Gear change can make a big difference in a dino powers vehicle, but you also need to have the power to pull those gears. My beloved Toyotas are sub hundred horse power in stock form but will cruise at 70mph easily. Little Honda cars will do 100mph plus with a 130hp stock 4cylinder. My chevotafire would benefit from some taller gears and has the power to pull them on woodgas it seems, but I’m content to do 50-60 mph, it doesn’t need to be a fast high speed for commuting purposes like I plan to do with it. A little extra would be nice for hills but I think I’ll learn to be fine with it as I learn how the system operates
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Hi Alex,
You’re interested in getting POWER out of a little engine? I studied Jan Olson’s thread JO’s gasified Volvo thread. There’s just a huge amount of info there.
Sample: subaru has an interesting engine construction, ej18, ej20 and even ej25 have the same geometry, so the cylinder heads can be easily installed between the mentioned types. So I installed the ej18 engine heads on the ej20 and replaced the original 1.6 mm thick gasket with a 0.6 mm gasket so the mathematical compression ratio is somewhere around 1:13. in the original it has 1:10
Rindert
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At 13:1 ratio can you still run on gasoline? Or are you now a straight wood gas engine for the vehicle? Also are you running the engine on charcoal or woodgas? What year of engine are you doing on, 92 to 95 years?
Bob
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Yes Joni, the engines that make the horsepower at 3000 to 3500 rpms. are better. Also I like what you did by upping the compression ratio helps in gasification on wood gas. What was your compression ratio you finally settle on for your engine setting for wood gasification.
Bob
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Robert, my Subaru is a 99 year old and works as I wrote at the time on LPG (propane) and occasionally on petrol. These are the EJ 18 and EJ20 engine generations, and the EJ25 (I’m not sure about that) has the same geometry, so the heads fit when replaced.
My opinion about the wood gas turbo engine:
-older generations of turbo gasoline engines have low compression ratios (1: 7-8), because with the intensive operation of the turbine, this also changes to 1:13, which seems very good for wood gas
-the newer turbo petrol engines basically have a compression ratio of 1:10, which increases to 1:16 when the turbine is running, which seems impossible to run on petrol, but with direct multi-point fuel injection they work nicely, but what about wood gas, I think this would be a very efficient engine …
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Hi Rindert,
Thank you for the links! JO’s Volvo is really something! I’d love to know if he fixed the tar issue and whether he had any success with it. There are so many talented builders here and everyone seems so welcoming and eager to share their experience.
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Hi Matt,
This is an interesting idea. so basically electric supercharging for the gasifier? Is there anyone on here who has actually used this as a booster with any success? It sounds brilliant. and how does that work in terms of the mix? The thing about superchargers is that the flow rate will scale with engine rpms so would you have to use this method sparingly?
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I’m sure a few guys here with the wk systems have played with turning on the pusher blowers while driving down the road?
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The blower or turbine is a big difference, the blower does not reach even 0.1 bar overpressure while driving, and the turbine driven by exhaust gases easily 0.5 bar when the engine is loaded
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Not necessarily as a “boost” over pressure, but as a oxygen feed to the gassifier, a temporary electrical simulated hard pull for momentary boost of power like up a hill or passing traffic. Not as a fix for the loss of horsepower but a temporary push of power
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Yes I have on small engines with success. I boost the gas mixture so both the gas and the air premixed pre blower. This certainly is not going to boost the engine but I will help deliver a more energy dense charge. One of the blowers would probably be plenty sufficient the engine you are working with.
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I have tried this, at different rpms. And I have found there is no difference when going up a hill with the push blower on or off or driving down the flat highway.
It really surprised me, and this what called, facts are facts. Now were my pusher blowers to weak to make a difference, I don’t know. May be my Kirby vaccum blower that has more power could prove differently. I do know this pushing the gases is not the way to do it.
Bob
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A V8 is going to need around 300 or more CFM to even make a dent.
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Wow. Here is an interesting thread. I’m always interested in the possibilities of boost. About the compression ratio. I’m not sure exactly what the ratios are but when you are talking about boosting already high compression engines you will blow them up unless you ramp up the octane rating of gasoline. 16 to 1 and you will need at least 106 octane or more and you better have forged pistons and connecting rods and a forged crank. You can’t get that kind of octane without adding alcohol as far as I know. The highest compression engine I ever built was 11 to 1 and it was still used as a daily driver. However you have to remember that an engine is an engineered system of parts and you cannot change one without effecting all the others. For instance a lot of people think they can stick a bigger cam in and use the same valve springs that they were using in a stock motor. Bad idea. I have talked with SteveU about boosted wood gas and he pointed out that you can’t get enough vacuum to let wood gas fill the cylinders. I haven’t quite wrapped my head around this yet, the relationship between pressure and vacuum but I’m sure he knows what he’s talking about so I think adding a discussion about vacuum and wood gas would be welcomed.
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If you boost only the wood gas then you create positive pressure to the intake of the engine. So you no longer have any vacuum pull in your air to mix with the gas. You need to boost both your air mixture and the wood gas together otherwise it is impossible to get proper air mixture or even pull in the air you need to mix with the gas.
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My comments about exhaust turbo-charger for wood to the engine were this:
since the intake will no longer have negative pressure it cannot possibly suck the gasifier system flows.
So . . . the inlet side of the turbo charger, or blower must do the gasifier system sucking.
The seals to the turbo central bearings are for positive pressure. Not for negative pressure.
Many are the turbo systems I’ve seen drooling out engine oil from worn center bearings wobbling and worn seals. Remember that turbo center bearing is engine oil pressure fed. 15-45/60 PSI fed engine oil pushing out against the turbo shaft seals.
Belt driven super chargers like RonL. used; have end bearing lubrication reservoirs. The end bearings are wick fed lubrication. Not Pressurized. And these are two widely spaced outer end shaft bearings. So the oil seals are not “wobble” shaft worn.
Now on the other spin-flinging pressurizing woodgas . . . I have this working theory that I adhere to: woodgas is molecularly fragile; and barely stable. Flow handle it gently to not force-make changes into incombustible CO2, and carbon soots formations.
Of course the educated chemical and maths jonney-guys say that I cannot possibly be correct. Not what they learned in classes. Not in their chemical engineering books.
Whatever. I go by the soots deposited just past the edge of the throttling plates. On the down stream side of flow piping and valves turbulence areas.
Maybe. Just maybe, this explains the worse engine performance some boost ripping the woodgas have experienced.
S.U.
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Hi Alex, welcome among us, although I am also a greengrocer in this field and researching. Years ago, I was persuaded by Kristjan’s article at the Slovenian mechanical engineering forum that I had started to take wood gas more seriously, so I came to this forum. Here are experienced men with good advice, but we from the old continent have to adapt the technology to the available vehicles and needs, small engines, turbo engines, diesel engines, … I look forward to new ideas and cooperation.
I hope Kristjan won’t be angry if I publish his article
Greetings to all fans of technique and technology!
In a random search on the net, I came across some topics on the topic of wood gas, cogeneration, etc. on this forum.
While reading, I noticed a huge amount of misinformation, myths, untruths about wood gas. As well as some interested people who would like to try their luck with this energy source.
The topics are old, so I decided to sign up and open a new one.
Let me first say something about myself on the aforementioned topic. I have been a fan of wood gas for about 10 years. From the experimental Tomos engines (50cc) I gradually switched to car engines, last winter I drove for the first time in a car completely without fossil fuels, namely I converted the old Seat Arosa to carbon gas. The car drove great, but had a short range (30km) due to the small carburetor.
The family has grown, the small Seat has been replaced by the larger Chevrolet Lacetti, which also underwent a makeover last fall.
It is now powered by wood gas. The carburetor is located on a special bracket on the towbar, similar to that for the bike rack, and is hidden under a nice aluminum box.
In the carburetor I burn mostly firewood the size of an egg or a cigarette box, but it is also possible to burn wood chips or pellets.
The car has a final speed of 100% wood around 120kmh, firewood consumption around 15-20kg / 100km. For a better performance, let me say that this amounts to about 2-3 jupole ajmra wood chips / firewood per 100km. With one filling I reach a distance of up to 50km, then the wood has to be added.
I burn mostly waste wood and branches from my own forest. For skeptics, I have a whole bunch of videos on Youtube, which are in English (say: wink:) due to cooperation with American and Scandinavian colleagues.
One is this
https://m.youtube.com/results?q=kristij … inger & sm = 3
Some general myths about wood gas:
-wood gas is NOT sooty tar pigshit that would roll out of a chimney
-wood wood and pyrolytic gas are very different! Wood gas is of constant quality and high purity, it is formed in a highly oxidized (air) environment at extreme temperatures (1200c), and pyrolytic gas is a product of dry distillation of wood without air.
-wood wood is powered by any internal combustion engine without any problems or special modifications, it also has very high octane numbers.
-regulation of obatts is more than possible.
-the engine loses 25-50% of its power on liquid fuel
-wood wood is clean and actually less harmful to the engine than petrol.
-The car on wood gas is safer than the classic one, as there is no more than ~ 15l of gas in the system at any time. As much as the engine needs it, so much is produced (as opposed to a fuel tank)
- starting the carburetor takes a maximum of 5 minutes, but during this time it is already possible to drive on petrol and later switch to wood at the touch of a button.
- Hybrid petrol / wood driving in all ratios is also possible. I practice this myself when overtaking, etc. when a sudden acceleration is needed - I switch to 25 petrol / 75 wood mode with one push of a button
-Successful management of wood gas requires a lot of experience and learning, but once you gain knowledge, the thing is simple. In addition to fuel preparation, there is also weekly ash cleaning and annual refrigerator / installation cleaning.
-the gas generator is not a gas cylinder! It is an engine precisely and mathematically adapted to the system, which ensures optimal operation in all situations. Connect a 3kw generator to my carburetor, and it will flood it with tar in a week. Connect a 200kw motor to it and only a mass of molten metal will remain from the carburetor.
This field of energy has come a long way since cumbersome, heavy, dirty systems from another world, but it has huge potential. I know that few people today are willing to risk their time for such a thing in terms of vehicle propulsion, plus not everyone has their own forest, but the thing is interesting for cogeneration.
With this topic, I want to encourage people to think, ideas, and in addition, I would like to meet a Slovenian who deals with this. After all, more heads know more: D
Please, tell us your opinions, experiences, we also have the expertise of experts in the field, so let’s see if we can say a common word.
Greetings, Christian
Holzman
A novice
A novice
Posts: 6
Joined: 23.3.2017 18:37
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Hi Alex , No truck running on wood gas due to where i live , i am half way up a mountain and steep steep roads here my 4litre v6 Hilux struggles to maintain speed on Dino so i think i would be wasting my time at the moment , i shall wait till we move off the mountain and then i might do a sly sneaky hidden gasifier in the back hidden out of the way , I do how ever run a charcoal generating system that keeps my banks of batteries well charged up on cloudy wet days and powers my wood cutting saws ect.
Born and bred a Brummy and moved here 14 years ago to be with a Aussie Sheila , Miss the family left there and decent fish and chips and a few other things we pomms could teach the locals about here ! 
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Hi Tone,
Thanks for the welcome and for sending this article across, I found it really insightful.
I’m gonna have a search and see if I can find some of his work. I’m a bit confused when he says about the carburettor being located on the towbar, do you think he’s talking about the blower?
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Hey Dave, Ahhh i gotcha. Thats awesome that you run a charcoal generating system! I’d love to do something like that to finally get rid of my diesel genset at the farm. I dont suppose you have any pictures or videos do you? i’m fascinated at the prospect of this.
You’re kidding right?! I was born and raised only a spit from Birmingham in Nottinghamshire, now living down in Cornwall.
How’s life treating you down under? Aye theres a good many things I’d miss if I left Blighty behind too, a stiff brew would be one of em 
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