Probably A Dumb Idea...But I'm Intrigued......

You are right. By using fryer oil to make your own fuel you are bypassing the Federal Road Taxes. Some areas are starting to crack down on this "lost revenue" There are also oil and grease collection companies that are collecting,filtering and reselling the oil AFTER the taxes are paid so you buy partially cleaned and taxed raw materials.

To reiterate to you that are thick of the head........YES IT IS ILLEGAL, YES THE STATES AND FEDS ARE STARTING TO PAY ATTENTION.

 

As per a similar article in "Mother Earth News" magazine,should you choose to run homemade bio diesel or deep fryer oil,
you should keep a log showing gallons added or used,and your actual mileage.

The log and documentation shows your "intent" at paying you road use tax,or whatever its called.

As most U.S. taxpayers do their "tax paying" once a year,you have on hand all the required info you need to "pay up" at tax time.

If you "know what I mean".

 

That's actually a fantastic idea. I hope you do it and do a tech on it.

 

Thanks for all the feedback! Maybe I should just say screw it, and go with either Plan B or Plan C: Plan B is a Mercedes diesel into a Dodge Diplomat (kinda boring, mostly a case of doing it just to say I did it) Plan C is a Mercedes diesel into something like a '63 Breezeway Mercury or Early/mid 60's Ford Galaxie (how bout a diesel Country Squire? Do the veggie oil conversion and it'll be a Country Frier!! ha-ha) The Mercedes engine would probably be a pretty good match, as Mercedes hoodlines are pretty low, and power wise, it probably beats the old Ford 6. I know it won't win any races, the logic behind all this is for me to get my butt into another old car, yet have it economical enough so I can justify it as a daily driver. Like my Caddy idea, a 60's barge that gets mid to high 20's and doesn't cost a dime to run...be it an Impala, Bonneville, Galaxie or Newport, no matter how you slice it, there's something definitely appealing here!

 

it' not perfectly legal. it is a very grey area. MOTHER EARTH NEWS just ran an article on cooking oil and biodiesel. in this article they spoke of fines, tax evasion, log books and tax forms to pay taxes at the end of the year. they also gave accounts of some states beginning to enforce some of these restrictions.
with that said, do your research carefully, then proceed as your heart leads you.
i myself love the idea of biodiesel and cooking oil as fuel and hope to build such a vehicle some day.
i say save the caddy and install the diesel.whatever you decide to do;GOODLUCK.

 

Here in NY (Long Island especially) the tables are decidedly tilted against diesel cars. You can no longer purchase a new diesel passenger car in NY state. I personally think they're stacking the deck price wise as well, in order to make the older diesels lose their advantage cost wise. Was at the gas station today, a gallon of reg here is 3.25 a gallon of diesel is 3.98 Why drive a Mercedes diesel that gets 27 MPG and costs more to fill, when you can get a Kia or something that gets 35 MPG, and you can save 70 cents a gallon to boot! Call me crazy, but I'm fairly convinced theres a huge plot going on to force people into new cars. (Or, as I told the wife when she said I was paranoid...NO, paranoid is when you THINK someone's out to get you...I KNOW some one's out to get me!)

 

I might be wrong, but I thought Cadillacs didn't have the X frame like the Impalas did.

And not to hijack, but did I read that diesel engines don't have manifold vacuum? So a motor-minder can't be used on a diesel? Just wondering.

 

Caddys had the X frames from I think '58 to '64. They went to perimeter frames in '65. I read somewhere they got a lot of criticism (probably from Nader or some other idiot) about lack of side impact protection, since there was no nice big frame rail (although, the rockers were heavier than usual) Yes, diesels don't pull manifold vacuum, my '85 Mercedes has a belt driven vacuum pump by the alternator. The older Mercedes were truly the "only gas & oil required" type cars. I haven't been too particular maintenance wise with the Mercedes, and it's still happily chugging along with 300k on it! The new computer controlled diesels are a DISASTER...last year Mercedes brought around 12,500 into the US - 85% of them have been recalled, due to some sort of faulty computer sensor thing. Not Good! Give me a basic barge any day!

 

prolly shouldn't say this!!

Heathen!!!!!

Caddys are too hard to get in my Part of the globe

They seem to be like di#ks over there "half the populations got one!!

 

Most non-commercial 65s are perimiter frame. I have seen commercials with X-frames through '68, though they were rarer and rarer every year. The coach builders used them until they ran out.

As for the recall, name one car sold new in the US in the last 30 years without ONE SINGLE factory recall. I didn't think so. 99% of recalls are not publicized, even to the car owners. they are performed by the dealership at no charge (often without even being mentioned to the customer) the next time any given vehicle goes into the dealership shop for something.
That includes your '85 Mercedes. One of which (IIRC) was the correction of a problem that could leave you unable to turn off the engine, or unable to restart the engine shortly after turning it off. Yes, the diesel Mercedes was probably the single most reliable, highest build quality car built in the 80's, but they are far from perfect.