Dan,
Have you thought about getting an '80's 123 style diesel Benz?
I own an '82 300TD [wagon] which was retrofitted from the r12 to the r134a A/C
refrigerant and works great.
My 2 cents.
-Michael
- Original Message -
From: Dan Volker [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 12:38 pm
Subject: RE: [Biofuel] How to choose a Biodiesel car or van???
Thanks very much for the feedback.
Because I live near West palm Beach Florida, it is nearly
impossible to
drive a car comfortably without AC most of the year. With this in
mind, I
have to choose a car or van that has a powerful AC unit. I suppose
one other option could be to get a Vanagon and then add one of the
RV air
conditioner units to it ( and an inverter to power it), so I may
thinkalong these lines as well.
I drive a Honda Insight myself now, and my wife has an old Crown
VictoriaStation Wagon from like 1986---it is in very good
condition, and the other
option I have with this car is to attempt to convert it to diesel--
and then
run as biodiesel. This means first finding the right diesel engine
to match
to this particular car, and then finding the right mechanics to do the
conversion. I'm not sure which will be a bigger challenge;-)
The ELSBETT engine sounds appealing, but I have no idea how hard
it would be
to match one to my station wagon, how hard it would be to find a
mechaniccomfortable with this relatively unknown engine ( in these
parts), and I
really have no sense of what this thing would cost from the web
page ( cost
of engine, shipping fees, cost of mating transmission to it, etc).
Anybody have any answers for this ? :-)
Thanks,
Dan Volker
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 10:32 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [Biofuel] How to choose a Biodiesel car or van???
Try to find a diesel VW Vanagon. They are sturdy, very roomy,
get about 25-30 MPG and they absolutely LOVE biodiesel. They
are easy to fix and parts are still inexpensive. They will
u-turn in a lane and a half and were the FIRST VW van to
REALLY have brakes AND a good ride. VERY EASY to convert into
a pop top camper which makes them even way cooler. The rear
hatch is a BEAUTIFUL blank pallet for your bumper stickers
too. WE have the beater and a diesel Westy camper. LOVE 'em.
NOW...
They are SLOW and evoke many middle finger salutes here in
YUPPPIE land. They will hit 70 on the freeway, but are very
happy at 55 and most don't have AC. I keep a coke can in the
beater that holds the vent wing open to blow air on me.
The camper is nice.the vent window stays open by itself.
Check ebay for Vanny diesels. They turn up from time to time.
RUST is not nearly the problem that the older Volksys had,
but watch the camper models and check them for rust behind
the camper stuff. If you can find a Vanny diesel with a blown
engine, grab it. There are SCADS of rusted diesel Wabbits out
there with great cheap donor enginers. Swapping an engine in
a Vanny is EASY.
As for other diesels out there, the Sprinter is BIG and roomy
and will run just fine on bio (but the water in fuel light
stays on), but it is kinda junky. I bought a 2003 and we sold
it 8 months later. They could never fix the AC and it had
scads of electrical problems that the dealer was nevber able
to fix. GREAT engine tied to a crappy van. Can't recommend
any Benz, Volvo opr BMW cars of late as the quality is so bad.
Benz diesels up to about 86 are very good. They last a long
time and love bio.
VW diesels are good, but not the later ones. Let me explain.
VW cars were always cheap to buy, made cheap, parts were
cheap and they were easy to fix.
Now, they are getting expensive, parts are EXPENSIVE, they
are still cheaply built, they still break a lot and they are
no longer easy to fix. BUT, BUT, BUT, they ARE the only game
in town for a diesel car that gets good milage. We have an 81
Wabbit diesel that gets 55 mpg on bio and a 99 Golf that gets
about
50+ on Bio. I had to put a clutch in the 99 and the clutch kit
was
50+ $750 A
clutch for a Vanny is $80.
Chrysler is putting a 2.5 diesel in the Jeep Liberty, but
they will only sell it to you as an upmarket EXPENSIVE
version to get the diesel. That company is now owned by Benz,
so that puts up a red flag to me.
Wish the other makes would bring their diesels
here..man a diesel Honde El;ement would be cool.
So, I ramble. Check out the Vanigon diesels and the PRE 2004
VW Jetta Wagon .
BTW, we have a multi bike rack that fits on the back of the
Vanny. Cool device, but it DOES cover up some of the stickers
Take care and GOOD LUCK
