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-   Bio-diesel, Propane & Alternative Diesel Engine Fuels (https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum168/)
-   -   My latest veggie conversion - best yet? (https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1311424-my-latest-veggie-conversion-best-yet.html)

SkySkiJason 03-05-2015 12:43 PM


Originally Posted by M-S-G (Post 14844474)
What's up with using two rear ports and two front ports?

How is that a good idea?
I would think there is a reason standard config is on opposite ends of the engine...

I am feeding diesel to the front ports on the engine and WVO to the rear ports. There is no way to know why Ford chose opposite ends on the later 7.3's... The early 7.3's (OBS) fed the rear ports and returned fuel thru the front ports. The heads are symmetrical and are identical plumbing-wise for all 7.3 PSD's and Int'l 444's during the same era.

It is not just a good idea, it is BRILLIANT! :-jammin This design allows me to open a valve on the VO-side of the system and flush diesel thru the heads - 'purging' all of the VO from the engine in just a few seconds. If we only fed one end of each head with fuel, we'd have to wait for the slow dilution of the fuel in the heads and injectors - making the 'purge' time significantly longer. Also, each time we 'purge' - we send any accumulated trapped air in the heads back to the VO tank. This is akin to what the Regulated Return or Fuel Rail Crossover modifications do.

Additionally, the rear of the engine is arguably hotter than the front. In theory, up front we have some additional cooling from the fan and just being more open. In the rear, we are confined near the firewall and the fuel lines are VERY close to the turbo up-pipes. While additional heating at this point isn't really necessary with my systems, it doesn't hurt anything either.

I have done a couple dozen PSD conversions using this basic design and every one of them is still functioning as far as I know. The first truck pictured here had already racked up 25k miles back in November and the second truck might have 20k miles on it and has been plowing snow all winter in the NE burning the high cholesterol fuel. Another conversion I did last year also put more than 25k miles on his F250. It's safe to say this system works!!!!! :-drink

Al Zaidi 02-03-2016 01:01 PM

The copper coil is a bad idea. Copper causes polymerization of the veggie oil. No brass or copper should be used anywhere in the VO system. A coil wrapped around a filter is inferior to a flat plate heat exchanger. This type of stuff went out of favor a decade ago. :(

SkySkiJason 02-03-2016 04:34 PM


Originally Posted by Al Zaidi (Post 16010445)
The copper coil is a bad idea. Copper causes polymerization of the veggie oil. No brass or copper should be used anywhere in the VO system. A coil wrapped around a filter is inferior to a flat plate heat exchanger. This type of stuff went out of favor a decade ago. :(

I love a good critic, but you need to know what you are looking at before you find fault with it. ;)

There is no copper in contact with VO in my systems. The coolant-heated filter wrap like this is by far the most efficient way to heat a filter - heated filter bases are nearly useless.

This system does not need a FPHE. By using a heated fuel pick-up, heated fuel lines (tube-in-hose), the heated VO system manifold and the heated filter - we are producing adequate fuel temps for the deadheaded 7.3/6.0 PSD.

SkySkiJason 02-03-2016 04:49 PM

And, this was almost 2yrs ago. I have done even better conversions since then!! :-jammin

ExPACamper 02-03-2016 05:18 PM


Originally Posted by SkySkiJason (Post 16010985)
And, this was almost 2yrs ago. I have done even better conversions since then!! :-jammin

I seen 'em, LOL. Well, pics anyways :)

Al Zaidi 02-04-2016 11:15 AM

"This system does not need a FPHE. By using a heated fuel pick-up, heated fuel lines (tube-in-hose), the heated VO system manifold and the heated filter - we are producing adequate fuel temps for the deadheaded 7.3/6.0 PSD.
___________"

All this adds complexity, cost, and multiple points of failure. And heating the fuel tank leads to polymerization of the oil, and condensation. This is an obsolete design.
It can all be replaced by a simple reliable FPHE.

SkySkiJason 02-04-2016 01:54 PM


Originally Posted by Al Zaidi (Post 16013155)
"This system does not need a FPHE. By using a heated fuel pick-up, heated fuel lines (tube-in-hose), the heated VO system manifold and the heated filter - we are producing adequate fuel temps for the deadheaded 7.3/6.0 PSD.
___________"

All this adds complexity, cost, and multiple points of failure. And heating the fuel tank leads to polymerization of the oil, and condensation. This is an obsolete design.
It can all be replaced by a simple reliable FPHE.

This system, both my design and the Vegistroke kit that is pictured in this thread are the absolute simplest way possible to convert a 7.3/6.0 PSD.

It doesn't sound like you know much about the way this system works? Did you know that we don't use 3-port switching valves? A long time member of this forum 'FordNut74' came up with the check valve system we use. This design creates redundant fuel systems for ultimate reliability and provides for a very fast and thorough purge when switching back to D2.

As for points of failure, I have never had any kind of TIH failure on any system I installed or any of the dozens more I have consulted for over the years. I have seen several clogged up FPHE's though. They are not the answer. The TIH design offers less restriction to flow, takes up less space and typically costs less than an adequate rubber fuel hose does per linear foot (and saves the cost of the FPHE and all the fittings it requires). By putting the return from fuel pressure regulator in TIH and then tee'ing it into the suction right at the tank, we take advantage of plumbing that is already in place to achieve fuel temps near coolant temp - BEFORE the pump and filters. On systems that use switching valves, I use a 3rd valve on the return fuel line to allow a 'looped return' by choosing to dump fuel into the tank or back to the suction line.

I do not 'heat the whole tank' in my conversions for the reasons you mentioned. It is necessary however to have a heated fuel pick-up like the Hot Fox in this installation, or you'd never get the fuel out of the tank in cold weather.

Again, I love the banter and it sounds like you have learned a few things about VO systems - but I implore you to understand this design (specific and exclusive to the 7.3/6.0 PSD) before tossing stones.

My system and my installs are the cumulative knowledge of all the smartest people that have been in the VO conversion industry. I've been greasin' and doing conversions for others for over 10yrs and every one of my conversions STILL work flawlessly - way over 1,000,000 miles all together. Meanwhile, I have ripped out a number of inferior/problematic/poorly designed systems that were sold to folks who didn't know any better...

If you've learned what you're saying here over at infopoop, it sounds like they've come a long way over there. The information that was spread there for a long time was not very good - to put it nicely. But, I haven't visited there in years.


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