voyage!

I will be making the maiden voyage in the newly-converted greasecar this weekend! I’m going down to McCall to show off the bus to my parents, who used to own a very similar one. It’s going to be about 400 miles round trip, and Seneca anticipates that I should be able to make the whole trip on one full grease tank, about 15 gallons. This will be a test to see if the miles per gallon on grease are better or worse than regular diesel, on which we get about 30 MPG. Most “greasers” say they get similar or slightly better mileage on grease, so we’ll see. I will be hitting some mean hills though, with the itty bitty 1.6L engine I’m sure it will be slow. But it’s a great way to test out the grease system. The only thing I’m nervous about is that Sen isn’t coming with me, so I just hope we have no car troubles. Send me & the Volksvegan some good vibes for a safe trip!

We have now secured 3 regular sources for waste oil. We also found out who our competition was, there are a number of locals who make bio-diesel out of wvo, and they have set up agreements with the biggest restaurants with the best grease. So that sucks, but maybe they can learn to share. Until then, we get about 5 gallons a week from each of our three sources, although the timing on 2 are a little irregular. That should more than cover our in-town driving, since we rarely drive and do most errands by bike. We really want to get a stockpile saved up for road trips though. We’re taking the bus to a barter fair September 9-10 and another much farther one the second weekend in October. I’m excited to finally be taking some veggie-fueled trips, and the bus is perfect for barter fairs since we can camp out in it and set up a canopy on one side of it to use as a booth. I sell and barter with handmade gemstone jewelry and herbal soap & massage oil at the fairs.

Tomorrow we collect more grease (I’ll try to get pictures this time) and take the bus into the shop to have the belts replaced and hopefully get our temperature gage fixed. The temperature gage stopped working, and it’s pretty important, so if they can’t fix it we might have to take our maiden voyage a week later.

 

Before

I just realized I haven’t even put a picture of the bus up yet! I guess I got too distracted looking for bio-fuel related links (see, I added some new ones!) and forgot about her. (Yes, the bus is a she, because of her small diesel engine she clearly has no balls and goes slow).

Anyway, here is a pic of her in Yellowstone, it’s a good BEFORE picture, and I’m sure I’ll have several more DURING and AFTER pictures to come as we go through the conversion process. We’ve been busy and haven’t made much progress lately, but have just been doing some research and planning.

 

The dream: sustainable road-trippin’

Welcome to my new blog, all about the adventures of myself and my boyfriend and our 1982 VW diesel Vanagon. I hope to share stories, pictures, insights, and lessons learned as we convert our bus to run on Waste Vegetable Oil using a GreaseCar conversion kit. We’re also getting the bus bio-diesel ready (she’ll need a diesel and a grease tank) and restoring her as best we can. Of course we’ll be learning a lot about sustainable transportation (and VWs) along the way.

Stay tuned, this blog (like the bus) is a work in progress!