anyone know anything about diesel/biodiesel engine building/tuning?

[stmotorsports]

Hey all. I realized that I haven't been on here in awhile posting anything about my usual crazy ideas/pipe dreams/etc so I figured now would be a good time as any...

So after doing some recent reading on upcoming diy-biodiesel technologies, I have become very interested in the idea of building a turbo biodiesel Honda for a daily driver. I know Honda makes diesel vehicles in other world markets so I'm assuming getting ahold of the driveline wouldn't prove too difficult, but I wouldn't have any clue where to begin with tuning- I don't know shit about diesel. I don't think any of the guys over at diy-efi are into diesel either, but I'm heading over there to do some reading to see if I can learn anything.

Does anybody know anything about diesel buiding/tuning or maybe point me in the right direction?

 

[phunky.buddha]

I don't know the specifics of tuning a diesel engine, but the basics of the combustion process are the same. You're just using autoignition to light the mixture instead of a spark plug. I would imagine that your mixture ratios will make a bigger difference than with gasoline- but other things like just wanting to shove more air and fuel into the engine will be the same.

Good luck certifying a diesel Honda in the US though. Get some friends at the smog stations.

 

[stmotorsports]

yeah I mean I know the basics of diesel principles and operation but I have no idea of specific similarities with gasoline setups as far as OBDxx, tuning capabilities, etc.

I wouldn't bother with a regular diesel conversion, if I tried it at all it would be an attempt at running waste/recycled biodiesel which one of the larger benefits is a substantial reduction in emissions so I would think that getting it recertified shouldn't be much of a problem? I'm still looking into the red tape end of things, but I also need to find out how feasible the project would even be since I'm assuming there would be some amount of tuning required...