2006 Volkswagen Jetta WVO Install

My latest project is to install a waste vegetable oil (WVO) kit in my 2006 TDI Jetta. Over the last few months I have been gathering all of the piece to create a custom waste vegetable oil kit which uses what I feel is the best parts from all the different kits out there on the market.

DAY 1:

Day one of the install was spent finishing a custom aluminum tank. The 2006 Jetta has an irregular trunk with lots of space around the wheel well. Although it was more work then just buying a standard off the shelf tank the custom one fits nice and make better use of the trunk space.

Before welding up the top on the tank a baffle was tacked into place to keep the oil from sloshing around and so that the oil will heat faster.

Also before welding on the top of the tank a hole was drilled in the top and a tire value inserted. This value was used to pressure test the tank once the top was welded in place. Note in the picture the tire value in the center of the top of the tank.

The last piece welded in place before the tank could be pressure tested was a threaded aluminum bun. It was placed in the top front corner to allow for an oil level sight glass to be screwed in. The sight glass will make it easier to fill the tank and avoid over filling it. Veggie oil spills are not fun to have in your trunk so anything that can help avoid them is a good thing!

Before cutting an access holes in the top of the take it was pressure tested using the tire value we put in place and soap and water was used to find any leaks in the welds. Although this sounds simple many welds which looked good to the naked eye turned out to have pin holes and had to be touched up. Aluminum is not easy to weld and this tank proved it. After fixing all the holes we moved on to cutting holes in the top for the oil fill, HoFox and access panel.

The first hole that was cut was for the the stainless steal oil fill, a whole saw and drill was used to make a circular hole of the perfect size.

Next a hole was measured and cut out for the hatch access plate. The corners were cut with a small hole saw to make them round and then a the straight edges cut out with a plasma cutter. The hatch cover was a standard part from greasecar.com so we did not have to play around with fabricating one, well worth the $10.

Here is another look at the tank after all the required holes have been cut in it. The HotFox is also installed in this picture. The HotFox is an aftermarket product that uses engine coolant to heat diesel fuel in really cold environments, such as Alaska. We are using it to heat our WVO so that it will not damage the engine.

After cutting all the holes for the oil fill, HotFox and hatch plate it was time to start cutting hole in the car for the fuel lines. In order to run the fuel and coolant lines from the engine back to the tank in the trunk two holes for heating lines need to be cut. The fuel line is headed and runs in the center of one of the heating lines. We have some pictures showing this later on. For the heating lines it turns out there is a nice rectangle shape stamped in the trunk sheet metal making it easy to locate where to drill the holes from under neither the car. Again we used a hole saw and drill to create perfect sized holes for the heating lines. After drilling the hole rubber grommet were installed to make sure the hoses don't get cut by the sharp trunk sheet metal.

To finish off the day time was spent made a custom bracket to mount the heated oil filter and pump under the hood.  This bracket fabricated to use the existing bolts for the oil dipstick and engine cover mount.  Our first attempt at making the bracket did not have enough room to mount the fuel filter so a new bracket was made the next day from a single piece of aluminum avoiding having to weld pieces together.

Day 2:

Day two got office to a slow star because we changed out a front wheel baring.  After taking the passanger side apart it turned out I had gotten the wrong part and need to get someone to run the the VW deal and get the right one.

For the grease kit time was spend finishing the tank, it still needed some sharp edges grind down and hole taped to the bold used to hold on the hatch plate. Here is a look at the finish tank:

Before calling it a day we started to take apart the center console so that the wiring for the Greasecar co-pilot could be installed by running the wires under the carpet.  Taking the center console was not easy, I had to get out the service manual to find all the screws and some only came out after folding the sets a certain way.  Here is a picture of the start remove of the center console.

Day 3:

Day three was more productive, we got the center console out, wiring run, and create version 2.0 of the mounting bracket.  The new bracket was made from a single piece of aluminium and folded ends for tabs.  Again the oil fill and engine cover bracket bolts were used so no new hole had to be drilled.

Here is the center console completely removed:

Running the co-pilot wiring took some time.  First we found the grommet in the firewall that had the factor wiring run through it.  It was retentively easy to punch a small hole in it with a screw driver and run the new wires through it. Here is what it looks like from in side the car under the divers dash.

Here you can see where the wires come through the firewall into the engine compartment behind were the battery tray is usually located.

Note after getting the wires through the firewall there is a channel under the battery for which contains all of the factor wiring.  There is enough space in this track to run the new wires too.

Here how the wires are run under the dash and around to the center console.

Under the center console next to the shifter is a space for the co-pilot brain box.  This location is also accessible by only removing the coin tray from the center console.  So after running the wires for switching off the factor fuel pump and to the fuel sending unit in the new tank under the carpet the wiring looks like this:

With the wiring all run it was time to go back to mounting the heated oil filter and fuel pump.  To do this we created a new bracket like the one seen above, however, this one was made from a single piece of aluminium.

Here is the bracket once it is installed in the car.  It was design to not only use existing bolt hole but also fit under the plastic engine cover.  The cover hides the additional filter and pump for the most part keeping the car looking factory.

Also note the Greasecar value mount directly to the front plastic.  Holes were drilled and bolt used to replace self tapping screws.

After putting the center cosole back together that rapped up work for day 3.  With everything having a mount and all the wiring run one more day is needed to hook up everything and start burning grease.

Page 1 | Page 2