Diesel in a 1970 GT?

[annajacobson]

Have a 1970, 1.9L GT. Everything works fine, but want to swap in a diesel engine.

While more speed would be fun, the purpose is to convert the GT to vegetable oil.

Any suggestions? Pitfalls to avoid? Is this possible, or conceivable on a college student's budget?

[jtb]

No offence, but why?
You would have a much easier time converting an older VW Jetta or Mercedes 300D to run on WVO.
The Opel is a small, light car. Diesel engines are very heavy, and have their own peculiar requirements (heavy duty radiator, sometimes dual batteries, high pressure fuel pump, water separating fuel filter, different rear end ratios due to the low rpm nature of a diesel, etc.)
Anything can be done, given enough time and money, but this swap is not an easy one.

jtb

[oldopelguy]

The Diesel Chevette should have everything you need for the swap, or the diesel Luv or P'UP would have the same parts and might be easier to find. That particular diesel is the same one that most Thermo-King refrigerated Semi trailers fo rthe AC units, so the motors are fairly available if you get the rest of the parts for the car conversion.

You could also use the Acme Adapters adapter to marry a VW diesel to either a Toyota or Suzuki transmission, but you're outside of the GM family with that and are going to be starting from scratch.

[West Coast GT]

Just curious - where would you put the waste oil tank and heater? I'm thinking the luggage space behind the seats, but that would eliminate the storage behind the vinyl flap. Plus you might get rancid oil fumes. Perhaps you'd put the tank, heater, and pump where the spare tire typically sits.

[GTJIM]

This company specialises in "manufacturing and installation of SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) diesel conversion systems."


Welcome to Golden Fuel Systems! - HOME

[baz]

from WCGT
"Just curious - where would you put the waste oil tank and heater? "


you make home brew and just put it in the tank


do you get isuzu diesels in the states ? if so its still gm for those that care , the turbo 2 litre gives the same sort of power as a 73 gt but a bucket full of torque and i used to get 68 mpg from mine in an opel/vauxhall vectra so in a gt it should do better ( uk gall btw )
it would run on wvo (processed) or svo (straight from the can ) ok ( you need to make sure the pump will run veg oil as some pumps do not like it )

and as a plus it would be quicker 0-60 and top end with a 5 speed box as it will pull to higher revs in top gear

[MonkeyNutZ]

You really want to consider: 75mpg Opel GT hybrid

It'll end up being cheaper then a SVO car.

Pros and cons of SVO.

The biggest problem is that it still needs diesel.
You're going to need two fuel tanks, one for VO and one for diesel and you'll need to heat the VO to 160-190f before you can switch over to it. Plus you even need to heat the fuel lines, filters and injectors with is going to seriously tax the electrical systems. At 55mph it's going to take about 45 minutes to heat the oil to usably levels, so unless you daily take really long distance drives, it's basically useless.

If you'd like I can go on for about three more pages ranting about ethanol, biodiesel and BEVs.

[West Coast GT]

Sounds like the thing to do is to insulate the VO tank and keep it constantly warm. And install a circulating system through the pump & filter.

Up side is the passenger compartment would probably be kept warm as well.

Find the hurtles, but plan on overcoming them. Too many people and companies these days expend time and resources coming up with all of the reasons they can not do something, rather than how they can do it.

If you want a conversion, knowledge and materials are available. Its all been done before.

[baz]

heating is done a couple of easy ways here

take one heater matrix from any car , put it in a sealed box with an inlet and out let then hook it up to the heater hoses , you get all the heat
the oil needs

or

get an auto box radiator and plumb the oil through the auto box cooler in the rad

the gt is a good option for a 2 tank as you can put a small tank up front for the diesel as it only needs a couple of gallon at most for the heat up and end of run sections of a drive


myself i just used to run a 50/50 mix with diesel in winter and 70/30 oil to diesel in summer but veg oil costs the same as diesel here now so not worth doing

think i will just stick to using acetone in my fuel and have the 25% increase in mileage i get from that for now , 50 mpg in a van weighing almost 4000 lb empty is good enough for me

[PROPEL]

Originally Posted by MonkeyNutZ You really want to consider: 75mpg Opel GT hybrid It'll end up being cheaper then a SVO car.

A followup to that article with pros and cons of the 75mpg hybrid Opel.

[gearheadeh]

what I know about running used resturant GREASE more or less as is requires heated lines and tank.That doesn't mean that the lines are heated electically.Engine coolant heat works great!. All you need is a second small fuel tank loaded with straight diesel. Start it up on this and when the grease tank turns the butter to liquid again,just switch fuel lines.Or you could condition the stuff in your garage with some heat and additives and not have to modify your fuel system at all!.