Cody's 2011 GMC Sierra 4.3L

I don’t know the generation name but mine is in the 2007-2013 year range.

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I don’t think so, no sign of a fuel rail. Still uses the old Spider. Just one metal fuel line going through the upper manifold.

Unless it’s a different type of spider injector.

One thing that’s odd is my fuse panel has INJ A and INJ B. I’ve switched off B and not noticed any change. Set up individual switches anyways Incase leaving it on messes with something like Cruise Control.

Cody, thank you,
Mike LaRosa doodle drawing is quite ingenious. First of all it is not a wood gasifer even if he used it that way. The nozzles are to close to the restiction opening. I would move the nozzles up even higher. Now the ingenious of Mike’s thinking here was pre heating the air at the hottest area points. Yes it needs to be some welding done where he uses RTV.
It would be simple to close off the bottom so you could control the air intake with a simple Wayne Keith tennis ball valve… This is my barrel inside a barrel inside a barrel design more simplified. Thank you Mike. Now the rotor restriction opening are to small for a 4.0 L engine but with a larger open yes it will work. I am going to take this idea into my thread and work on it. I can see that Mac Gasman idea will work in this too. Of a ring shield over the nozzles to protect them. This Gasifier unit can be light weight and run a larger engine. With good turn down ratio built in. The fire tube is going to be bigger then 12" and work on the cross diagonal flow like Matt is using in his gasifer units except with more nozzles in a ring shape.

MIKE LAROSA gasifer lives on.
Bob

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He went off the pure Imbert design. I’m sure this was a trailer pulled unit for a smaller engine than his pet engine the 4.3 S10. In the Ben P. Books they have pretty short nozzle tip to restriction opening distances. For a 4 liter engine only 4.5 inches. Keep in mind he also still has a reduction zone. Different animal to the WK with it’s all char bed above Restriction rules. Mike also would install condensate gutters inside the lid that would be dumped when he refilled. His later ones had built in gutters in the hopper with an Imbert style condensate collection tank next to the hopper.
I’ll try to link all the YouTube videos. You can learn a lot from how someone refills their units.

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I’m guessing he had this truck during the Yahoo days, before the S10 and his Chevy car. Condensate collecting lid.
https://youtu.be/mzDU3IyIfRM

Here’s his S10 video that Chris filmed at I guess Argos just by the looks of all the familiar faces.
https://youtu.be/1eGeL-wm2vo

Another video from Bruce, and I think I see good ole Tom in there unless I’m mistaken.
https://youtu.be/F2gvfFMgZ0I

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But I think you could definitely do a Barrel in a Barrel design using Mike’s general layout. For the Gas Out I’d use Don Mannes threading method. Maybe a 3 inch reducing to a 2 inch sch40 pipe. Coupler welded in the air jacket side, 2 inch pipe welded into the 3 inch.

If I were to use the double brake drum hearth like Mike did, I would also use the MEN type 2 style nozzles. Alternating jets, one forward, one pointed up to fight bridging rinse repeat until you’ve gone full circle. I think RonL has that style of nozzles. I haven’t bought their books yet so I don’t know positively, but I bet the upwards pointing jets are much smaller to just send air blasts and to almost pre heat the wood.

Or go Joni with all the nozzles pointing up 20 degrees.

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If I ever get the Buicks transmission rebuilt or swapped to fix the weird shifting problems, I’d like to try this idea out.

Get a stainless milk can like my Temco can, use the 15 gallon keg as my hopper and try to find another 20 gallon wide can as the air shroud.

Either a milk can or another one of these kegs. I need to check the scrap yard.

I could also just use a hot water heater tank. There’s a few people that do AC and Heater work but they’re almost all part of chains. Maybe if I ask nice enough they’ll let me buy/take their scrapped tanks. Stainless small hopper I can live with if it means no rusting away.

Alternatively I could build the hearth and bottom section using two 20lb propane tanks, and a 20 gallon barrel as the air shroud and a 55 gallon partial or another 20 gallon for the hopper. Mounted via cargo rack off Reece hitch.

Since the drop zone would be so small I’d probably go grateless with a threaded pipe ash dump for maintenance cleaning, and use a reduction zone. Start from Ben P’s dimensions for a 3 liter engine. Grateless would give me a big char reserve for hard pulls.

With the 20 gallon drums, a 19" solid car rim welds nicely to the rim portion and branches to a 20lb propane tank, offers a little bit of a ramp for the wood.

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I would guess his restiction opening was around 4" maybe. 4.0 L I would think needs more for highway driving pulling a trailer with a heavy gasifer on it. The biggest problem with Mike’s design was probably rtv silicone, aluminium tape, duck tape and fire place brick caulking leaking air / gas problems. When he had his gasifer truck with it in the bed of the truck his gasifer was held together with that. I do not think he owned a welder. He just gas brazed things. Any ways I see some great things in his doodle drawing that will work with minimal changes for charcoal gasifer and most of the parts are easy to find and put together not a lot of fabrication needed. This is good for a lot of people in other countries. Car brake drums and rotors seem to be plentiful I can get all I want in lot of sizes. Water heaters, Barrels, piping, pipe framing from tarped covered garage and storage units, LP tanks, Radiator hose from auto garages, and car wheels. Metals In junk yards. I just found a chunk of heavy piece of flat steel where they were piling snow. Came off a plow I think. Score freebie.
Bob

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My best guess is he used a 4.75" restriction for the 4.3. I want to say the gasifier that @JocundJake has was his S10 gasifier because it looks identical to the one in the video Chris made.

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For a charcoal use, I’d see the external air jacket as more of a way to cool the hearth than for preheating the air. Charcoal doesn’t need preheating but it does need temperature control. I also doubt he owned a welder. I see his duct tape solutions as ways to fix issues while out on the road. RTV, duck tape and then aluminum duct tape over that. Get it home on wood solutions, patch weld it once you’re back or at a friend’s.

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If you are using charcoal with moisture in it yes preheating the air would be very useful, and the cold air will take the heat away from the lower part of the gasifer that gets really hot. I am thinking on welding fins on the lower part of my double flute gasifer with a barrel around it for heat transfer and protection. If I can hold my hand on the outer part of the gasifer for three or four Mississippi it is okay for me. One Mississippi to hot.
Bob

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I’m wondering if Tone’s idea for using venturi from the nozzle air going in, and having a tap in the hopper to suck in the steam would work. Puts the moisture right where it needs to be in the glow zone. My one worry would be the steam either runs out too soon, and overwhelms the glow zone cooling it too much. Alternatively put in just a lower gutter to collect the condensed water and have the venturi suck from there.

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Well this was the most perfect fit I could imagine. It’s the top of a water heater tank. Was too big with the weld bead, perfect once I cut just above the weld bead. I’m hoping I can just Red RTV a stove rope into the lip of the car rim and use spring pressure to do the rest.

Going to plug all these NPT tapped holes save for a temperature probe. I’ll just use pipe plugs no need to get fancy with it.

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Hard to keep the stove rope on there. Going to apply a healthy RTV bead and hope that’s good enough. I’ll go over the lip of the lid to make sure it’s as even and smooth as possible. If I had just a hair more play I could glue in some rubber fuel hose as a lid gasket.

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I cleaned the paint off the rim with my wire wheel by the way.

Wow Cody this is a wheel I take it inside a water tank. Right? I can see where a gutter with a flat piece of metal could be welded in on the inside edge this is great. Was the tank 20" in diameter? 50 gallon water tank? Just come up with Ideas for the down draft and cross diagonal charcoal gasifer build.
Bob

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100lb propane tank, 15" wheel rim 14.5" diameter tank.

Not sure the water tank size, but the lid is from the top section of the electric hot water heater tank. The core of it is part of my Matt style BLUD retort. I need to renovate that and drill in some bigger air holes so it can work with a lid like intended. Also build an enclosed bottom so I can use metal trash cans or something for my catch containers.

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thought you wanted to work on your youtube channel Cody :wink: :wink:

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I never find time to film stuff. I’ll probably compile all my photos into a slideshow with a final video of me starting it up and driving. Need to buy a hat camera, I tested my mother’s old GoPro and the video quality and battery life is atrocious.

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