The goal for the week is get a 2.5 RS in my hands and get the work going.  All energy and effort goes to finding a sponsor, a major sponsor i mean, who wants their name on the car and wants to step-up and help me get this project off the ground.  The local Napa is one i would really like to get.  The guys down there are into motorsports, they do a lot of stuff in the community with their parts truck and other events they advertise at, and i would love to work with them.  But, the reality is i am getting this car this week so i can finish it before the end of August.  GAME ON!

Things are getting exciting and with a little bit of a waiting game as things come together, i've been putting a lot of my thought towards how we are going to test the fuels, how we are going to develop these new fuel types.  Motorsports does indeed have a natural process for developing the potential of the fuel, but for the Bio-Diesel Subaru team specifically, what are we going to do?  The car itself will be capable of on and off-road testing, hot and cold temperature testing, long-duration pulls, short-duration high load pulls, long-duration-moderate load long distance drives, race track testing.  These will be the main areas to test in the fuel, in terms of the physical conditions we are going to put them through.  Finding places to do all these different things will be fun, and i have some great places in mind already.  The other side of it will be more on the scientific side, and in the lab, things like flash point, gelling point and then some of the emissions things we can also use the car for in conjunction with fuel developers.  I know this isn't hugely entertaining, so i'll throw up a video at the end of one of the roads i'm really looking forward to being the main long-trip testing road. So, i'll use google.docs to create an organized chart and spreadsheet of the data that i can post as we collect it, so everyone can see what we see, you can see the numbers, see the effects of the different fuels and watch as we develop the world's greatest bio-fuel running through the baddest car on the planet.  I know i'm getting ahead of myself, and the entire build of the car will be right here on the blog for you guys to watch.  A couple more weeks and we'll have some videos of things getting started.  The Subaru shall meet it's engine before August the 3rd!

 

Today's post is about how motorsports is going to produce the highest quality fuel products.  Motorsports is a natural development process for products because each type of competition, or motorized goal to achieve, has different areas of performance that it stresses more than others.  In a hill climb, MAXIMUM power is key, keeping weight down is also important, but long duration (4 hours) reliability is not a concern at all.  24 hours of Le Mans is 24 hours of high-speed hell on an engine because both power and reliability are important, but reliability being more important forces the teams to build engines to a level of precision and also cleanliness that other engine builders would call absurd.  So many different types of motorsports with so many specific goals to achieve.  By letting teams use a fuel that is "tuneable" and easy to reformulate and try new things with, they will make sure the fuel they create supports whatever type of race they are doing.  When several motorsports are doing this same thing it weeds out the problems.  For example:
Lets say we are going racing at an professional stage rally event with our Bio-diesel Subaru.  Each stage is relatively short, but there are several stages, power is limited by class and it's a two day event with the rule that we must finish with the same engine we start with, and we run in a special eco-class that requires the use of emissions devices.  So, what do we want our fuel to do?  We want it to be Rev. friendly because our 4 cylinder engine revs. to 6500 rpm, and reliability is also very important because if we don't finish we can't win, and we get no engine swap.  Now that i have some of the basic performance key points figured out i can begin tuning my fuel.  I need it to have a higher flash-point, burn faster and absolutely not build up in a DPF that we have retained from the stock setup.  Lubrication in cylinder is also important.

So, this is one area, then you think someone setting it up for a boat race wants different fuel, and a guy doing tractor pulls wants different fuel, and the woman racing Dakar Rally is going to want something different also...then we start combining information from each of these motorsports and the fuels at the pump can benefit from the things they develop at the track.  This is how so many parts are designed and brought to the market already.  Most performance companies actually market it that way..."we use these same shocks on our trophy truck and they get us home every-time..." or some crap like that.  With the bio-diesel Subaru being capable of so many different types of events on it's own, it will do a great job of testing several different ideas for fuel as well as on the engine.  We can make a fuel that works with DPFs and we can also make a fuel that burns so well and so clean it absolutely doesn't need one.  This is just the beginning.  Soon, bio-diesel and E100 will be the main staple of the American fuel diet and soon, for the entire world.  A country like Thailand running on Bio-diesel would be absolutely amazing.

I am very excited today.  Been rockin' it all day.  Called Jordan Beck at Rogue bio-fuels.  I'm hoping he is interested in the project and that developing a new bio-diesel for them to sell is something he is as excited about as i am.  The fuel that seems to be available right now just isn't cutting it with today's new engines.  The DPF equipped engines are literally destroying themselves with cylinder wash and clogging the filter itself.  But, i see a lot of options, it just takes effort, time and money.  I have all the motivation and passion to put forth a huge effort and i am willing to dedicate all my time, now i just need to get the cash-flow, flowin'.  The Subaru engine will be a great first test platform for fuels because it is equipped with a DPF from the factory, and also, it's a high-revving diesel, and i want to test fuels with a higher flash-point to see if it will promote higher engine rpms and burn cleaner at those rpms.  As a race car, this Subaru will spend a lot of time high in the rev range and i am also thinking that these fuels with higher flash-point should also pack a higher stored energy "punch", producing more power.  Companies like Monster diesel make products that do similar things in fossil fuel diesel, and i think they may have some great answers for the bio-diesel industry.  We can make these fuels so good that they have to replace the diesel at the pump.  I am going to get all the U.S. driving on bio-diesel or ethanol in the next 5 years.  I'm going to get this Subaru built and show the world what is coming.  Before the end of August it's gonna be layin' rubber to road.

Also, i got a reply from Noel, on the RS forum.  He will hopefully be able to secure some grants for me, and at the very least point me in the right direction.  When it comes to building and designing vehicles, i'm skilled. When it comes to finding supporting finances, i have much less finesse.  Hopefully Noel will be able to get one of these grants set up to where we can get the shop up in running and build the bio-diesel Subaru all in one swing.  A couple of employees and shop space will really jump start this program.  I have several other vehicles and projects lined up for the next 24 months.  Once i get in a shop, get the Subaru finished up, we'll be able to keep things rolling and really produce some quality products to help this push for change in the fuel industry.

Just because the posts have been a lot of typing and sharing my thoughts but kind of low on entertainment value, here are a couple videos.

The 555 car with the diesel engine and you've got MY bio-diesel Subaru.

The more i talk with diesel truck owners and mechanics...and well, anyone, they have nothing good to say about the new diesel emissions and the engine systems being developed to deal with it.  The problem is not the emissions laws.  The problems lie with the fuel.  We can't burn shit fuel clean enough to really make a difference and in the effort, we are producing systems that are un-reliable and take away from the efficiency and performance of the vehicles.  The two main systems that i find to be complete SHIT! are the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) which filters out unburned and partially burned carbon.  The other system is the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR), which takes small amounts of exhaust gas (with these unburned carbons) and re-routes it back into the Intake air, going into the engine to give a chance for the engine to burn those un-burnt fuel bits.  What this does is replace oxygenated fresh air with carbon filled exhaust gas, not all of it, but a small portion of your intake air is displaced by worthless exhaust gas.

The problem isn't that technology isn't there.  The problem is that Auto manufacturers receive huge cash incentives from Oil company's.  This keeps them from building vehicles that are geared toward or advertise for the use of bio-diesel.  Instead, we advertise batteries and electric motors (which ad thousands of pounds to a vehicles) and pair that with the already poorly performing and utterly failing gas engine too.

A solution is simple:  An auto manufacturer produces vehicles that are designed to run on bio-diesel for the diesel vehicles and ethanol for the gas-burners, right out of the factory.  Fuel companies can just as easily produce the proper fuels, but there are so many huge corporations, tax laws, and money ties that may stretch farther than we could imagine, and it stops us from making a change.  Where this change has to happen is in the hands of the American people.  We are a country made by having the balls to stand up do what is RIGHT!  I'm going to build vehicles that run on the sustainable stuff only, hopefully more follow suite, and soon more people will sell the fuel, i and others will develop more fuels in racing, or in jobs that have specific duties in extreme conditions, calling for changes in fuels.  It's a chain reaction, and we can't be afraid to take those first steps.

I am going to build this Bio-diesel Subaru, i'm going to take it around the country and around the world, spreading these ideas, spreading this thought process of change, and after that year is over, i'm going to continue to build vehicles that run sustainable that out-perform fossil fuels in every area imaginable.  First thought...let's get this Subaru built!

I had some ideas in my head and wanted to get them down, so i'm sharing them with the world through my blog here.  I need to have a set list of things i'm looking to improve upon in bio-fuels current technology to improve it.  I know that 2007 and up vehicles are having Diesel Particulate Filter related issues and causing massive sometimes terminal engine wear (not just damage, but loss of lubrication.)  Low temperature functionality.  The fuel needs to not gel at very low temperatures, how low is yet to be determined.  It will give me something to check out today.  Where is current diesel on the temperature scale for gelling?  Difference with additive?  Monster Diesel seems to have a real blow-up idea.  Increasing the level of actual stored energy...great work.  More chemical engineers working with race teams to develop the fuels of the future is what is going to bring about the best in both performance as well as economy.  It's not far off...my dream is getting closer, clearing, the picture gets bigger and bigger.  The Subaru is definitely gonna rock the world soon!

I'm so ready to go!  Ready to build this Subaru, ready to establish my shop and produce vehicles that run on sustainable fuel while astonishing the world.  But...i suck at this paperwork stuff and i really can't move forward without it.  I am going through options for Grants right now as this whole deal fits right into several different sustainable energy grants.  That's where i'm at now, just trying to figure out this whole grant application situation.  Also, because this project is growing in scale and will most likely be funded by Grants for at least the first year, i'm looking for someone to work with me and help me out with that side of things.  If you have any experience and love motorsports, i'd love to bring you into the mess of sustainable performance.

I have quite a few other plans and projects lined up besides the Subaru, but the Subaru is the goal, the focus, my passion and dream, so all efforts are straight ahead at getting that thing built.  I am going to have it on the road by the end of August and get this bad boy out in the world.  Once the car is complete i'm going to plan out the Records to be crushed and also lay out a few information spreading "Tours" around the country.  The first is going to be visiting as many bio-diesel and sustainable fuel production facilities as possible while also making it to some Diesel Drag and Tow events and Open-Track road course events.  The second major tour i want to do is to schools.  I want to bring the car to schools and give a quick presentation to get kids inspired about what i am so inspired and passionate about.  PERFORMANCE!  Performance that will last forever and carry the world into a cleaner future.

For now though, i need to find this Grants money so i can change the world!!!