I got Grease Lightning back from the mechanic's today. A bunch of rubber and metal hoses replaced, some of which were custom made because the dealer wanted to charge more than $550 for a single brand new hose. (Which is why this old car doesn't go to the dealer.) Apparently I had a lot of tiny leaks in most of my a/c hoses. Steam cleaned the engine to find the leaks, it looks great under the hood!

I fired up the car -- there was no waiting for the cool air to start, it was instantaneous! In fact, after driving around for a few minutes, I got too cold and had to turn the air down. I don't normally get cold in California (I'm from Montana, for those who didn't know), but today, both of my timbers shivered!

The summer heat will be here soon and I'll be glad to have a working AC.

Here's the link of the week:
http://www.solardaily.com/

I just ran across this link to a Smart Car dealer in Universal City.
Although the cars are still a gasoline engine, they get 45+ MPG, and the car is built out of components that can eventually be recycled.

http://www.smartcenteruniversal.com/

Today's link is Used Cardboard Boxes.

I have mixed feelings on this one. I'm all for recycling, but also think that buying local is better than buying items that are shipped from farther away when it's not necessary. This company does not have a store front, so they ship everything from an undisclosed location.

You be the judge.

Here's another eco company link:
Simple Shoes

They make shoes with recycled products, and some are vegan.

Today's link is a company that "cleans up" after events and conventions, putting everything to good use. Food, giveaways, floral arrangements and more.

For a much better description of what they do and the benefits to the earth, the homeless and other less fortunate people:

http://www.thespeciale.com/

This service is available in many major US cities.

Here's a good link for reducing junk mail:

http://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail/index.cfm

My friend Alicia Silverstone is back! Here's the ad for GoVeg.com

Here's a link I wanted to share:
Phoenix Motorcars in Ontario California. 100% electric cars that should be on the road in 2008.
-- 100+ mile range
-- Speeds of 95 mph carrying four passengers and a full payload
-- 0-60 in 10 seconds
-- Long life lithium titanate battery
-- 10 minute recharge capability using a 480v charger

Here's a website that's worth checking out. Especially if the only type of alternative car you can name is a hybrid Prius.
It has info on cars and fuels of the future that could be the next viable alternatives to the internal combustion engine and oil.

http://www.futurecars.com/

A friend sent me this link & I wanted to share it:
http://www.theaircar.com/

It's compressed air technology. Check it out!

It's been a little colder than it was last year at this time. The high is 60F, and it's lower at night. Used oil doesn't settle as quickly in the cold, and it also doesn't pass through the filters as quickly either. We might setup a new barrel for settling and add a heater to warm it up and help speed up the process.

I'll keep you posted on the progress. We probably won't have it in place until after the holidays.

Hey, gang!

If you're looking for some green gifts to send your friends and family this season, check out Green Sender:
http://greensender.com/

And here's a fun site with daily tips on how to make your life and your home greener:
http://www.idealbite.com/


Happy green holidays!

This weekend I was thinking that I needed to post an update on the blog, but nothing too exciting has been happening with the veg car. It's running really well. No breakdowns. No improvements. I washed it a few weeks ago, but that's hardly worth mentioning.

On Saturday I went to collect oil. The hoses on the pump aren't as flexible in the colder weather. It was pumping a little slow because one hose had a kink in it & I couldn't get the kink to pop completely out. Then it started pumping slower and slower. I checked the open end in the barrel to see if it was clogged -- it wasn't. Then I looked at my "jumper kit" battery pack. Only one bar, it was out of juice. I let it slowly pump until it topped up the second cubie and threw the gear back into the trunk. A bit of a drag because I could get at least one more cubie from the bin.

So I returned home and plugged in the jumper kit to charge.

Sunday, I went to my second source to pump oil. There was enough oil for 3-4 cubies. As I was getting close to finishing the second cubie, the pump started slowing down again. Is two cubies my max? Is it cursed?

I checked the jumpstart kid, and sure enough, only one bar of juice. I knew it hadn't fully charged from yesterday, but I thought for sure I'd have enough to pump 4 cubies.

So now the jumpstart kit is charging and I'll leave it plugged in until it's full. I do recall it took a long time to charge when I first bought it.
And the directions did indicate to charge it after every use instead of completely draining it and then charging. I think it's better for the battery to keep it charged up.

So until next time, keep your jumpstart kit charged.

Yesterday I met a friend at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. It was kinda cool pulling up to the valet with my veg Mercedes that looks like a beater. The guy who took my car didn't give me the evil eye, which I was kinda expecting. Then I thought they might have quickly whisked the car away to preserve their image, keeping the more impressive cars visible in front.

Later that evening when I was leaving, I waited for valet to bring my car, and a guy drove up in what looked like a brand new Lotus. Several of the people from valet were checking it out and chatting with the owner. Then my veg car pulled up. The valet guy got out and said, "Check this out, it runs on vegetable oil!" The valet guys all abandoned the Lotus and came over to look at my 1980 Mercedes and asked a lot of questions about the conversion. The final comment, "This car would look great with a fresh coat of paint."

Yes it would. But even without a new paint job, I upstaged a Lotus!

Thanks to all of you who are reading my blog. I've received emails from a few of you this month and I enjoy receiving them. I haven't figured out how the statistics work to know how many page hits I'm getting.

So I'm asking all my readers to shoot me an email just to let me know you're out there reading the blog.

Send me an email, just to say "Hi!"

The "contact me" link is at the bottom of every page on this site.

Grease Lightning turned 1 today. I survived my 12 month experiment and I have decided to keep driving it. At this rate, I have another 7 months before all of the expense invested in the car will be offset by the gas that I've saved by not driving my truck.

In the last 12 months I have driven 7106 miles.
165,460 on the odometer. It's kinda cool racking up miles this high. On all my previous cars, I don't want the numbers to roll very high and I usually sell them before 100k miles. I want to roll GreaseLightning as high as I can, and diesel engines can run 500,000+ when maintained.

Here's to another 12 months of veg oil driving. Cheers!

Happy 4th everybody!

It was a busy day for me. I stopped by all of my restaurants to see if their bins had oil ready for collection. It was a big day and I had to make several trips.
12 cubies of oil from 4 different restaurants. One more and it would have been a baker's dozen!

Have fun with the fireworks and don't blow up anyone or anything of value.

Hey gang! I'm glad to announce that the Mercedes is running really well with all the repairs.

Today's link is the Southern California Clean Vehicle Technology Expo, Oct 16-17, 2007, in Ontario, California.
Last year there were hydrogen, electric and natural gas vehicles on display and we expect even more this year.

The A/C stopped being cold, which is no fun in LA's 90+ degree weather we're having now, so I took it to the shop. And I know this next bit is a little tired and cliche, but I can't pass it up. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Oil change, $60

Front and rear brake job, $290

Replace A/C compressor, receiver/dryer & repair on other related components, $600

Knowing my veg-oil car is good on the environment and I'm not sending my gas money to middle eastern countries... PRICELESS!

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard.

A few links for you:

GreenHybrid.com

CleanMPG.com

GoVeggieGo.com

My friend Rich and his veggiediesel Mercedes were featured in the Bakersfield Californian.
Click here for the article.

Well, I'm supposed to post on my solution to the lack of a cup holder in the 1980 Mercedes, but I don't have any pictures to share. I'll save that for the next post.

So for now, you're stuck with another set of shoes. These puppies arrived today and although they look like leather, they are 100% vegan. Check it out for yourself here, or visit Vegan Wares.

Well, this doesn't have anything to do with alternative fuels, but "It's my blog and I can write if I want to..."

For the last few weeks I have eagerly awaited a pair of custom made vegan shoes from Australia. To place this order, I had to trace my feet and send a slew of measurements along with a sample shoe. Here it is -- an amazing pair of two-tone black and white vintage shoes:


So if you don't wear leather and want some bitchin' shoes, check out Vegan Wares. It's a little spendy, but well worth it. The quality is amazing and they are going to last for a very long time.
If you see me anywhere in the next month, they'll be on my feet and I'll be showing them off.

I like them so much that I just ordered two more pairs in different styles.

Alicia Silverstone would have appreciated these shoes if I'd been wearing them last Sunday, but I didn't receive them in time.

I went to the Silverlake Film Festival this evening and attended a panel on sustainable living. It covered a wide range of topics from alternative fuel vehicles, solar energy, compact fluorescent light bulbs, dietary changes that are better for the environment (meaning eat less meat and go vegetarian or vegan), public transportation, growing your own produce, cleaning our air and water, green homes and much more. Very informative and a wealth of ideas and sources of information on how to help change for the better.

I got the chance to chat with Alicia Silverstone & Ed Begley Jr:

For you Los Angeles readers, I just found out about the Silverlake Film Festival.

Here are a few things to check out:

Freedom Fuls
Sat May 5, 11:45 AM at the Los Feliz 3
Q&A w/ Martin O'Brien, Ed Begley Jr, Daryl Hannah

Sustainable LA/Party & Panel on green living with Ed Begley Jr, Alicia Silverstone and other environmental leaders.
Sun May 6, 4pm
Lehrer Architects Studios
Silverlake

For more info:
http://www.silverlakefilmfestival.org/

I don't own a house yet, so there are certain improvements I'd like to make, but can't. This is one of those improvements. My friends Dean and Carey recently installed a tankless water heating system at their house. I'm posting a picture here so you can oogle over it too!

Energy efficient. Instead of constantly maintaining a tank full of hot water, this unit heats water on demand.

Here are a few sites with more information on tankless systems:
http://www.tankless-water-heater.com/
http://www.itankless.com/
http://store.irawoodinc.com/tawahe.html

I was running late this morning, quickly threw my stuff in the car and fired it up. The fuel gauge was just a bit above empty. I don't have time to deal with this, so I drove off, hoping for the best. Not that I have time to run out of fuel and deal with that nightmare, but I didn't think much of it. I fueled up with 9 gallons of WVO on Sunday and typically I can get 4 days of driving from it. Today is Thursday, so I should be good until I get home tonight. Over the next 10 miles, my confidence dropped. "What if I don't have enough fuel to get home?" I don't have any veg oil in the trunk to do a fillup. And I don't want to stop at a gas station to buy diesel. Yeah, the car will run just fine on a tank of diesel or a mix of diesel & veg, but the reason I use veg for fuel is to get away from petrolium.

A few miles later, the fuel gauge, just a tad above empty, jumped up to a bit below 1/4 tank. That's more like it! The 300d was holding out on me. Or it found some extra fuel laying around. Either way, I feel better now, and know that I've got enough fuel to get home.

For best results, keep the tank filled above 1/4 tank.

I probably shouldn't brag about this, but I'm going to anyway.
Tonight I was driving home from Pasadena on the 210/134 East, moving along with the scant traffic and occasionally getting passed by other cars.
My 300d might not accelerate fast from a stop, but once it's up to speed, it drives really well.
So well, in fact, that I didn't realize I had pegged the spedometer, which tops out at 85. I backed off the accelerator a bit and felt the car slowing down, but the spedometer didn't move at all -- I was definitely above 85! Judging by the lag time before the spedometer dropped, I must have been going 90+.
That kind of speed is a rare occurrence in Los Angeles.

'Till next time, only drive fast when there aren't any cops around!

Hey gang!

Nothing too exciting to report on the veg car. It's been running really well and I've been racking up the miles with no recent repairs.
I still want to install some better speakers, but I need to find some free time first -- maybe in a few weeks.

Here is a link that one of my college buddies sent me. Commuter cars. The cars look squished. They're for one person and they are narrow, so ideally you can move through traffic more like a motorcycle, yet have the protection of being inside a vehicle.
http://www.commutercars.com/

I'm writing a pilot and I have a table read with actors in a little more than a week, so for the next 9 days I'll be sleep deprived and consuming massive amounts of caffeine while I'm crunching to get my first draft finished.

While writing this evening, I needed to move around a bit and get a change of scenery. I was also craving veggies. Not just a salad, but lots of raw or lightly steamed mixed veggies. I rolodexed all the nearby restaurants and nothing was calling out to me. And several of my all-time favorite vegetarian restaurants are too far away -- I still need to do some more writing tonight and I can't kill the entire evening.

I scanned through the restaurant list on vegparadise.com and spotted one that I hadn't seen before -- and it's only 1.5 miles away! That's close enough to make a quick trip out, grab some food and jet back home to continue working.

Leaf Cuisine
14318 Ventura Bl
Sherman Oaks, CA

Leaf Cuisine is a raw food restaurant. I've only experienced the raw food thing a few times, and this by far has been the best. I had the Veggie Sunburger, veggie-seed croquettes topped with sweet tangy tomato sauce, mixed greens and sprouts. It's a wrap, but instead of a traditional tortilla wrap, it's wrapped in collard green leaves! I also had some guacamole with dried kale chips and a glass of fresh ginger-lemonade with a touch of agave. Excellent food! I was so full I didn't have room for dessert, so I definitely need to go back again soon.

Oh, I almost forgot the reason that this all ties back into my veggie car blog -- Leaf Cuisine also packages some of their foods for local health food stores and delivers them in their veggie oil powered delivery truck!

Till next time, eat healthy and tread lightly on the planet...

A lightbulb in our livingroom burned out today. Although it doesn't happen frequently, It freaks me out every time they "pop" and burn out. It never used to scare me, but it does now -- mainly because we have some CFL's installed in our light fixtures. CFL's are more expensive than incandescent bulbs and I don't want them to burn out yet. It's just too soon!

Well fortunately the bulb that burned out was an incandescent. We're phasing them out and every time one burns out, it gets replaced with a CFL.
I'm guessing by summer we should be on 100% CFL, which uses a lot less electricity and they last much longer than incandescent bulbs. Of all the CFL's we started using last summer, none have burned out.

It's been awhile since I've posted info on CFL, so for you environmental newbies or those that are on the fence about saving our planet, it's an easy thing to do. You can get CFL's at Target and similar stores or order online.

Here are some great links for more information:

Energy Star info on CFL's

Energy Federation info on CFL's

How to choose a good CFL bulb

I drove down to Lovecraft Biofuels today to get my fuel filter changed. I've driven for 7.5 months on the original filter and haven't needed to change it yet. I probably could have driven longer on it, but the filter canister is deep black, and if it gets too clogged up, the fuel supply slows down and the car loses power. I don't want that to happen! It took all of 10 minutes to get the filter changed and sign the credit card receipt.

I normally don't enjoy the Academy Awards because the Oscars typically go to long boring dramatic movies that I just can't stomach. This years awards were great for a few reasons:

1. Tivo. Watch what you like and skip the commercials and speeches that are uninteresting. (Okay, actually I've been Tivo-ing for several years but this is the first time I watched the awards since I got the Tivo.)

2. An Inconvenient Truth won for documentary. Our responsibility to be nice to our planet and preserve it for future generations is one thing I truly believe in. The Oscar win for An Inconvenient Truth gives the movie and the problem of global warming the attention it deserves. I drive my veg oil car as a way of doing my part to lower my carbon footprint. If you haven't seen this movie, please rent or buy it and watch it with friends.

3. Best original screenplay went to Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine. A comedy. Definitely not one of the long and boring dramatic movies that the academy typically honors. It was a fun movie with a very talented cast, and I'm pleased that Arndt won. He's currently working on an upcoming Pixar movie, so I expect more great things from him.

I used my new Fill-Rite pump today to collect oil from a large oil dumpster. 7gpm, this pump is much better than the other ones I used in the past.

I got it from Strick equipment for $123, which is the cheapest price I could find online. For some reason I couldn't get the website to let me buy it online, so I had to call the company and order it "Old school style" over the phone.
http://www.strickequipment.com/catalog/elecoilpump.htm

I was shocked when I opened the box. The pictures online didn't indicate that the pump comes with hoses, a filter and a gas pump style nozzle! Boo-yah!

Here's what I got:

A few days ago I started getting a weird whining noise coming either from under the dash by the steering wheel or from under the hood on the driver side of the car. I can't tell for sure because I have no safe way to open the hood and stick my head under it while the car is moving.

I don't get the nose while idling or while driving very slow, like 5 mph, but as soon as I drive faster than that, it starts whining. And the pitch gets a little higher as the speed goes up.

I took the car to Tom, a semi-retired mechanic from some eastern European country who knows Mercedes cars inside & out. He took it for a drive around the block, then he pulled out the gauge panel and put some grease on the speedometer cable. Apparently when it gets too dry it makes that annoying whining sound. I pay him $20 for his time and I'm on my way. Gotta love those easy fixes!

Two worthwhile DVD's are out now. One was released today & another exactly one week ago:

An Inconvenient Truth

See what is happening to our planet and the lasting problems we will have if we don't make a change.
Get an Inconvenient Truth today from Deep Discount DVD (click here)

Who Killed the Electric Car

Ever wonder why we don't have electric cars on the road? This story tells all about the cars that were leased and then GM took them back from the owners and sent them to the shredder even though they still worked. To add insult to injury, GM then went on to design and sell the environmentally offensive Hummer.
Get "Who Killed the Electric Car" from Deep Discount DVD (click here)

Either of these will make a great gift this holiday season!

I thought this was interesting & wanted to share because it covers two topics that are important to me: Alternative fuels & fighting animal cruelty.

Using corn to make ethanol is picking up some steam (no fuel pun intended there!) And it appears that it may help benefit the fight against animal cruelty and factory farming:
- Ethanol is being made out of feed corn
- This is driving up the price of feed corn
- Factory farms have to pay higher prices for the feed corn for their animals that get slaughtered to put a slab of some type of meat on your table.
- Rising meat prices will cause less consumers to buy meat, ultimately resulting in less slaughtered animals

Tyson Foods has already been impacted & they expect it to result in higher food prices in 2007.

Here Erik Marcus from Vegan.com speak about this on his podcast (click here):

The original Nov 14 article from the Chicago Tribune (click here):

A short excerpt:
A 77 percent jump in the past year has made corn the most expensive since 1996, squeezing profit at companies such as Tyson Foods Inc.

The world's largest meat processor warned Monday that rising corn prices could mean consumers will have to pay more for chicken, beef and pork next year, as it ended its fiscal year with a third-straight quarterly loss.

"I believe the American consumer is going to have to pay more for protein. We are at new levels on corn that are not likely going to be retrenching back to '06 levels," said Chief Executive Richard Bond.

Bond said the price of corn, which is used to feed chicken and livestock, is going up because of demand from ethanol plants springing up to provide alternative fuel sources to oil.

To follow up from my tire change earlier in the week, here are some pictures of the jack. This is the easiest jack I have ever used & it takes very little effort to jack the car off the ground. I didn't even break a sweat.

The jack sticks straight into the frame:


It was so easy to crank, a child could do it:

I got two new tires at Pep Boys today, and I got the wheel alignment this time. (I declined the alignment in June). The mechanics showed me the car and how the back tires were wearing since I got them in June. That sent me back $200. I don't mind paying for repairs so much now that the fuel is free. I'm still saving approx $300 month in fuel costs.

Yesterday morning I was driving on the 405 and something didn't sound right. For a second, I thought it was just the crappy concrete, but the noise was loud & it didn't sound right. I held the steering wheel loosely to see if it was pulling to one side and the car drove straight. It certainly didn't feel like a flat. I was near an exit, so I pulled off onto surface streets & stopped to check. The front passenger tire was flat. Not low, but completely flat.

After I bought the car, I replaced two of the tires, so it was one of the remaining old tires that crapped out. I got out my air compressor to see if I could pump it back up, but the air was leaking really fast. Now I could have called AAA, but since the car is an experiment, I decide to change the tire myself. I got out the jack, tire iron & the spare tire, which, by the way, I had never inspected. The spare actually had air in it.

The jack was the easiest I have ever used. Changed the tire in under 5 minutes, and I was off again.

Later in the day I passed a Pep Boys, so I stopped in to see if they could fix the tire. A mechanic looked at the tire and laughed -- "There's no way to fix that. I'm surprised it didn't fail sooner." I was a little shocked. I bought two tires from a different Pep Boys in June & when they inspected the front tires, they didn't recommend replacing them. I haven't put that many miles on them since June. At least the spare was working, and it isn't one of those mini-spares, it's a full size tire.

It was 55 degrees this morning when I got to my car. I turned the key to the first notch and waited 1 minute before starting. It's hard to say if the injection heaters helped. Perhaps it did and it would have taken much longer to start without them. I expected it would turn over immediately, but instead it cranked 5 or 6 times before starting. I know the heater starts getting hot as soon as the key is turned to accessory, because I've felt it. I'm just not sure how long it takes to get really hot. I'll have to figure out some way to measure the heat and determine how long it takes the lines to get to a significant temp.

I've noticed that the car is a little harder to start in the cold weather -- well, cold for LA, that is. Lately, some mornings have been in the 60's in the early morning, and it takes more cranks until the car starts.

Today Dean and I got together and installed an injection line heater on my car. We just finished reading the instructions and gathering all the tools for the job when the neighbor's sprinklers started, and they sprayed us in the driveway. We weren't sure how long they would run, and nobody was home next door, so we had to get creative and put a "diffuser" on the problem sprinkler -- it worked out pretty well:


The heater kit we got was basically an insulated heating wire with a positive lead and a ground. The wire is run along the injectors, taped on with a silicone tape. The areas we didn't tape, we sealed up with a red silicone goop (High-Temp RTV Silicone Gasket Maker). The heater is wired to the accessory in the fuse box, so it goes on as soon as you turn the ignition key one click. In 30 sec - 1 min, it heats up to 200 degrees. This should help starting on cold days and also the engine should burn oil better all the time because it'll be heated to a higher temp.

The injectors before we started:


We used several small pieces of the silicone tape to hold the heater in place before taping all of it:


The injectors taped:


We used the red silicone goop on the heater where it jumped from one injection line to the next:


Grounding it to the engine block (green wire):

And connecting it to the accessory on the fuse panel. It's the blue clip on the bottom, connected to fuse #4.

I can't go anywhere without someone asking about the car. I was on the way to Montana... actually to Ontario. Hennessey and I are going to Montana today & his truck broke down. So I had to go from Sherman Oaks to Ontario to pick his ass up and then drive all the way back to Burbank.

I live 10 miles away from the Burbank airport and instead, I have to drive a 110 mile round trip to get Hennessey. At least I'm driving on free fuel.

So I'm driving on the 10 East, and my exit is next. A car gets on the freeway and paces me, then starts honking. "What the hell, I didn't do anything." I thought he wanted to merge into traffic & was too stupid to either speed up & get ahead of me, or slow down and merge in behind me. I looked over and it's another 1980's Mercedes. He merged in behind me and came up on my left, trying to talk to me through his passenger window to find out where to get a veg oil conversion. I yelled back, "SideshowDoug.com," but he couldn't understand it over the wind and traffic noise, so I got him to exit with me in Ontario.

I gave this guy my website & the Lovecraft info, then showed him my car and chatted with him for a few minutes. He's a character actor that looked a bit like a younger Nicholas Cage type. I asked if he could do that crazy dance that Cage did in Valley Girl, but he politely declined. It'll be interesting to see if I hear from him again and if he gets his car converted.

I wanted to get the interior really clean, so I took advice from Rich and unbolted the seats so I can remove all the carpets to clean them.
Check it out -- the car is really roomy now. The only thing I didn't remove is the brain of my stereo system -- the iPod, in a blue case.



Plenty of room to make out in the back seat, although it doesn't look too comfortable:


I had to pick up a few cleaning supplies that we didn't have -- I needed a temporary seat so I could drive my car:

Just kidding about driving my car that way.

We had fun with a few other seat modifications. This one gives me better visibility:




And this one gets bonus points for style, as well as promotional points for the Guinness product placement:




I thought it would be cool to get a couch or a recliner into the car, but that would take a little too much effort.

At noon, we took a lunch break, followed by one of the greatest desserts known to man: The Guinness Float with vanilla bean ice cream. The first time I heard of this, I thought it sounded like a terrible idea. You just gotta trust me on this and try it! "Guinness, for strength!"

I went to Bakersfield to do some work on my car and also help Rich work on his. He's getting ready to lift out the old engine from his 1983 Mercedes.
Here's proof for Liora that we were working on his car:


The engine was nearly ready to be removed & all we needed to do was disconnect it from the transmission. The bolts were on so tight, the pneumatic tools couldn't get them off. Gotta figure that one out.

I met a really cool manager at a Thai restaurant today & he agreed to let me have some of his oil. (I'm not going to say which restaurant so you can't poach my oil!) They use 100% vegetable oil, so this should be a good source. This weekend I'll pick up a sample to test.

I drove 200 miles on recycled oil this week, and to answer the most common question -- no, I did not notice any difference in performance, nor did I notice any difference in the smell of the exhaust, although I didn't hang around behind the tailpipe when the car was running. You'll have to ask the guy who was stuck behind me in Friday afternoon 405 traffic.

I saved about $27 in fuel cost for the week!

Today I drove 51 miles on recycled restaurant oil with no problems. That's 51 miles that were completely free. Boo-yah!
I don't miss going to the gas station.

I spent part of the afternoon with Dean & Carey, filtering oil. We put recycled oil in each of our tanks for the first time. The oil is from a Chinese restaurant, so if you're driving behind us, it probably smells like egg rolls.

Carey nervously watched me drive away, wondering if my car was going to crap out. It drove just the same as before. I'll give it a road test this week, although I don't expect any problems.

Until now we were using new oil from Smart & Final or Cosco. Here's the first used oil we poured into the car:

No, I didn't start eating meat again. And yes, for those of you who are asking -- Fish is a meat. So is chicken. What's the deal with people who think meat only means beef. Vegetarians do not eat any kind of meat -- no animals. No beef, chicken, turkey, fish etc. That also includes soup broth like beef and chicken broth. If someone tells you they're vegetarian and they eat chicken, they are kidding themselves.

If you want to listen to a cool podcast, check out Erik Marcus on Vegan.com. He is active against factory farming and he rips the meat industry a new one on a weekly basis.

Back to the topic of this post: Sushi restaurant.
I called a manager of the sushi restaurant down the street and they're willing to let me use their oil for fuel. They pay to have it taken away, so they're glad to give it to me for free. I need to get a sample and test it to see if the oil is good (not mixed with shortening or cleaning chemicals). I've heard that sushi and Chinese restaurants have the best oil. We'll see...

I found a shop up the street that installs car stereos. $65 and one hour later, my new Blaupunkt stereo is working, and it has an aux input for my iPod. No more listening to static-ey radio stations that won't quite tune in. Now when I'm driving I can catch up on all my podcasts.

I went to visit my friend Rich in Bakersfield to repair my center vent, which can only be done by removing the entire dash. The idea was to hit the road at 7am so we could get an early start before the heat of the day. Mid-day in Bakersfield in September is not the time to be outside, so we'll start at 8:30 and finish up by noon.

So much for that brilliant idea. I woke up at 7 and scrambled to gather all my crap, load up the car and hit the road. After getting cash and coffee, I hit the road at 8am, so I should be in Bakersfield by 9:30.

The (non-turbo) Mercedes rode well on the freeway. It slowed down to 55 climbing up the grapevine. Then on the way down the hill, traffic came to a complete stop. Then stop and go for the next hour until I got up to the accident. A road crew was loading up a Suburban and a boat/trailer onto a tow truck. It looked like the Suburban rolled. Finally, I get back up to freeway speeds.

So, I get to Bakersfield and find the exit to Rich's house. A truck cuts me off and I miss the exit. No other exits for 5 miles, then turn around to go back another 5 miles and get off on my exit.
At this point, I'm playing bladder challenge. I can't even listen to the radio because I have to concentrate on bladder strength.
Finally I pull up at Rich's house and see him in the garage. I jump out of the car, "No handshakes! No hugs! Gotta pee!" I stormed right past him and into the house to use the can.

Rich also has a Mercedes -- a 1983 Mercedes and he's attempting to swap out the engine for a 1984 -- talk about a huge project! Rich and I removed my dash to replace the diaphragm in the pod that controls the center vents, which I need to work for the A/C to work on high. It took half the day to get the dash out and do all the work, only to find out there's a small vacuum leak in one of the lines somewhere & there's not enough vacuum to get the pod to open the vent. So we wedged the vents open until there's time to figure out the vacuum leak. At least the cold air will blow during our hot California summer. We ran out of time and didn't get to install my new stereo or do any work on Rich's engine. Next time...

Rich posing "inside the hood" at the junkyard -- this is where he got his engine. And Rich posing in the driveway with our two dashes.


My car without the dash.


The pod with the faulty diaphragm, and our thoughts about how hard it was to get under the dash to fix it.

I got a call from Tom, the work is done. No additional parts are needed for the A/C. I ran down to the shop, got the car and fired it up. The A/C came on and it was cold. I expected the heavens to open up with singing angels, but they must have been busy with more important matters. Instead I got a dozen midgets doing a salsa rueda around my car. They appeared out of nowhere, did a complex, partner-passing routine, and then quickly disappeared into the bushes. Sometimes, you're just in the right place at the right time!

Here's the work they did (the mechanics, not the midgets):
A/C (steam clean engine, diagnose leak, replace high pressure hose, add coolant)
Replace glowplugs
Replace belts
Replace window washer pump
Parts, labor & tax: $960.59

That's less that 1/4 the cost of the quote from Lucas A/C, and Lucas would only have fixed the A/C and replaced a ton of parts that weren't necessary. That's the value of a second opinion, my friends.
And now for my opinion: Lucas can kiss my white ass! The next time I drive by that shop, I'll have to drop trau and hang it out the window. I've never done that while driving a car, but I might have to make an exception.

Oh, and to top it off, Tom, Vic & Juan tightened the steering box to remove the play in the wheel, they armor-all'ed the interior and tires, they replaced my faulty window switch in the driver console, and made some adjustments so the transmission is smoother when changing gears. All for no charge. Boo-yah!

Only one slight catch -- the mechanics explained that the center blowers aren't putting out as much air as they should. They recommended driving it for a few weeks and seeing if the air output is enough for me or if I want to fix the center vents. If I want to fix it, they need to remove the dash to replace the vacuum valve. The parts are cheap, but it's a labor intensive job that will cost $400-500.

How nice of them to give me the option & save me the money. I think I'll add Tom, Vic and Juan to my Christmas card list this year!

Tomorrow I'm driving it to work. A bunch of guys have been begging to see the veggie car.

Tom called me from the shop and wanted me to come in so he could show me the car and what needed to be done, so I ran down to the shop. He thinks the A/C system is in pretty good shape, but he won't really know until we replace the high pressure hose. (Interesting, the guys at Lucas A/C told me I had to replace everything!) I authorized the work along with his recommendation to replace the glow plugs (I knew 2 were out), the belts (which were making some very loud squealing noises when driving) and fix the window washer pump. I'll hold off on revealing the cost until I know if there's further A/C work needed. Tom promised to have the work done by Friday.

After the junkyard, we set up our used oil filtration system, cut a hole in the drum for the filter, dropped in a 5 micron "sock" filter, and poured in several "cubies" of oil that has been settling for several weeks. We learned a few important things while testing out the filtering:

1. Open up the cardboard boxes and remove the cubies. You can see through the cubies and tell if there's a sludge line. One of our cubies was 2/3 sludge, and it won't make good oil, so we didn't bother to filter it.

2. Pour from the cubie into a large bucket first, to see how good the oil is. Then if it's bad, you haven't ruined the entire 55 gallon drum.

3. When pouring from the cubie into the bucket, watch for sediment. At some point on all of the cubies, we started seeing specks. This is a good time to stop pouring into the bucket.

4. Then pour from the cubie into the barrel, only using the best oil. Our filters will last longer this way.

Our first test run filtered about 15 gallons of oil. Other cubies are still settling, and we'll filter them later. At this point, we're still running our cars on new vegetable oil until we "break in" the engine for 600 miles and change our first fuel filter.

The 55 gallon drum and hand pump:


Darren pouring oil into the filter:

Today I went to the "Pick-a-part" junkyard in Sun Valley. Don't go there 11-1, in the heat of the day. I got a little burned on my neck. It's valley heat on top of all the cars and pavement reflecting the heat back at you. Not a tree in sight to offer any kind of shade.

This junkyard is basically a graveyard of cars, and if you can find a part that you need, you have to remove it from the car yourself and take it to the checkout line to pay for it. Unless you ask the cost of a part upfront, you don't really know how much it's going to cost. It was a half price sale, and I managed to get two of the window switches for the back doors for a whopping $5.00 total. That sure beats dealer cost and the auto parts store cost. I found a supplier online selling them for $45 each. Boo-yah!!

Dean and Carey went with me to get a new visor and seatbelt for their 300d, and Darren went to get a part that was missing on his antenna. We all have 300d's of varying years, so it looks like we started our own 300d club. Watch for us on earth day in the spring, we're going to have our own parade somewhere, along with anyone else who wants to join us with their veg oil conversions. (No Hummers allowed in this parade! Laurie David would like that.)

Here are four pictures of the place, to give you a feel.

I took the car to Vic & Juan's Auto Repair. Dean & Carey got some repair work done on their Mercedes and they really liked the mechanics. I left the car with Tom, a semi-retired Yugoslavian guy that knows Mercedes cars inside & out, and he drives an older one himself. I asked for a quote on the a/c and to check the car over and quote any other work that it might need. They're going to start by steam cleaning the engine to make it easier to find the leak. I should know more in a few days.

Today I rolled down the rear driver side window a little bit by mistake and couldn't get it to go back up. And like an idiot, I tried rolling it down more and then rolling it up again, which just got it stuck further open. I can't park it on the street like this, or I might as well put a huge sign in the window, "Unlocked car, take whatever you want!"

I thought maybe there's a way to manually move the window, so I removed the door lock, the door handle and pulled off the inside door panel only to determine there's nothing I can do to make the window move up. The window switch in the driver console would roll the window down, but not up. The window switch in the door wouldn't move the window in either direction.

I took the car to Van Nuys Mercedes Benz, on Oxnard near Van Nuys Bl. A mechanic had me roll down the window while he grabbed the window and tried to help it move. We successfully got the window stuck even lower. He pulled the window switch out of the driver console and it exploded into a dozen pieces. He somehow managed to reassemble the switch and get it working. Good to know that the switch pops out of the console so easily. If it has problems again, maybe I'll be able to reassemble it myself.

Oh, and to top it all off, the window switch in the back door started working again, even though we didn't touch it.

The temps finally cooled down to 85 today, which is still hot, but not scorching like it's been the last few weeks.

Since the conversion, I was driving on the remaining diesel fuel in the tank, mixed with the 1 cubie of oil -- the blend was approx 50/50.

Today the tank level was on empty and I wasn't sure how much longer I could drive without refueling. I added one new cubie of new veg oil, which filled the tank to 1/3 -- so the car is now driving on 100% veg oil.

I got the quote from Lucas today. They wanted to replace the compressor, receiver drier, evaporator core, expansion valve, and a buttload of a/c hoses and vacuum lines, (in an announcer voice here) all for the low, low price of $3993.56! And that's not all. We might also need to replace the vacuum actuators, but we're unable to determine that until we get in there! (End of announcer voice)

I suppose if I need new brakes if they'd tell me I need to get new tires, rims and an axle.
If I'm going to pay that kind of money, I should be making a down payment on a newer diesel truck and getting it converted at Veg Powered Systems in Ojai. At least then I'd could have a more modern vehicle that's loaded with working accessories.

Well, most of the cost is labor, and these guys aren't Mercedes specialists. I'll check back with my Mercedes mechanic for a second opinion. If they've done this work before and know how to remove & replace the harder-to-reach parts, perhaps the labor will be cheaper. There is a little satisfaction knowing that my car made their shop smell like a kitchen.

Most Mercedes from the 1980's are selling without a working a/c, so cars that cost $3500 - 5000 also don't have a working a/c. I'm fortunate that I only paid $1000 for the car instead of laying out 5k on a car and then getting a huge a/c repair quote.

I haven't driven the Mercedes very much the last few days. It's been 100+ in LA and until the a/c is fixed, I'm not going anywhere in the car. I paid $51.61 to fill up my Xterra, so I'm looking forward to getting the Mercedes a/c working soon.

I have an appointment with Lucas Auto Air Conditioning in Van Nuys, on Wednesday. They're supposed to be the best mechanic for auto a/c. They've been in business since 1958 and have a great reputation for a/c, heating & electrical service.

I went to Glendale to visit Mike and Alaina and see their new baby. By 8pm at night there wasn't much traffic, I got the Mercedes up to 80 MPH and it rides smooth. Afterwards, Melissa and I went out for dinner. I took a few bumps that are a bit rough in the Xterra because of the stiffer suspension. The Mercedes flew over the bumps like they weren't even there. It's a solid car. Now all it needs is a/c, and I have an appointment for that on Wed.

I drove to the DMV to register the car. I only have 10 days to register the car or I'll be in trouble with the DMV militia. I went online to make an appointment and the first available slot is July 26, so I decide to go to the Glendale branch without an appointment. There's a special entrance for people without appointments, so I go in and there is no line! (angels singing here).

I told the girl at the first desk that I need to register my car. She quickly looks over the paperwork (title), gives me a number and tells me to have a seat. I sat down, waved at a little kid that was staring at me, and then my number was called. I didn't even have a chance to crack my book open and read a page. I stood up and declared "I take back every bad thing that the entire human race has ever said about the DMV," and step up to the window. The DMV agent took the title, asked me for $98.00, and gave me my new registration. It took all of 3 minutes! "Thanks, I should register a car more often." I was out and on my way.

On the way home, at a stoplight, the car smelled kinda like fresh waffle cones. That sure beats the smell of diesel.

Here's the fuel I am running on, as listed on the label:

AVO
100% Pure All Purpose
Great American Brand
Soybean Salad Oil
1 Tbsp: 130 cal
Fat Cal: 130
Total fat: 14 g
Sat fat: 2g
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 0
Total Carb: 0
Protein: 0

Not a significant source of cholesterol, dietary fiber, sugars, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron.

Caution: any oil will burn if overheated. If oil smokes, reduce heat.

Lovecraft promised me the conversion would be done today, and by 6:30 I haven't received a call. I thought they were only open until 7pm and figure it won't be done until tomorrow. I get the call at 9pm. The conversion is done and they are still at work on other vehicles for the next few hours, so I can pick it up. Melissa drops me off and I was lucky she has a checkbook -- Lovecraft doesn't take credit cards. I fire up the car and it runs the same as before. Under the hood, there's a huge filter that looks like an oversized oil filter. It's clear so you can see how dirty or clean the filter is and so you know when to change it. Apparently if you let it get really dirty and don't change it you'll start losing power. I bought 4 "cubies" of vegetable oil, threw three of them in the trunk and poured one into the tank.

After driving for a bit, I notice the faint smell of food. No restaurants around, so it must be the veg oil at work under the hood.

I decided to test the car on the 405. There shouldn't be any traffic at 11pm.
It's a little slow starting up the hill, but once up to speed, it drives really well.

I dropped the car off at Lovecraft Biofuels. Dean was cool to drive down and give me a ride back. Before going to Silverlake, Dean and Carey test drove my car. Although the car isn't zippy, they told me it was more powerful than some of the turbo models that they have test driven. Not sure why a turbo model would be less powerful than my non-turbo car. Now I don't feel so bad for getting a car without a turbo.

I purchased a 1980 Mercedes 300d for $1000. It only has 157,000 miles, which is low for a diesel engine. Diesels can run 500,000+ miles, unlike gasoline engines that crap out at 100-150k depending on the make. I met the car owner through a friend whose father is a mechanic at Diesel Research Development. Right after buying the car, I took it to the same mechanic for the service that was due -- oil change, transmission oil change, a/c recharge.

Then I took the car to Lovecraft Biofuels in Silverlake to get a veg oil conversion. Lovecraft was slammed with cars that were dropped off on Friday evening and Saturday morning, and they were so backlogged that I couldn't get any work done until Monday. Bummer. I really wanted to be driving on veg oil as soon as possible, but there are other things I need done on the car.

I drove the car to Pep Boys and got two new tires. While waiting for the tires, I did some shopping at Costco and ran into Christopher Titus, from the hilarious sitcom called Titus, about his crazy family and his custom hotrod shop. The very funny Stacy Keach played his father. The show is now out on DVD and is worth seeing.

And in the evening, Melissa and I went to see the Pixar film "Cars." It wasn't intentional -- I didn't realize the entire day had been about cars until we got back from the movies. The film was a ton of fun. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. And make sure you stay through the credits. The closing credit sequence was hysterical.

Melissa and I purchased some compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL).