After successfully converting my F250 to run on Waste Vegetable
Oil (WVO) several years ago, I recently decided to purchase and
upgrade to the Vegistroke V3 kit from Dinofuel Alternatives. While my own conversion
had functioned well for several years, it was no match to the
advanced design and reliability of the V3. The V3 is far more
reliable and has lots of added creature comforts such as fully
auto-purge and shutdown AFTER I turn the truck off. That's right,
if I forget to tell the truck that I am going to be shutting down
soon, it will still completely purge and safely shutdown the engine
for me. This is just one of the many things that make the
Vegistroke V3 by far the best conversion available for a Ford
PSD.
The kit arrived quickly. It was well packed and I can't wait to
get to installing it. Despite the capabilities of the V3, it is
probably the easiest to install kit available. Almost everything is
contained into a single module that bolts up to a frame rail, and
then we just connect a few hoses and electrical connectors.
I have not set aside some time to do the install yet, but I did
unpack the components and check them over. I have to say, I knew
the quality looked good on the website, but until I held these
parts and seen them for myself I had no idea just how good the
quality really was. I will include some photos below to illustrate
the completeness and OEM quality of this kit, but I doubt I will be
able to do it justice either.
All of the incuded connectors are weather-resistant, OEM style
electrical connectors. They are all gendered and keyed so that when
installing you really can't connect them incorrectly. This makes
what could have been a real pain to install almost as simple as
plugging in a toaster! This also will help prevent any electrical
troubles in the future that can be caused by poor connections made
by the installer when installing other kits (a very common issue).
Having designed and then priced similar electrical harness's
myself, I know Jason has spent a lot of time making this so clean.
It also costs a lot of money to build harnesses like these. It
shows that quality was not skimped anywhere in the in these kits.
Take the switches for example, rather then the junk switches most
kit vendors give you, these are rated for 20 amps, NEMA approved
for water-resistance, and have large soft-faced rubber paddles
which are easy to operate. I have actually priced these same
switches and they list for over $30, not including the connector
Jason has included.
I decided to go with the 40 gallon under belly tank. The tank is
all aluminum, internally baffled, and has a built-in aluminum heat
exchanger. Notice that all fittings are external to the tank so
that in the rare event that a coolant leak were to occur, it would
leak on the exterior of the tank and not contaminate your fuel with
water. Running any diesel engine with fuel that is contaminated
with water can be devastating to the engine.
UPDATE:
I have installed the two gauges and the switches into the
dashboard. The included gauge pod was from Autometer and the
Autometer instructions show the gauge pod being installed directly
above the rear view mirror. My rearview mirror may be attached
higher then some because it would not fit there. However it fit
just fine slightly to the right and I am perfectly happy with that.
The vegistroke kit came with a convenient wire harness already set
up for the gauge pod. The pre-wired harness was all set up with
daisy chained grounds for both gauges and also had wires for the
night illumination bulbs.
The vegistroke kit instructions list several suggestions for the
placement of the switches. For those who do not wish to take apart
their dash they offer a simple solution of installing to the fuse
panel cover below the steering column. They also show a very nice
looking install in the blank space right where the shift on the fly
4WD selector happens to be in my 2002. I took some measurements and
found there was also enough space inside the dash a little further
to the left. The kit came with plenty of wire for the switches so
you really have a lot of options. The dashboards on these trucks
really come apart pretty easy. For the most part they just pop
loose, and then you disconnect the connectors from behind with the
aid of a small flathead screwdriver, In fact the most troublesome
part was the factory radio, which is much easier if you pull it out
first with the factory removal removal tools (available for very
cheap at any auto parts store), but it can still be done with the
radio still in as well. The one thing to be cautious of is with the
automatic transmission trucks you may need to shift the gear
selector down into 1 or 2 to give you more clearance. If you need
to do this, make sure you set the parking brake and ensure the
truck will not roll if you are on an incline. If you are unsure
chock the tires.
Once the dashboard was out, I cleaned it and then used light
pencil markings to outline the snap-in bezels included with the
switches. Then I used a rotary tool to carefully cut out the
plastic. It is safest to cut the hole slightly small, and then
widen it until you get a perfect fit. A small flat file can help
with cleaning up any burrs in the plastic and slightly widening
spots. Once the hole is right the switches snap right in and the
dashboard goes back together nice and easy. Make sure you don't
forget to connect any of the electrical connectors during
re-assembly.
