This is our veggie-powered (greasecar.com) '94 Suburban. We call it "The Grapenator". We have had it for a little over a year now, and we love it. It runs on diesel or wvo (waste vegetable oil). We process all our own oil that we get from a few local restaurants. We have a 15 gallon tank installed in the back that is heated by radiator water to get the oil up to temp. We have noticed no change in fuel mileage whether we are on diesel or veggie. The engine does run quieter and yes, it smells like french fries coming out of the exhaust!

 

Thats pretty sweet. you don't have to pay any extra tax to be able to legally make that conversion do you? Don't know if this is still the case with our new governer, but I know when you buy a kit here in NC, you have to pay the "road tax" that in advance on what is called a "biodiesel permit".

 

I think we got our system before everyone was that hip on it. I am sure we should be paying some type of road tax, but we have never been asked to. It doesn't say anything on our registration about it running on veggie oil, and besides the tank in the back and a couple pumps under the hood, you really can't tell what it is. So no, we don't pay anything extra.

The system looked fairly easy to install if someone was so inclined. I am thinking that if you buy the system and do it yourself, they shouldn't charge you "road tax" on it. Who's to say that you ever installed the system for them to tax it?

We have had no problems with our system as of yet. There is another oil filter up under the hood as well, that I changed at about 10,000 miles. It didn't seem to need to be changed, but I thought it had been on long enough. Although, we filter our oil above and beyond what is needed, so I am sure that is one of the reasons I haven't had to change it.

We love it! It gets the same mileage all the time, even when I am pulling our travel trailer or our flatbed.

 

Thats cool, thanks for sharing that. What did it cost you to make the conversion?

 

Would you mind posting a rundown on it sometime? I don't think anyone on the forum has actually made a grease diesel and it would certainly shed some light on how to convert/filter the oil.

 

I second that , pictures of what was done would be nice to see.

 

Here is a link to the greasecar site that may explain it better than I. Again, we did have it installed (About $4000), so I only know generally how it works.

http://www.greasecar.com/flashtour.cfm

I will start from the tank to the front.

This is the 15 gallon tank that is installed in the rear of the Suburban. (Although I have read that their are a couple places trying to make saddle tanks so that it doesn't take-up space in the back).


Next, are the hoses to and from the tank. These hoses run through and under the floor to the radiator and fuel filter up front under the hood. (Don't mind the mess on the carpet, I haven't had time to clean in there since our last major road trip, lol).


Next is the fuel filter that is located under the hood. It is wrapped in that heat foil stuff, but basically, all that is underneath it is copper tubing wrapped several times around a regular oil filter. One side is the oil coming in, and the other is the oil(grease) going to the fuel pumps.


It then goes from the filter to the fuel pumps that split it between regular diesel and veggie oil.


This is the switch located on our dash to turn it on and off. The red light in the center comes on when you are using it.


This is our temp and fuel tank gauge also mounted on the dash. The one on the left is a digital temp. You cannot use veggie oil until the temp is at least at 105. And obviously the other one is the fuel gauge, lol.


Hope this was of some help.

Blurple Suburban

 

Thats pretty slick , thanks for sharing the pics. I am runnin out the door right now but I will have a few questions later

 

No problem, I have this site bookmarked, so I will check it every day.

Blurple

 

Thats what im talking about now! and you have resteraunts hooking you up ? right on brother ! sweet set up ! i wonder if they can put a saddle tank like the trucks of that year that would give you 34 gals i think free up some space and possibly heat it off your exaust with a solinoid and wastegate set up to maintain temp. Buy the way the front bumper is it exclusive to The GMC of that year or available in other years too i have a 96 chev and mine doesnt have the two center spot cut outs oround the plate