Yet Another L400 Conversion

[northriver]

Hi,

We just purchased a Delica L400 (Spacegear Exceed). I think my wife has already been posting (posting as SandraBurholder) about a trip to Toronto that we plan to do this Christmas using as much WVO as we possibly can.

However, to actually make this trip on WVO we need to convert the van ... which leads me to this post!

I have already purchased the basic conversion kit from PlantDrive.ca (TTVTS kit) and plan to use a custom aluminum fuel tank for the WVO located where the spare tire is normally kept.

I have the Delica parked in my shop, have popped the hood and taken my first look.



Talk about a lot of stuff packed in a small space! I removed the intercooler and the battery and things already look better.



I can kind-of see the fuel injection pump to the right side of the motor (looking into the engine compartment from the front of the van), and I have identified the diesel fuel filter tucked into the far right side of the engine compartment. I have also identified a number of coolant lines. I am now at the point where I am hoping to get a few questions answered:

• Does anybody know where the coolant lines are going through the wall separating the engine compartment from the passenger compartment on their way to the van's heater or how to identify these lines?
• How much more 'stuff' should I remove to get access to the injection pump, and more importantly the fuel line feeding into it? I want to tee into the fuel line as close as possible to the actual pump, but I am a little nervous about pulling something and then having to re-install it later. Is there a shop manual that is available for these vans?
• Where have other people teed into the fuel line?
• Has anybody taken pictures of a successful conversion of an L400? I am wondering about where to place the WVO components. I am using a VM2 top mounted filter from PlantDrive, a vegtherm inline heater and two 3 port valves. The best location for these items seems to be on the left side of the engine (there is a large empty space available here where a bracket could be mounted). I am wondering what other people have done?

Apologies in advance for asking questions that are already answered somewhere else.
Thanks for any feedback!

Chris
http://www.darfieldearthship.com

[BCDelica]

Have fun with the conversion!

Your right, there is no detailed installation pictures of a L400 WVO install, and they seem a might less complicated due to having a bit more space available for an WVO install.

What are you considering for a WVO tank?

One thing that I swear by is an external fuel filler location, we had both. Also having had the family packed in the van, and whilst on long road trips, found the smell of processed WVO inside the van is no fun. And any mess, spills happen, is well messy. Easiest way to prevent this is keep the filler outside the vehicle. With that it's easy to clean and store extra WVO, and filling equipment, inside the vehicle. Not sure the best way to do that with a L400. Below is what we did with a L300's,

[nxski]

The only comment I can make about this (not being too knowledgable on the subject) is that if you remove the stock air filter and install a new ne in a new position you will free up tons of room. Profister should be able to tell you a bit more about this...

[jessef]

there is a ton of room to fit the veg filter and valves. looking forward to your progress !

[northriver]

What are you considering for a WVO tank?

We are getting a custom aluminum tank fabricated by Andrew Horvath. He is a member on this site and seems to have made a number of the tanks used for these conversions.

I am happy to hear the feedback about an external fuel filler. I am planning for an external one ... it seems like more work initially but hopefully I will not be constantly repacking the cargo area later on!

Chris

[northriver]

Spent a bit more time yesterday afternoon poking around in the engine compartment. I think I have located most of the lines I am interested in for this project:

• The fuel line from the fuel filter to the injection pump (marked with red tape)
  
• The overflow fuel line from the injection pump running back to the diesel tank (marked with green tape)
  
• The set of heater hoses running to/from the front in-cabin heater. The one that we want to tee into (the one running into the front cabin heater) has an orange (or red) rectangle painted on it for installation purposes (I am guessing). This line is also shown in the second picture.
• Still trying to track down the coolant return line going back into the water pump

Struggling to identify the water pump. Initially, I was looking for an accessory bolted onto the side of the engine that was driven by the fan belt that looked like a water pump. Only I did not find anything ... from reading on the internet it looks like the water pump assembly actually bolts to the front left face of the engine? I am assuming this would be just below the thermostat assembly? Still trying to track its actual location down ... can anybody tell me?

The coolant hoses are a little complicated. These vans have two heater cores; one in the front and one in the back, so there are actually two sets of heater hoses. The heater hoses all have small diameter pipes tee'd off of them that run to the bottom of the coolant overflow tank. I assume these pipes help bleed air out of the coolant/heater lines. Also, it looks like the coolant system is used to preheat the transmission oil (?). All in all I think I am going to abandon trying to unravel where all of these lines go!

So, how to find the return line to the water pump? Thinking about it last night I guess I am going to track the return line back from the heater core behind the dash. I have already located the heater line coming off the engine for this heater core, and the return line comes back through the wall separating the passenger and engine compartments at the same point. I am assuming this return line will eventually join up with all the other coolant lines running back to the water pump.

Otherwise I am starting to think about some mounting brackets ...

[northriver]

So I tracked down the return line to the water pump and have located the pump. It is definitely on the front face of the engine on the left hand side. The return hose goes around the back of the engine and is actually a steel pipe where it hooks up to the pump. So, I have found all the lines I need!

Yesterday I made a bracket and mounted the filter for the WVO. Will try to post pictures later today.

[northriver]

Ran the engine on canola oil yesterday ... pretty cool!



Will spend today cleaning up the conversion so that we can hopefully take it for a test drive. Will try and post pictures and steps as time permits.

[delicat]

Nice feeling isn't it! Seems like you figured out all your lines, can be a pain in the *** at time! Have you mounted your tank yet?

Keep us posted!

Cheers,
Mr. D

[Kuan]

Nice work Chris and family!

You put some of us to shame... I've had my kit for a while now and still haven't got around to installing it but I have my excuses (new baby and building a house) Now that the roof is on the house though I'm determined to get my wvo system in.

I would love to see pics of where you T'd in to coolant lines and fuel and where you mounted stuff under the hood.

Kuan

[northriver]

Have you mounted your tank yet?

We mounted the tank over the weekend ... just got back from being in Kamloops for the day ... 180 kilometres round trip on vegetable oil!

I had to stop myself from pulling over after 15 kilometres and looking under the hood to verify that the valves were on ... there was no real indication that we had switched over! The diesel tank gauge did not drop though!

The tank is mounted but I still have not worked out a final solution for the filler tube/cap for it. We purchased the gear pump/filter assembly from PlantDrive to filter the oil down to 1 micron and filtered our first tank of oil yesterday. I am leaning towards the setup I think I saw (in some of your posted pictures?) where a hydraulic quick disconnect is used to connect the pump to the tank. This would definitely minimize any mess.

[northriver]

I would love to see pics of where you T'd in to coolant lines and fuel and where you mounted stuff under the hood.

I took lots of pictures and definitely plan to post them ... hopefully over the next couple of weeks ... we have been pretty busy trying to get ready for our road trip.

I am pleased with my filter/valves/in-line heater placement tucked behind the air filter; I did not have to move anything and they do not interfere with access to anything else. I am fairly confident that I will also be able to change the oil filter without having to pull anything else out of the way ... although I will let you know after the first filter change!

[northriver]

I am now thinking about an ECU (electronic control unit) for the WVO system. Initially, I will use it to control/monitor the WVO system (WVO fuel level, valve controls, temperature and pressure).

I am currently using a 3 position toggle to control the valves and in-line heater manually. I have installed a fuel sender in the tank but it is not yet hooked up to anything.

My intention is to use an Arduino controller as the ECU ... thinking of hooking it up to an iPod or Android cellphone and use the phone's touch screen as the display and interface. I've also thought about interfacing to the OBD-II plug of the van but not sure how useful this information is.

I'm finding it awkward to post pictures here but I've posted a little more detail and a schematic here.

[harky88]

Hi gang

I am installing a wvo kit in my l400 with a second tank.

Need to know what kind of pump needed to go in the tank, what psi and gph are reccomended.

Or if anybody has used a pump successfully can reccomend one to me?

[Artacoma]

Great post - for me the key to uploading pics is to downsize them first.