Nicholas Weighall is a Pro-Bicycle rider with a passionate concern for our environment. Nick has built his own WVO conversion on an older
(All the images click to show a larger version.)
 240D which he drove for a little over a year. He recently (January 2011), purchased and custom installed another WVO conversion into this nice ole Mercedes Wagon.
Nick drives his Frybrid Wagon to most of the Races he competes in. He is helping save the environment every time he uses WVO for fuel instead of diesel or gasoline. |
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I belive this is an '85 Mercedes Benz Wagon - TurboDiesel
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This is Nicks second GreaseCar.
He originally built a home made kit on a 240D sedan which I may get a chance to add to the web later. Most folks start a wvo project with a 240D because they are relatively inexpensive to purchase, and you aren't risking much to tinker on them.
You have to have a very good running car to begin with, everything depends on it. However, the 240D's are underpowered for
today's driving and like myself and others with a 240D - needed to upgrade to a TurboDiesel for some more power. |
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Nick did plenty of research about WVO on the Frybrid Forum and other sources of info. Many claim the older Mercedes to be the ultimate car for WVO. Nevertheless, any older car will develop many idiosyncrasies over time which you have to deal with. Anytime you buy a 20+ year old car, you will surly have things that don't work, or don't work properly. The Mercedes Wagons are a particular favorite for WVO'ers. Nick is a very active fella and not only does he race bicycles professionally, he is an avid
skier, swimmer, hiker and all around outdoor activist. So, a wagon was also what he really wanted. Note the cargo container on top. |
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Picture left shows the Mercedes Wagon nearly loaded. On the back is a beefy bicycle rack but the bike isn't mounted. I'll try to get a pic of his bicycle - it is really awesome - an ultimate race bike. In fact, Nicks race bike probably cost more than his car, the rack, and the cargo all put together!
Nick did lots of unique things to his Mercedes wagon. It was an automatic, but Nick changed it to a 4 speed manual transmission. |
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Nick added dark window tinting to hide the tank and of course hid anything else being carried in the wagon. Good for security.
The Mercedes gets loaded up with lots of fuel, lots of cargo, lots of weight on a regular basis. The Mercedes wagons have a unique self adjusting Load leveler that was another important factor for getting a wagon.
Nick did a little painting here and there to improve the wear and tear over the years. I think he did a great job without spending much money. Usually, folks that create a WVO car have to invest quite a bit of money into the project, so we all try to be as conservitave as possible with expenses. They add up fast. Nick has done a great job without allot of expense. |
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One of the huge improvements Nick made was to remove the stock Diesel tank and installed a huge aluminum tank for the WVO.
I think his new wvo tank is 25 gallons. So, he had to make a second custom tank for the stock diesel fuel. He found another customized tank someone made for the Mercedes wagon that fit in the back of the wagon.
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You can see how nicely the second tank fits into the sidewall accross from the spare tire well. Nick usually has more sports equipment to be used at a moments notice.
The second tank shown here is the diesel tank. I believe it is a 15 gallon, maybe 20. Together with the new WVO tank he has a huge range and can travel for a long long time before needing fillups.
This Mercedes wagon gets about 25MPG running diesel or wvo. |
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Nick did lots of work on this engine before converting it to wvo.
He changed the way the engine breaths by rerouting egr lines and eliminating some redundent hoses or completely removing some elements. He added a very cool K&N filter and made room here and there for the wvo components. Although Nick did find a Frybrid kit to buy, he customized many of the components and ended up with a very unique custom designed WVO conversion. |
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The muffler was shot, so Nick removed it! Running straight pipes - it sounds Awesome! Not too loud, it sounds growly and tough and ready to rumble. You can see how Nick custom mounted the WVO switchers, filter, and hoses in the larger pictures. Anyone installing a WVO kit has to do some customizing to mount components and route hoses, electrical, gauges and all.
All in all I think Nick has done a real bang up job and created a very unique custom Mercedes Benz Wagon TurboDiesel that will run on waste veggie oil. Awesome job Nick. |
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Alas, Nick has discovered that he really needs a big rig
for all the hauling & traveling he does. Nick is an avid Sail Boarder,
and actively participates in many water sports, snow sports, and is pretty
;much an all around sports adventure junky. So, he is always hauling
equipment and people for these activities. Nick sold the awesome
Mercedes wagon in May 2010 and has purchased a Dodge Ram Pickup. The
Ram is currently undergoing a Greasendectomy and should be up and running on
WVO by mid June. |
