Vegoil Adventure Trip Journal

tomsepe.com

Veggie-Oil Adventure to Latin America

Our Setup | Participate | Donate | Trip Journal | Image Gallery

2/18/04

We're driving through Latin America on Veggie-oil!
Kris Bauer and Tom Sepe departed on February 19th
in a 1986 Chevy Suburban that has been converted
to run on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO).
We'll be keeping a trip journal with photos posted as often as possible.

Thanks to Michael Christian, Phil Sadow, Dave Murphey, Justin Young,
and the rest of the crew at Xian Productions for generous assitance and patience
as we finalized the vehicle.

A big thanks to the Sepe Family for support and understanding!

Thanks also to Craig Reece at Neoteric Biofuels for the generous assistance and sales of necessary equipment for the conversion.

Thanks to Billy at Ace Auto Salvage for the two gas tanks.

Thanks to Heather Ford for video documentation.

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Our Setup:

We are running with a Vormax Fuel Filter, a 30amp Veg-Therm, and a Pollack 6-port motor driven valve. We mounted two 20-gallon gas tanks pulled from Jeep Cherrokees and placed them into a custom welded roof-rack, and joined them as one. We can also carry 17 5-gal carboys on the roof rack, for a total capacity of 125gallons!

In addition, I've installed a manual filter backflush option, a manual air purge valve just before the injectors, and a 3-port soleniod valve that allows me to loop the return line back into the engine to help conserve heated or or purge oil from the system rather than sending it to the diesel tank.

Click here for a jpg diagram of our system.

It's been a long tough process getting ready.... now read the journey as it unfolds!

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Participate!

Send email to:

thomas @ tomsepe.com

bauerkris @ excite.com

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Donate!

We are graciously accepting donations!
This is an educational and promotional adventure. We are sharing this possibility of sustainable technology with people all across Central America. The conversion cost over $1200 and we are now travelling on a shoestring! We've faced numerous mechanical challenges already, including welding on new mufflers, repairing the exhaust, replacing a steering linkage, busting a water in fuel sensor, replacing the alternator, and exploding a couple fuel filters! (That actually sounds more exciting that it was!)
Every $20 counts!
You can send your donations via paypal to email address:
thomas @ tomsepe.com

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Trip Journal:

Day 0: 2/18/04 Berkeley CA (The Day Before Leaving)

Day 1: 2/19/04 Berkeley to SF to Santa Barbara

Day 2: 2/24/04 Isla Vista, CA

Day 3: 2/21/04 Santa Barbara, CA

Day 4: 2/22/04 Santa Barbara, CA to L.A.

Day 5: 2/23/04 L.A.

Day 6: 2/24/04 L.A. to Outside Tucson, Az

Day 7: 2/25/04 Tucson

Day 8: 2/26/04 Tucson

Day 9: 2/27/04 Tucson