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What if you could drive a car powered by a waste product of the refining process that creates gasoline and natural gas? Great, because Detroit's Roush Industries can make it happen. The magic fuel is liquid propane, and it can power almost any 2008 Ford F-150 with a 5.4-liter Triton V-8--while it gives Hank Hill types a total adrenaline rush. Roush loaned us a converted Super Crew XLT for a few days, and we came away impressed with how normally the truck ran.

How it goes natural
Roush's offering matches the significant capabilities of the gasoline-fired F-Series when it comes to crankshaft horsepower as well as payload and towing. The conversion's focus is the fuel system, and it begins with storage; Roush offers two fuel tank sizes, a bagel-shaped Toroidal 25-gallon holding cell that occupies the same location as the truck's discarded gasoline tank, and a larger 59-gallon drum type that fits in the bed. According to Roush, most customers go for larger tank because of its 500-mile-plus range.

Forward of the tank, Roush replaces everything fuel-related, including billet fuel rails that carries the propane in liquid state to custom injectors. To take advantage of propane's higher octane equivalency (99-112 octane R/M depending on the refiner), Roush engineers reprogrammed the F-150's engine control module. The resulting output matches the gasoline-fired F-150 at 300 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque.

Driving the greener F-150
Sitting inside the Roush-modified F-150, there's nothing to tip you off that you driving a propane-powered truck. In almost every respect, it drives like its gas-burning counterpart, except in how it starts. When you key the ignition, except for the gauges and radio coming to life, nothing happens. If it's cold out, the fuel system takes up to 10 seconds to pressurize itself. Then, once it's darn good and ready, the starter motor magically engages and the truck fires. (On warmer days, or after when the engine is at operating temperature, the starting sequence requires less than three seconds.)

The truck quickly settles into an idle that's just a smooth as a standard 5.4-liter Ford V-8. It sounds the same, too. More importantly, the motor didn't exhibit any cold-blooded characteristics, and could be driven away from the curb as quickly as you could move the column shift into "D."

On the road, initial concerns about carrying 59 gallons of fuel above the axles quickly evaporated. The Super Crew is designed to carry more than 1,700 pounds of payload, so a full 59-gallon, 250-pound load of LP doesn't begin to stress out the Ford. Throttle response proved to be spot on and every bit the match of the gas-powered counterpart.

Since Roush changed nothing else in the truck, our rear-wheel-drive Super Crew performed exactly like a gas-powered 2008 F-150 in all other respects: ride quality, quietness, etc. Ford is on the cusp of introducing its all-new 2009 F-150, and it is clear to us that the 2008 F-150 is getting a bit old in terms of handling dynamics and ride refinement. At this time, Roush has not announced a conversion for 2009 F-150s, which will be an all-new model.

Regarding fuel economy, the F-150 runs about 10 percent fewer mpg of LP than gasoline. This loss is more than made up for the lower cost of the LP fuel, which usually tracks about 75 percent of the cost of gasoline. The net is that an LP F-150 costs less to run per mile than its gasoline-swilling counterpart.

Is propane ready for the road?
According to the U.S. Census circa 2000, almost 7 million American homes use propane as their primary fuel. The Department of Energy estimates that there are 250,000 vehicles on U.S. road powered by the fuel and close to a million worldwide (the fuel was particularly popular in Australia through the 1970s and '80s). Among LP's many benefits, propane refills take about the same time as a stop at a gas station, as the liquids flow at about the same rate. Additionally, propane vaporizes at normal atmospheric conditions, so fuel spills are literally impossible (the fuel immediately evaporates).

Chemical analysis reveals that LP is a cleaner fuel than gasoline. When burned, propane emits 40 percent less particulate matter, half the NOx, and 87 percent fewer total hydrocarbons.

Roush's Liquid Propane conversion certainly performs like a "real" truck and presents drivers with few compromises compared to a traditional gas-fired F-150. The high cost of the conversion (all-inclusive retrofit, $10,500) is daunting to an average consumer, but significant federal tax credits and the lower cost of LP (compared to gasoline) create a scenario that the added cost will be saved after several years of ownership. Municipal and commercial fleets that rack up high annual mileage figures are the truck's target market, but the push to run vehicles on something other than gasoline is likely to entice private citizens to consider propane in the coming years.

This one option won't save our country from the scourge of foreign-sourced oil, but it does demonstrate that alternative fuels can provide the same level of performance from a familiar platform while delivering a greater level of efficiency.

We have only one suggestion: Perhaps the shift lever could be a spatula.

More information is available at www.PropaneTruck.us.

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A few weeks ago, I told you about my plans to turn my vintage (that's what we call old and in need of help) Benz diesel into a vegan--an organically powered machine that'll run on oily Chick-Fil-A leftovers (or Chinese or McDonald's or whatever) and do it with a sweet-smelling exhaust.

But before I leave on my cross-country trek to have it modified for veggie fuel and to have a much-needed paint job, there's still some work to be done. And some planning.

In order to prep my '82 Benz for the drive from Atlanta to L.A., I've got some work ahead of me. First off, at present, the old wagon will only run on diesel No. 2 or biodiesel, using its original fuel tank, fuel lines, and mechanical fuel pump to deliver either fuel from tank to engine. In the next two months (to be detailed in upcoming blogs), I will be installing my mechanic friend Dan's proprietary system that automatically warms waste vegetable oil to the point where it is safe to inject into the old 3.0-liter five-cylinder turbodiesel.

But I've got a few other nagging items that need addressing before I plan to put another 2,257 miles on the clock. First and foremost, the automatic climate control, which currently does nothing at all. Mercedes installed automatic climate control (once a bit of a novelty) in its top models back in the early '80s. Alas, these electro-mechanical-pneumatic climate control systems are full of rubber tubes that crack, valves that break, and computer brains that fall permanently asleep. I already have a replacement heater core and A/C evaporator that were harvested from a local junkyard, and once I get the valves and hoses replaced in that combo unit, I'll install it in the car, fixing the majority of my problems. Then comes the tedious task of tracing and fixing electrical gremlins. My hope is just that I can get the heat working reliably; A/C and all of its complexities will have to wait until next spring.

What else? Well, the stalwart OM 617.952 engine, legendary for its reliability, is in great shape and is fed only with synthetic oil, changed every 5,000 miles. Synthetic ATF serves the four-speed automatic transmission, which does have a harsh 3-2 downshift but is otherwise smooth and cooperative. The softly whining differential is a bit annoying, but typical for the vintage (and the mileage). The front suspension, with its old-tech recirculating ball power steering, is rather loose and vague at 330,000 miles. I will be installing new bushings, control arms, tie rods, ball joints, and a new center drag link to tighten things up, but the sloppy steering box will just have to wait until I have more in the bank account.

Everything else, God willing, has been remedied in the two years I've owned the vehicle. Apart from a high-pressure hydraulic line (for the rear self-leveling suspension) that burst and sprayed the engine compartment with oil in January, and some bad axles that once left me stranded, the vehicle has been remarkably trouble-free. It's been my sole vehicle since the fall of 2006, and daily driving since that time has given me great confidence in the vehicle and great annoyance at its lack of A/C. Regardless, I will be bringing all of my tools along.

So apart from some repairs and Dan's veggie conversion, I suppose all that's left to do is find a good source of about 100 gallons of waste vegetable oil. I need about 65 gallons to get more than halfway across the country, and around another 25 by my calculation to make it to Los Angeles. The extra 10 are for peace of mind.

Since it is a big old-school wagon, I'll just buy a bunch of 10-gallon gas cans, fill them with waste vegetable oil, fold down the seats, and store my fuel in the back of the Benz.

Any Atlanta fast-food chain restaurant managers out there? Hit me up. I'd love to get my hands on a bunch of used peanut oil (Chick-Fil-A uses it exclusively), but any used vegetable oil will work just fine. I'll need to pick up some more oil around Tucson, Arizona, so spread the word, Westerners.--Colin Mathews

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Startup Mascoma Corp. of Lansing, Michigan, secured $26 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and received another $23.5 million from the state of Michigan yesterday, reported the Detroit News. Mascoma will begin constructing its cellulosic ethanol plant in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in about one year.

The plant will produce wood-cellulose ethanol, a huge departure from corn-based ethanol. Rather than using food biomass like corn to make ethanol, a move that's drawn increasing criticism from environmentalists and the general public, cellulosic ethanol technology rapidly decomposes nonfood biomass, including items like old wood chips and garbage from municipal dumps. In Mascoma's case, its Michigan plant "will use harvested mixed hardwood chips and other nonfood biomass materials" to produce ethanol, according to the Detroit News.

Originally, Mascoma was to build in both Tennessee and Michigan, but disagreements between Tennessee and Mascoma relegated the plant to Michigan only. The Upper Peninsula was chosen for its abundance of forested land. Both GM and Marathon Oil are investors in Mascoma's project and are contributing money toward production of the first plant.

It's refreshing to see significant government and auto industry money going toward truly sustainable alternative fuel technology. Cellulosic ethanol for automobiles, like waste vegetable oil, epitomizes the concept of recycling, in effect helping to solve both waste management and fuel supply problems in one move. If we could turn even a fraction of our country's waste products into fuel in the next decade, we'll be setting the stage for both energy independence and a cleaner future.--Colin Mathews

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Autocar claims that Mazda has confirmed that it will put a hydrogen-powered rotary engine into production, though Mazda Europe CEO James Muir said "it won't be in production for at least five years." Currently, Mazda is testing 30 hydrogen-powered RX-8s with a Norwegian company, HyNor.

Muir still cites fuel sourcing and storage as the big obstacles to mass-market viability for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Like most fuel-cell vehicles, Mazda's rotary hydrogen vehicles will store and use hydrogen in its gaseous form, not liquid as in BMW's hydrogen internal combustion 7 Series.

But with even the BMW's optimally efficient (and complicated) liquid hydrogen storage still approximately four times less energy dense by volume than hydrocarbon fuels like gasoline, according to Wikipedia, hydrogen engineers clearly have their work cut out for them. Gaseous compressed hydrogen is even less energy-dense, requiring enlarged tanks for adequate range.

Autocar believes that a next-gen RX-7 would be the likeliest candidate for a hydrogen-fueled rotary engine. With no mention of an RX-8, we wonder if they know something we don't know about the future of Mazda's rotary-powered sports car.--Colin Mathews

Last Friday night, on my way to fill up at Refuel Biodiesel in Atlanta, I noticed a bizarre sight: a line of frustrated drivers, some with hazards flashing, some even clogging Cheshire Bridge Road, all stranded and waiting for the precious few operable pumps at the neighboring Chevron and Citgo stations. I stared in amazement, snapped a few phone pics, and drove a few miles to the biodiesel station where I filled up, waiting only for the pump to click off after filling my tank with a blend of mildly altered vegetable oil and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel.

I purchased a 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300TD Turbo Diesel (TD is Mercedes-speak for "diesel wagon") from a client in Los Angeles back in 2006 for $500 ("you want that piece of junk!?"). A plastic surgeon in toney Hancock Park, my client had once used the car with a hired driver, no less, to shuttle his kids around in the '80s and '90s. The driver and a shady mechanic in L.A., respectively, drove the car into the ground and did questionable repair work on the workhorse Benz. And then it sat neglected in a Los Angeles driveway for years with 300,000 miles on the clock, flat tires at all four corners, and a growing network of cobwebs inside and out.

The potential of freeing myself from foreign oil, rising energy costs, and just the sheer challenge of getting the old lump driving again were too much to resist. The project began, and I threw $500 at the wind, knowing I'd have fun whether it ever ran or not.

A cross-country trip and a couple of years later, the Benz is running splendidly, now with almost 330,000 on the odometer. It doesn't look so splendid, with a dying cheapo paint job and a couple of body panels from the junkyard. And apart from my own satisfaction and cleaner emissions out the tailpipe, my use of biodiesel has never really benefited anything but my ego and my obsession with mechanical wonders. In fact, I've spent thousands fixing, wrenching on, and perfecting the car.

But last Friday night, the benefits of driving an alternatively fueled vehicle came vividly alive. It was remarkable not to be tied to petroleum for my transportation, and I marveled that as some Atlantans were grounded or waiting in line, I was driving on a full tank through silent streets.

My mobile mechanic friend Dan Halfhill, in Malibu, Calif., who got me into this diesel Benz obsession, has been urging me to take this all a step further. The easygoing, mechanical genius owner of Rollin' Wrench told me on a recent trip to L.A., "Come on, man. You need to go veggie." He started with biodiesel--which is just vegetable oil that has been chemically altered to a lower viscosity very similar to diesel No. 2--back in '05 or '06. He initially warned against using unaltered vegetable oil as its thickness can clog fuel systems and harm injectors. But now Dan and others have engineered systems that filter the veggie oil, heat it to the proper viscosity, and then inject it right into the engine.

If this surprises you, know that Rudolf Diesel won the Grand Prix at the 1900 World's Fair, Paris, where his "heat engine" ran solely on peanut oil. They didn't have diesel No. 2 back then.

Before advancements in heating and filtration, I was wary of potentially destroying my engine, and so I've stayed with biodiesel, which poses zero risks. But it does cost roughly the same as diesel, so again, I'm not saving any money. I'm just doing something green, and spewing out remarkably clean tailpipe emissions in the process. But Dan has now converted countless Benz diesels, and even his own Ford Econoline diesel work van, to run on pure waste vegetable oil (WVO). With tens of thousands of miles backed by an experienced mechanic's confidence, I believe I'm finally ready to make the switch to waste vegetable oil.

Having restored many of the old Benzes he's converted to run on vegetable oil, Dan has some serious connections in the automotive painting and detail business. The thought of a respectable, affordable paint job is very tempting. That and a set of slick 16-inch Mercedes rims with new tires Dan has all but promised to give me if I just take the plunge and go pure veggie...

That's it! It's time to go back to California. This time, powered by nothing but waste vegetable oil for all 2,257 miles. It looks like early December is going to be the best time for the trek. And perhaps when I return to Atlanta, my ride will finally look as good as it drives.

Now to start ordering parts and pieces.--Colin Mathews