SVO system installed and running

[hheynow]

Was the quality of the items pretty good, no coated plastic junk?

Top notch. The Hot Fox is stainless steel, the Vormax housing is solid aluminum, the Hot Plate is well made and the Veggie Therm Mega is good too. That's why I selected this system.

 

[SLOTAO]

I decided on the Plant Drive System after comparing other systems. Since mine is pre-99 I had to select a generic kit, but I have two tanks already. The kit has a Hot Fox (an in tank heater), a Vormax filter (water separator and 10 micron spin-on) (2 micron filters are available) and Hot Plate (heat exchanger) which are all heated by a coolant loop. The last fuel(oil) heater is called a Veggie Therm Mega. It's a hollow tube of aluminum which is heated by 12v where the oil gets super heated right before it enters the fuel pump. Ease of installation wasn't so difficult once you get the big picture but it took 18 hours. I had a real water temp and veggie oil temp gauge installed. Here are a few kits that they offer.

Hi hheynow. Congratulations on your conversion. I've been emailing Craig Reece about shortening purge times on the 94-97. He said there was something in the works but I haven't heard from him in a while. Did he mention anything to you?
Rich

 

[hheynow]

Hi hheynow. Congratulations on your conversion. I've been emailing Craig Reece about shortening purge times on the 94-97. He said there was something in the works but I haven't heard from him in a while. Did he mention anything to you?
Rich

Nope. I was made well aware by Craig of this shortcoming before I ordered the system. He wanted me to sell my '97 and get a '99+.



That'll never happen!

 

[JOAT]

Hi hheynow. Congratulations on your conversion. I've been emailing Craig Reece about shortening purge times on the 94-97. He said there was something in the works but I haven't heard from him in a while. Did he mention anything to you?
Rich

***What some have been doing is installing separate inline filters for #2 and VO. Then remove the stock cartridge filter and insert something to fill all the extra space in the stock housing. There was talk of someone making something drop-in for this purpose about a year ago. Don't know if it ever happened. If you removed the heater plate you could have a block of aluminum machined (pricey). Keep in mind there is a tab in the stock filter that opens a valve in the standpipe. You need to take this into account with whatever you come up with.

***Here's an idea worth thinking about.
You could also remove the stock filter, and use a Mallory 4308m(?) FPR. Use a separate aftermarket filter on the #2 side and WVO side
-Plumb the outlet of the lift pump through a T (see below) to the inlet of the HP side of the pump.
-Connect the 2 front fuel hoses from the heads to the FPR inlet ports.
-Connect the outlet of the FPR to a T.
---One side of the T with a restriction/orifice and an easy opening check valve for the fuel return to tank. Point this part of the T up to help purge air.
---The other side of the T would connect to the T at the lift pump inlet.
If I've described this through properly that would give you the same fuel flow as the stock setup, with less volume to purge.

***You could also just tap the ports inside the stock housing. Install barbed fittings, and use hoses to make the connections. Again use a separate inline filter for each fuel.
-Outlet from lift pump goes to a T.
-Face one port of T up and connect it to to the return (FPR screen)
-Other side of T goes to standpipe port.

I tried similar variations of the 2nd two ideas while experimenting a year ago. Didn't really post on it then as I was primarily working towards an FN74 variant, but initially wanted to do away with the stock filter too. Ended up keeping it, at least for now