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GALLERY HISTORY VO THEORY SYSTEM MEDIA CONTACT

 


Kit for pre-1987 Mercedes Sedan, April 17, 2006

Vendor

Frybrid

Greasecar

Golden Fuel Systems, formerly Greasel

Plantdrive*

Tank

5025 Aluminum, baffled, pressure tested, all internal fittings are welded, fuel level sender and billeted access plate attached with cork gasket and machine bolts, vented through fitting, inductive fuel level sender

Aluminum, fuel sender and access plate attached with machine bolts and threaded inserts, sealed with silicone sealant, vented through cap.

Aluminum, fuel sender attached with cork gasket, no access plate

Tank sold separately though included in this comparison; Aluminum, pressure tested, baffled, no internal fittings

In-tank heat exchanger

Aluminum Coil surrounding fuel pickup, coil TIG welded to billeted fuel and coolant manifold and access plate. Fuel reservoir around heat exchanger to improve efficiency and avoid interruption of fuel supply when cornering. Coolant lines connect to heat exchanger with compression fittings outside the tank.

Copper Coil mounted and connected to coolant with compression fittings inside the tank.

Coolant channel along length of bottom of tank

Stainless steel coolant loop, fuel drawn through center of heat exchanger. No fittings in tank.

Heated fuel lines

Aircraft aluminum fuel lines, hose in hose heating

PEX fuel lines, hose in hose heating

Regular fuel line, hose on hose heating

Fuel line not included, kit designed for hose on hose

Fuel return

Return to diesel tank on diesel, return to vegetable oil tank on vegetable oil

Return to diesel tank on diesel, return to supply line on vegetable oil

Return to supply line on diesel or vegetable oil

 

Return to diesel tank on diesel, return to supply line on vegetable oil

 

Purge cycle

Supply from diesel tank, return to vegetable tank in vegetable oil return line

Supply from diesel tank, return to vegetable tank in vegetable oil supply line

No purge cycle

No purge cycle

Shutdown procedure

15 seconds of purge cycle. Purge time set with fuel dye and sight glass and programmed into microprocessor.

1 minute of purge cycle. Time set by looking into vegetable oil tank for returning diesel, thereafter controlled by holding switch for determined time.

1-2 minute of running on diesel.

1-2 minutes of running on diesel.

Contamination of diesel tank with vegetable oil during shutdown procedure

No

No

No

Yes

System control

Microprocessor controller switches to vegetable automatically when coolant at appropriate temperature. Push button to start purge cycle. Toggle switch to turn off system and default to diesel.

Three way toggle switch for diesel, vegetable oil, and purge cycle

Toggle switch between diesel and vegetable oil

Toggle switch between diesel and vegetable oil

Purge warning

Warning buzzer

Buzzer sold separately

None

Warning buzzer

Heated filter

Heat exchanger on top of filter

Copper coil wrapped around filter body

Electric band heater wrapped around filter body

Coolant heated, two-stage filter

Final heat exchanger

8500 BTU heat exchanger

None

None

240W, 12V electric heater tube

Fuel Valves

Aluminum body solenoid valves

Stainless steel body solenoid valves

Plastic body solenoid valve, manual brass ball valve

Pollack motor driven valve six port valve with fiberglass reinforced nylon body, manual brass ball valve

Indicator lights

Lights indicate when diesel, vegetable oil, or purge cycle

Light in switch indicates diesel, vegetable oil, or purge cycle

None

None

Gauges

Fuel level gauge

Fuel level gauge

Fuel level gauge and vacuum gauge

Vacuum gauge on filter in engine compartment

Available volumes for vegetable oil tank

21, 15 gallons

15 gallons

17; Golden Fuel sells some kits that are designed to use the stock tank for VO, and an auxiliary polyethylene tank for diesel. These auxiliary tanks range from 3 to 12 gallons.

Tank sold separately, 24 gallons

Coolant and fuel hoses and clamps

Included

Included

Included

None

Price of kits

$1795 with 15 gallon tank $1895 with 21 gallon tank

15 gal. tank
$995
$300 controller
$250 heat ex.
$75 filler =
$1620.00

$1200

$1999, price includes 24 gallon tank sold separately *

Notes:
* Plantdrive chose this Mercedes kit for comparison, as they state that it will function for users not subject to "extremely cold weather."

Differences in design:

The image below shows the inlet and outlet of the coolant hoses on a typical Greasecar tank, as you can see both holes are in the bottom edge of the tank and sealed with rubber gaskets.

The Frybrid system uses a unitized in-tank heat exchanger and tube in hose terminating end mounted to the top surface of the tank. We believe that any holes in the bottom of a tank you want to hold liquid are just a bad idea.

The Frybrid Unitized in-tank exchanger has the fuel inlet and return as well as the tube in hose couplings on top and outside the tank, the coolant connections are TIG welded and pressure checked to 125psi during construction, the inlet and return lines are welded to draw straws which extend to the bottom of the heat exchanger shield where a fuel resovoir is formed preventing fuel starvation when cornering. There are no collant connections inside the tank to leak into the fuel, every connection is TIG weolded, pressure tested and the welds are then coated with an epoxy impervious to fuels.

In this cut-away model you can see the 5/8" ID fluted aluminum coil we have custom made, the spirals not only increase the surface area of the heat exchanger, but introduce mixing of the collant to deliver more heat to the surface. The outer shield protects the coil from the forces of sloshing fuel, centeralizes the heat in the resovoir itself heating the fuel being drawn out of the tank and forms a resovoir.

In this image looking inot a Greasecar tank you can see that the coolant inlet (left) has a compression fitting choking the collant flow down to a single 3/8" OD section of copper water supply line, this line loops about the inside of the tank in several coils and is the systems only heat exchanger. Copper is known to be a rapid accellerant in the process of oxidative polymerization in vegetable oils leading to the formation of long chain polymers (plastic) which clogs filters and attacks steel. These loops of copper attempt to heat all the fuel in the tank to injection temperature.

On the right you can see a brass T junction with the collant returning to the line running out of the tank on the far right and coming from the center you can see a section of PEX plastic tube whihc is actually the fuel pickup. It is sealed form the pressurized coolant with a single o-ring inside the conical compression fitting.

The above image shows the "Hatch" cut into the top of Greasecar tanks, it is through this hatch that the user installs the copper coil and compression fittings, once installed the hatch is secured witha cork gasket and 18 self tapping sheet metal screws, these screws can only be installed once without stripping the threads from the tank top. (the Goo on the tank bottom is polymerized vegetable oil)

Here we have a Frybrid in-tank heat exchanger installed in the tank as it is delivered. It is held in place by 8 studs protruding from the tank, washers and nuts and sealed with a buna-cork die cut gasket. The Unit may be removed as often as you like and rotated into 8 positions allowing for easy line routing. Again, notice that all the holes in the tank are on the top of the tank and that there are no coolant connections inside the tank.

Frybrid tanks come with a welded fill spout and a standard DOT diesel screw cap with gasket.

each Frybrid tank is also fitted with an aluminum and pyrex "Sight Glass" allowing the user to see the fuel level while filling the tank to avoid unpleasant spills in the trunk.

These images show a Greasecar filter assembly. Again we see the 3/8" OD Copper water supply line but now it is wrapped around a standard diesel fuel filter to heat the filter. Changing the filter requires that the mount is removed and the filter slid out of the copper coil, the filter is then unscrewed and replaced and the unti reassembled.


Here we have the Frybrid coolant heated filter, note that the incomming fuel passes through an aluminum 14 plate heat exchanger before entering the filter and that the filter head has multiple IN and OUT ports allowing for controlled loop configuration without the use of plastic T fittings. The filter head incorporates three tapped holes on the mounting plate and changing the filter could not be simpler. Remove the filter and replace it with a new filter.

 

 

 

 

While we have tried to make this chart as accurate as possible, we may have made mistakes. If you see an error, please e-mail info@frybrid.com.

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