Hey all. Been lurking here for a bit and thought I'd post finally.

I teach Chemical Engineering at a university, and part of our summer activities include a camp for high school students. We invite them to come and see what engineering is all about.

I figured I'd try to get them interested in some renewable fuel stuff so I created a project where we make diesel fuel from waste frying oil. But how to test it? Following the information here I modified a little .049 engine to run on diesel.

So far the project is a great success. The students take the waste veggie oil and we react it with methanol and lye to produce biodiesel. We talk about how to push the reaction to get better yields, etc. Then we go outside and throw it in the engine and have a mini-competition based on prop rpm.

Thanks for all the info here that made the engine part of this possible.