Converting the Fiat Scudo Van

Antony's five years of research have allowed him to tease out the many confusions in the development and use of vegetable oils in compression-ignition engines and choose for the project the simplest and most ecologically friendly technique. No chemical alteration of the oil is needed, avoiding the use of caustic alkali or methanol for the production of biodiesel. The problems with clogging of distributors and injectors, especially in cold climates, have been resolved by making sure that the vegetable oil is pre-heated to 80 degrees C before being injected into the engine. The engine is started and warmed up with a small amount of mineral diesel (biodiesel would serve just as well for this), then, when the engine is warm and has heated the vegetable oil to the required temperature, the fuel is switched over and the engine is run on vegetable oil until it has to be stopped. At this point the fuel is switched back to diesel so as to flush the distributor and injectors clear of vegetable oil thus avoiding any clogging. This method has been successfully used on some engines for over 100,000 miles in the last three years - see the DieselVeg site for details and testimonials.

This is the van ready for conversion.
The conversion kit comes with all the required cables and switches to implement the dual tank system.
Pipework, clips, inline fuel filters and valves are included.
A solenoid valve allows switching from diesel to heated vegetable oil once the engine has reached working temperature. The vegetable oil half of the valve has a standard diesel engine hot finger in it to ensure the oil in the valve is hot enough to flow freely through the injectors
A small but efficient heat exchanger is used to heat the oil using hot water from the engine cooling system.
A secondary fuel tank is used to hold diesel for starting up and warming down. The filtered vegetable oil is stored in the van's main fuel tank.