and by Patricia Dworzak
A class at UNM rebuilt a car's engine to run on vegetable oil and displayed it in front of the SUB on Wednesday.
The Introduction to Environment, Science and Technology course converted a 1985 Volkswagen Jetta GL Turbo Diesel in about six hours, said Fiona Sinclair, the class instructor.
"The car is cleaner burning, and the vegetable oil doesn't hurt the engine," Sinclair said.
Sinclair said she purchased the car and the biodiesel conversion kit last semester but wasn't able to do anything with them until now.
Rick Bustos, a student in the course, said anyone with a set of tools could convert a diesel-fueled vehicle to run on vegetable oil.
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"You can buy the kit on the Internet," he said. "It gives you all the instructions. You just need to add a few parts."
Sinclair said the conversion process involves placing another fuel tank in the trunk of the car and running a pipe to two inlets on the fuel tank. She said after the car is turned on, it runs on its regular diesel fuel.
"As the engine heats up, then you would flip a switch in the driver's compartment that sends coolant back to the grease tank," she said. "The coolant doesn't go into the tank, just around it to warm up the grease."
As the grease warms up, she said, diesel is no longer sent to the combustion chamber. She said the grease is sent through a different filter than the diesel.
Bustos said burning biodiesel fuel cuts car emissions and lowers the sulfur and nitrogen released into the air. He said the car doesn't burn fossil fuels and doesn't emit carbon dioxide.
Sinclair said it drives like a normal gasoline-powered car, except it smells like vegetable oil. She said the class got its grease from Bandito Hideout on Central Avenue.
"She wanted us to be able to do it ourselves," Bustos said. "Just talking about these things in class won't do much. But if we put it into practice, then we will be able to do it on our own and teach others."
Student Lucas Berns said the car conversion was a great idea, and he had never seen it done before.
"If I had a diesel, I would do it," he said. "It's a really interesting idea - not being dependent on gasoline corporations."
Bustos blames America's economic dependency on oil for why alternative fuel research isn't heavily funded by the U.S. government.
"The government is more concerned with our economy than our environment," he said. "We are waiting for our gas to run out. Then we'll start looking at other options."
Bustos said the class wanted to show the car at UNM to promote awareness about the importance of protecting the ecosystem.
"Without plants, water and animals, we aren't going to survive," he said. "We are going to kill our environment and ourselves within time. We aren't looking in the future."
Sinclair said the car will be displayed on campus again during the third week of April - the same week as Earth Day.
The eight-week course taught Bustos more than he thought it would.
"I was never aware of any of this before I took Fiona's class," he said. "I want the first car I buy to run on biodiesel fuel."
