Changing Fuel Lines in Rabbit to accomodate BioDiesel?

[VW Scully]

Hey everyone;
Well, with Spring (slowly!) making its way here, I am looking into swapping the fuel lines in my Rabbit so I can run my Homebrew B100 in it this Summer. I've been running about B5-B10 in it over the Winter/early Spring, but I'm concerned the old fuel lines will soon start to get eaten away.
Has anyone done the swap? How easy is it? What are all the lines/rubber gaskets that need changing?
Any help is appreciated. (Pictures help my ADD brain a lot too ).
Thanks!  

[VW Scully]

Thanks!
That is quite helpful. However, as for people disinterested in the DIY stuff; I'm NOT one of those; quite the opposite in fact; I AM most interested in that kind of stuff; that's why I play around in old restaurant fryer dumpsters and hang out in VW Shops .

Anyway, re. the fuel filter; I like to run a redundant fuel filter in my car anyway; I have the standard VW one and then a small 6 micron one (from a local Diesel truck shop) afterwards prior to the IP. I will still carry a spare VW one though cuz that will likely be the one to clog up first.

Now if only the weather would warm up so I could work on my car without having to wear a parka and mitts :mad:

[Justin]

Fatmobile I am also one of the DIY kind of guys and always look to you for answers and tips, I will soon be trying to duplicate your WVO setup only with a larger tank

Please dont let a few people discorage you from posting pictures and helpful pointers.

and VW Scully i hear you on the warm weather

later
justin

[jackbombay]

A piece of nylon or viton with a nice snug fitting machine thread screw screwed into the end has worked well for me, sorta ghetto, but permanent and effective.

[VW Scully]

jackbombay;
Can you post a photo of that?? My brain won't process what that looks like unless I can see it . (Sorry, I got ADD :-o).

[fatmobile]

Here's a related topic.
 http://vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=669
 and what I said on it:
 I just replaced a rubber line coming from the tank, on an '84 Rabbit, today.
I replaced it with urethane hydrolic lines.
The original line reduces from about 7/16" (11mm) to about 5/16" (8mm).
They did this on an old Mercedes I was working on too.
Couldn't find a 5/16" to 7/16 adapter anywhere ... till I looked at the PEX parts at Manards.
I used a brass 3/8" to 1/2" PEX adapter. 3/8" PEX is a little smaller than 3/8" and so is this adapter.
It was hard to find 7/16" hydrolic hose so I used 1/2" but it works well.
5/16" is easy to find.
Running that air brake line, between the injectors works great and it's cheap.
 I'm going to put a "T" between the last 2 injectors and instead of using a plug on the last, small injector return line, I'll run it back to the "T".
 One rubber hose that I haven't swapped to something biodiesel safe is the fat one going from the filler neck to the tank.
 That clear, blue urethane is some beautiful stuff. I've never seen it before, thanks for the pic.
 

I will soon be trying to duplicate your WVO setup only with a larger tank

 A little off topic but if you are planning a SVO setup in a VW, I wouldn't go any bigger than 6 gallon for a second tank. If you need to go long distance, you can take the tank vent and connect it to another tank and it will pull fuel from the second tank as you drive. 6 gallons is plenty for around town but I fill my 10 gallon filter tank and connect it to the vegy tank for long trips.

[mortskeg]

When I put my 1.5d in about a year ago I replaced all the fuel line.  My local truevalue had small diameter fuel line, but it wasn't rubber like the rest of the stuff I was buying, it was this yellow TYGON stuff.  Later I read that it's B100 compatable so I was glad that I got it.  Anyhow, for that last injector I just cut a short section of the TYGON fuel hose and stuck it on there.  I had some extra plastic clips that hold the grill on the westmoreland rabbits, and took the middle pin out of the rest of the assembly.  I shoved this plastic piece into the open end of the fuel hose and ziptied it there with a small ziptie.  This maybe a bit crude but it has worked for over a year and doesn't look too bad IMHO.

(of course I have also used this plasic piece of the clip to replace the broken VDO clock set-knob that likes to brake on the gti cluster)

Hope this helps.
 

[Justin]

that tygon stuff is really nice, its what i am going to start using, we use it at work for testing and i think that it will handle 300 or 3000 psi and even egt temps, it is truely amazing stuff i am suprized a hardware store would carry it and it is resistent to almost everything if not everything

later
justin

[bake_sale]

A little off topic but if you are planning a SVO setup in a VW, I wouldn't go any bigger than 6 gallon for a second tank. If you need to go long distance, you can take the tank vent and connect it to another tank and it will pull fuel from the second tank as you drive. 6 gallons is plenty for around town but I fill my 10 gallon filter tank and connect it to the vegy tank for long trips.[/quote]

Following up on your comment.  A friend is going to give me his 80 Rabbit Diesel with 80K.  It's been garaged since 1995. I want to convert it to run on WVO.  DO you think this is a good option?  What about using the std tank for the oil and creating a second, smaller tank for the diesel fuel?  Any other suggestions before I set out on this path?

Thanks so much.

Eric in Oakland, CA

[zyewdall]

I like the porche fans.  I put an extra electric cooling fan from a subaru on my rabbit.  The reason was because I want to put 5 gallon SVO tank in the engine compartment, where the battery usually goes.  The battery went over to the passenger side, where the air cleaner box used to be when it had the gas engine.  If I switch to the subaru fan, instead of the VW one with the big motor sticking out, I have room for the WVO tank to stick out above the tranny a bit.  Anyone got ideas on that?

On filter clogging,  I pre-emtively changed the filter on my truck about 2 months after switching to B100, and then last week (3 months on the new filter), I clogged the new filter.  It would idle, but no more.  Combination of driving around in 20 degree weather using B100, and rust particles.  Always keep a spare filter with you.

I'm considering putting in a cheap cartrige filter upstream of the stock filter, so it'll clog up every few months, before the $29 mitsubishi filter clogs up.  I suspect I have rust in the tank that the biodiesel is cleaning out.  I haven't replaced any lines on the truck yet -- no leakage yet, but I keep checking.

I've got a friend who has done two vehicals on SVO, and he strongly recommends against using SVO in the OEM tank (after doing it on one of them).  Because it is probably rusty after 20 years, and heated SVO will pick this up more, plus if you don't dewater your SVO, it'll rust worse.  We're currently in the process of putting SVO systems on my truck, my rabbit, and his VW caddy, and we're considering marine fuel tanks (made of cross linked polyethylene which should withstand the temperature of being heated).