Short introduction

In 2002 my family and I moved to Gainesville, Florida. Coming from New York City, one of the most energy efficient places in the country, I was reluctant to thoughtlessly participate in "car culture," and tried to ameliorate my impact. The best recommended option, besides walking and biking (not always an option) was to recycle and refurbish an old efficient car and use an alternative fuel. But our schedule was very busy, so we opted for a lesser alternative first, a hybrid car. Recently, however, I took up the original recommendation and bought an '82 VW Rabbit Pickup and adjusted it for Biodiesel. 


These were the planned steps: 1. Get old diesel car. 2. Make it work right mechanically. 3. Make it run on biodiesel. 4. Find regular source of biodiesel. 5. Restore the car so it's usable and a good example. 6. Make own biodiesel from waste oil. 7. Convert to SVO/WVO. 8. Grow own fuel. 


This blog will be divided into four types of entries (see Labels): "Biodiesel" — Biodiesel related entries, "Car Problems" — general mechanical issues, "Explanations/links," "Restoration," which concerns making the car presentable and ergonomic, and "Timeline" which lists events relating to the progress of the project. 


Hopefully, these entries are helpful to those trying something similar.  See the longer "Introduction" for more detail.