The truck has been running good. On the first long trip I used 6.1 gallons of diesel to go 684 miles and a fair amount of oil but you can not be so exact with that I think it was around 42 gallons of oil but that is guessing.

Now the second trip I do not know exactly but I also have a problem apparently a pressure switch is bad and I had to run on manual and while the system works that way it just is not as easy or as efficient in manual mode. Dino Fuels has a new pressure switch on it's way to me. Just had to get home and call them to figure out for sure what was up.

One Evening the Second Week

During the second week they found another evening to finish up some of the little things.Switches all installed.
And I have a stereo again.

Brandon under the truck figuring out how to install the tank drain.

This was harder than they thought.
Believe me that floor was cold and hard but after this day there was very little left to do.

The Second Weekend

The second weekend they were ready to do all the wiring and try and finish the fuel lines.There were lots of wires.
When the box first came we thought this was the mask you had to wear to ride in this truck instead it houses the fuel gauge for the vegetable oil tank.
Why is my stereo on the table?
Oh no! my poor truck.
Well that is where the stereo belongs.
Checking out the circuit board.
No Brandon it is not candy! They were reading the little pieces for the wiring. Lets hope they put them all in the right places.
Looking at where the circuit board will go.
Brandon had to do this part and he barely fit.


They are looking at where they need to put a hole for the switches.
That's the spot.
Switches installed and they look good but they will not work in the kitchen.
Hey! Does anybody know what this is for? We think it is to open cans as the trash bag will not stay hung on it.
Jeff is so silly when I want to take pictures.
I really do not think the hoses go in this way.
Yup I am sure of it. There was one if the bung holes in the tank that ended up being the wrong size. James sent me the fitting and the guys building the tank had them but I guess they did not look at them. Any way Jeff had to wait to tie in the tank until he could run around town to look for the right piece and you do not do that here in Huron on Sunday.
They were tired and dirty again after that weekend.

Step Two Mid Week the First Full Week

Well some time during the week after that first weekend they had time during the evening to work some more . You can see all the parts they still have to put back and on.Parts I hope they know where goes back.
Lots of fuel hoses to run and that is the next step.
Jeff had put a few things back on the engine.
Brandon drilling holes in my truck to run the fuel lines through.
The two conferring about where the holes should go and how big they should be.
Jeff looking at the V3 unit and making sure all is right.
More conferring.
I think they were feeding the lines in to make sure they would fit. It took a couple of work sessions to get all the fuel lines run.

The first day of the conversion.

This first part of the conversion actually took a long three day weekend . Both Jeff and Brandon took Friday off from work and they had hoped to get much farther but things did not go very well for them. I was gone and they were worn out and grumpy by the time I got back.
Things laid out ready to go. All nice and neat as you can see. One thing Jeff is is very neat and orderly.
The important tool for the weekend a wench cut in half.
Things like alternators and such had to all come off the engine.
The tiny nasty plugs that took three days to pull off.
One of the new fuel lines installed.
The nasty plug still in the engine. I know I am out of order but then there were four places they had to get plugs or lines loose.
Some where in here was another fuel line to take out.
See I told you they had to take stuff off the engine.
Brandon the contortionist was trying to reach a plug. Too bad we do not have pictures of Jeff trying to do this.
An antique wrench they were trying to use because it was small enough to get in the spot.
Those nasty plugs just seemed to multiply.
Brandon after finally getting one off.

Through all of this they were taking out extra plugs and rerouting fuel lines so that the diesel and oil can each have their own feed lines into the engine.

To do this project Brandon wanted to start from scratch but I wanted to get it done and I really liked this kit for it's simplicity of operation. All automatic is a good thing for me these days.

The kit came in 4 or 5 boxes and there were lots of parts and pieces.
The V3 unit all wrapped up.
Lots of hose and filters.
Lots of parts and pieces.

The Truck

I thought I should tell you a little about how all this came about. Last August my son Brandon and I had to fly back and forth to Pensacola FL and drive to Omaha NE from here in South Dakota. Brandon new I had been looking for a new vehicle for almost a year with out finding much that I liked either for the fuel efficiency or the ability to load stuff in it for my shows. Brandon said I should by a diesel pickup and run it on vegetable oil.

I am sure you can figure my first reaction but the more he told me the more he convinced me. I started looking things up on the Internet and reading everything I could get my hands on and I became convinced he had a good idea. Well we of course had to convince Jeff my husband because his first reaction was why would we want to do that? But the more research we showed him the easier that was.

Then came the deciding on which system and which truck. Brandon wanted to do it from scratch and I wanted it to be done in less than a year so I choose a kit. I choose the
Dino Fuel Alternatives kit which is specifically designed for the Ford Powerstrokes. The hard part came in finding a truck. I did not want the big crew cab but wanted a long bed. I also wanted a 2 wheel drive which you should hear the salesmen fuss about. (And having Jeff stick it in the mud in the alley makes me think they might have been right but I would never have gone down the alley when it was wet.) I finally found a truck and bought it the beginning of January. Then ordered my kit and a 108 gallon axillary fuel tank.

It took a while for all the parts and pieces to line up and all the while we have been collecting oil from a couple of local restaurants. You have seen the oil filtering set up in the next few days I will try to fill you in on the install of the conversion kit.

Heating Element

The parts of the element are made from electrical conduit and a water heater element. PVC is not rated for heat so my son felt that electrical stuff was better. The flap of rubber is to cover the bung hole to keep out bugs and such. The box part on the top points the same way as the curve of the water heater element so you can know where it is sort of when you can not see it.
Brandon chose the largest element that the tractor supply place had. I do not know if this is really needed because no matter what it is going to take a while to heat your oil. The elbow and everything fits through a 2 inch bung hole.
The complete unit can be moved from drum to drum. We only built one but did not put the heaters in the drums permanently because we knew we would have to have the heat to move oil from every step here in the winter time. And for us here in the middle of March it is still hovering around freezing most days. I want them to build a second unit when they get done with the truck so I can work two barrels in a day.

There is a long and involved story behind all of this which I will have to write about in another post but for now this is the beginning of the:
Filter System Set Up
Brandon actually letting me take his picture and for those that do not know he is actually getting dirty. (He does not do that often.)
The two black tanks on the platform are the de-watering tanks. Where the oil will be heated and let settle to get the water out.
The fittings under the de-watering tanks to get the water out.
Just having to redo the plan because the white hose with the braiding inside will not bend especially in the cold.
First stage filter which is a cleanable screen filter and we have two mesh sizes to filter between the white barrel and the first de-watering barrel.

Still trying to get it together.
No Jeff is not sucking the oil out of the drum he had to chew the end round in the cold weather it was sort of oval and it had to be round to go on the fitting.
Not quite done. The white barrel to the right is the first stage storage barrel. The bucket sitting on top has a bung fitted in the bottom that fits into the bung of the barrel and then there is a screen in the top of the bucket so it is a giant 5 gallon funnel that screens out large pieces from the oil.

Looks done and there is a heater inserted into the white barrel right now so they can heat the oil enough to pump it out. ( I will have to take pictures of the heater another time.)
The last stage filters from the last black de-watering barrel into the truck or a holding tank.
Hmm! not working too good!
Working but not quite right.
Still HMMMMMMMMM!

They decided it was air leaks so they are redoing some of the places.

Looks done but and it is working but not quite right they have decided to redo a spot or two but need more hose.
Well that is all for today will try to talk more in a day or two about the reasons for all this and what is happening next.