Scrapping older cars based only on their age would be totally pointless

Once in a while I see claims that getting rid of older vehicles, with a more stringent focus on Diesel-powered ones, would be somewhat of a solution to the pollution issue. That's totally pointless. Lack of electronic controls make it easy to avoid some maintenance hassles associated to the common-rail engines, most noticeably in harsher environmental conditions or when replacement parts cost would hit the owner harder, and sometimes the lack of a turbocharger may not be something to bother at all due to the diminished risk of an engine runaway caused by oil blow-by through the compressor housing.

The best option to overcome the emissions issue would be prioritizing biofuels, such as biodiesel and maybe even pure vegetable oils according to the technological stage of each engine. And since fish is a popular source of protein not just in the Philippines but also in a lot of other Asian countries, why not resorting to fish liver oils as a feedstock for biodiesel? The alcohol required to brew biodiesel can be sourced from palm as it's usual in Thailand, or coconut as it's also common in Indonesia. Well, coconut may seem a perfect feedstock for biodiesel too, as it may provide not just the fatty acids but some sugar that can be turned into either ethanol or methanol.

Water injection, which blended with some alcohol (usually methanol) to prevent freezing is still quite usual in high-performance applications and have been frequently used in WWII-era fighter aircraft with piston engines, could eventually resort to the water recovered from the aircon system as a supplement to the distilled water + methanol blend more frequently used in specialty applications. At least on open roads with fewer traffic density the fuel-efficiency increase is already noticeable when there is some higher amount of moisture in the air.

How likely would be an old rear-engined Volkswagen to be better than a modern CUV?

The present-day crossover utility vehicle, or CUV for short, may be appealing to urban customers willing to show off and pretend they live an adventurous lifestyle on the weekends, but to which point are them really better than an old-school Volkswagen when it comes to actual off-roading?

Volkswagen may not be so expressive as a high-volume manufacturer to the point of challenging the Japanese automakers in much of Asia anymore, at least not outside of China, but its old products had their days of glory when air cooling was the standard of this brand. There were times when the Brazilian branch of Volkswagen provided all sort of CKD kits not only for the Philippine distributor but also for Indonesia, with the Brazilian Transporter/Kombi being considerably cheaper than the German counterpart despite being a bit outdated. Boot access was not so great due to the intrusion of the engine compartment, plus the narrow rear hatch, but its non-sliding curbside rear doors were less maintenance-intensive on rough terrain than the first generations of Japanese vans with sliding doors. Even though the rear engine took too much space from the loading bay compared to the Japanese vans with their engine right below the front seats, it improved traction in rough terrain regardless of load condition. There was a water-cooled Diesel version in Brazil too, but most of the remaining ones are double-cab pick-up. Could've it been a good contender for the earlier Hilux back in the day?

Another former hit in the Philippines was the Brasília, a bantam shaped like a Golf would have been if it had the same Beetle driveline. Once in a while I still see one in Makati, but not sure how many remain operating throughout the country.

What would I do if I could get my hands on some Beetle or even a Brasília? Swap some horizontal single-cylinder Diesel on it and make it a cross-country vehicle which would outperform any modern mall-rated CUV on real off-roading.

Diesel engines are not so easy to find for light-duty vehicles in Oman

As a former British protectorate, finding some old Lister stationary engine once in a while is no surprise at all. Some fishing boats also rely on Diesel, but it's not so easy to see Diesel-engined light vehicles as it is for petrol-engined ones. It is quite surprising to find out Toyota is using its most modern Diesel engines for the HiLux instead of the old-school 5L-E nearly everywhere by now. As a general rule, most Middle East countries used to not enforce emission standards so strictly.

Ancient hot-bulb engines simply refuse to die

It's not impossible to find 100-years old hot-bulb "semi Diesel" engines still in perfect operating conditions fitted to fishing boats. Even though the widespread availability of horizontal-single true Diesel engines from Japan and those copies made in China could sound promising for a phaseout of the "semi Diesel" with its need for some external source of heat for start (usually a kerosene-burning lamp, but sometimes just a few pieces of red hot charcoal can also do the trick), it's not really uncommon to find older British hot-bulb engines not only pumping water in the rice fields but also powering small fishing boats in Pakistan. Maybe that's still the clearest part of the British colonial heritage, along the RHD rule.

Should the Europeans take a look at motorcycles and sidecars as an alternative to the diminishing offer of small economy cars with Diesel engines?

Now that some automakers in Europe are eliminating their Diesel offers in some entry-level segments due to the cost and what is claimed to be an "environmental" concern, and the resale value of an older one goes down due to the increasingly tight traffic restrictions being enforced by local councils from cities such as Madrid, Paris, London and more recently a Federal approval for their enforcement in Stuttgart and Dusseldorf, there are fewer options remaining for those who seek a new car option that would retain some ease of maintenance combined to low fuel consumption. Maybe looking bach at the past, before the introduction of the Volkswagen Beetle and Citroen 2CV, could give Europeans an insight of an easy way to overcome this situation in case they start taking a more serious approach toward sidecars once again. It may not be the most comfortable approach in regard to the inclement weather in the winter, and would mean getting rid of the Diesel engine just like if they just got a regular petrol-powered supermini or a hybrid, but it might be somewhat of a demonstration of resistence toward the dictatorial approach of the European Union and the UN which have a clearly anti-Diesel bias in their environmental regulations. Well, much like the days of the Third Reich when German people couldn't afford to own cars due to their complexity and the simpler air cooling of a motorcycle engine compared to the water cooling which was already prevalent in the car industry and could become troublesome in the winter due to the absence of a modern cooling fluid that could prevent freezing, the average European is once again subject to a bunch of tyrants trying to control every aspect of their lives in the name of a fake "greater good".

Found on YouTube: Peugeot 406 turbodiesel with manual transmission and hand-controls for paraplegic driver

Browsing another Diesel-related blog, this video set in Argentina caught my attention. A paraplegic guy shows how he drives a pre-facelift Peugeot 406 with the 2.1TD engine and standard transmission. So many times it's been told it was impossible to upfit a Diesel ride with those automatic clutches commonly found in cars for disabled drivers where they're not restricted to automatic transmissions but, despite some technical limitations of that setup, it is indeed possible.

Luciano Lacoa, the owner of the car, sounds very honest about the disadvantages perceived by him in the system, most noticeably the lack of engine-braking effect and some roughness in the clutch actuator which lacks some progressiveness. And since the single push-pull lever that allows him to control brake and accelerator pedals is located slightly above the shifter, he also seems quite bothered about not being able to rev-match while shifting. The clutch actuator seems to have input only from the accelerator pedal position, which makes it quickly kick in whenever the lever is released, regardless of engine speed or any clear intention for shifting which in some automatic clutch systems is recognized by a touch sensor usually located at the shift knob. This way, not just the clutch pack is submitted to higher efforts which may lead to an estimate 3 times higher wear, the service brakes also get a higher load since it doesn't leave any provision for engine-braking.

Fiat in Suriname?

Got a bit surprised to see a Fiat car in Suriname. That was a Fiat Palio Weekend made in Brazil, with plates from French Guyana. The engine was the very same TD70 that I got to know about 16 years ago in a trip to Uruguay. It does surprise me that Fiat doesn't have in Suriname the same strenght it has in other regional South American markets, since they have a fairly good relation of ruggedness and low cost. In many other countries, not just in South America, I already got the chance to drive Fiat Palio rental cars and they felt fairly good.

Isuzu 4JG2 in Ford E-Series wagon, anyone?

Though we all agree the stock drivelines fitted to Ford E-Series vans are somewhat boat-anchors with na awful fuel consumption, it may feel uncomfortable to get rid of the automatic transmission. It's a matter of compromises, and this time the swap of an Isuzu 4JG2 engine and a 5-speed manual transmission out of an Isuzu NKR truck was found out to be the best option. For a 2009 E-150 with the 35-spline Dana 60, the 5.38 differential gear ratio might be sufficient.

Cardboard gaskets?

Came to see a Chinese copy of the Yanmar horizontal-single engine, fitted to an air compressor, for oil leaks. All of its gaskets had been replaced with pieces of cardboard, but it kept running for a while until I could get there and replace them with a more conventional material. I know, some people might be unfavorable to that, but I am still comfortable using asbestos.

200cc engine in a Beetle?

Considering that the old Beetle had been one of the most universal vehicles at its time, it's still a bit shocking to see one with a different engine. When it's a motorcycle engine, the surprise is even greater. But now that official spare parts are going harder to find, sometimes we might see some backyard-engineering efforts put in place to adapt some random cheap Chinese motorcycle engine. This time, a Keeway RKS 200 engine. I must admit I was somehow worried about the cooling, but it received a pair of electric fans built into the rear lid and activated by a thermostat that can be bypassed on-demand, with one fan pulling the outside air and the other exhausting the hot air away from the engine compartment. OK, not Diesel-related, but at least for me it was something unexpected.