Got my Golf TDI

I have lived off the grid for 20 years with solar and wind power in a home I built with my wife. Five years ago I connected to the grid and set up a 10KW solar array that turns my meter backwards. To do this I received grant money that gave me $40,000 towards the array that cost $55,000. I also received $3,500 back in taxes. Two years ago my neighbor, that is also off-grid, drove over to my house in his 2002 Jetta TDI and showed me how he converted it to run on used vegetable oil. That was way cool, especially since gas was well over $3.00 a gallon. A car that ran on used oil just seemed a perfect fit to my alternate energy home so I began to search Autotrader to find a used VW TDI and attempt to convert it. What is a TDI? I got this on wikipedia:

Turbocharged Direct Injection (acronym: TDI) is the technology used to describe and name modern turbocharged diesel engines produced by Volkswagen Group, and widely used in all marques of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles produced by the company (particularly those sold in Europe).

Best place to read about the VW TDI is at http://www.tdiclub.com/ You can find all kinds of interesting information on the VW TDI. The cars are very efficient and get 44 MPG. They are fun to drive and easy to maintain.

When I had my car I began to research the best conversion system to purchase in order to convert my TDI to run on grease. I checked the greasecar site, www.greasecar.com, that had the best graphics showing how a greasecar worked, but they didn't have some components I desired like an electric heater that preheated the oil just before it hits the fuel injectors, or a well designed filter to help filter the oil as it was pulled from the vegetable oil tank in my trunk on it's way to the engine. I finally decided to go with a Plantdrive system that is located at www.plantdrive.com. The person I spoke to was named Craig Reese and he assured me that converting my car wouldn't destroy my new used Jetta TDI. Plantdrive was most helpful as I built my car and I had a lot of questions.

When I received my conversion kit I drove my TDI in the garage, jacked it up on blocks and dove in with the help of a good friend who enjoyed homebrew beer and had a desire to convert his TDI when he saved up enough money to get it. He also is a professional engineer, liked to work on cars and that was most helpful!

I could describe how my conversion went (I have over 40,000 miles on grease) and post a bunch of pictures, but that is not why I began this blog. I am writing this because I just purchased a second TDI and Plantdrive SVO kit and as I convert my new car I will post pictures and describe how to convert a VW TDI. What did I buy? I got a 2006 Golf TDI with just 38,000 miles for less than $14,000. Go on autotrader and you may find that in this economy prices on these cars have come down. Good luck and I hope you enjoy this blog.