How many of you have driven a gasier vehicle on the freeway

that you built? I realize that Wayne has done this with great success, but I need to know how many others have been successful enough to get freeway results (55+ mph)… If you couldn’t get to highway speeds I’d like to hear about that as well.

Also, if you could tell me details such as: how long it took you to build, did you use Wayne’s design, did you have welding experience, did you have welding equipment before you started or did you buy it, did you have help, what is your top speed / average speed of travel, what problems you encountered in the making / getting it to run right, and what vehicle.

You don’t have to answer every detail but some responses would be nice.

I’m a goal setter so I’m trying to figure out what I need to do this within my limits and what to expect. Obviously I’m not going to build one that immediately defeats Wayne’s 84 mpg but I would like to build one that could do 65 to keep up with traffic.

Carl covered 1400 miles on the freeway going to Argos and back, and I’m sure more since then. I’ve covered over 2,000 on my old truck and 500 on the Dakota (which already had 10K on woodgas). Sean French has gone many thousands of miles on the freeway too. There are several others, some will chime in. Freeway driving is a bit challenging in a slower rig because you’re not leading the pack, people constantly want to pass you. That was my experience with the full size Dodge. The Dakotas keep up just fine though, and are a joy to drive.

IMO your goal should be to build the highest quality gasifier you can. Take your time, invest in your tools and materials. Get your welds to be showroom quality. They will pay you back for years to come.

Another tip: Don’t make major changes on your first go round. You can’t get Wayne’s results without building his system to a T and learning how to operate it.

Good Morning Neal ,

A couple of times I have driven 800 hundred miles on a trip pulling a small trailer . Most were interstate or good roads . From the time of start to finish was 16 hours and includes fueling stops , rest breaks , eating etc.

I don’t know how fast the trucks will go . The faster you go the hotter the gasifier , the hotter the gasifier the more power it will produce . There will be some limit where the gasifier will get too hot but I haven’t reached the limit yet .

Lately I have experimented with the computer blending in gasoline . Seem that I can run well above the speed limit and pass the traffic on the interstate if I wanted to.

I have also found there are folks with blue lights on there cars that make me not want to .

BBB

The First (and current) gasifer/truck I built can maintain speeds of 90-100km/h and the max speed on flat ground is 110km/h 100% woodgas, if I mix in a little gas (turning the injectors on but fuel pump off) I can easily drive 120km/h + but I do not drive over this for legal and liability issues.

The truck is a 1990 GMC serria 5.7 tbi, 2 wheel drive and weighs in at 5800lbs with gasifer hardware installed (compared to the dakota has a poor power to weight ratio), When I built the gasifier I built with the 18inch firetube which if i had known I should have used a 20 or 24 inch tube. However the 18inch is still functioning going into its 2nd year of service and hasn’t limited my ability to drive the truck the way I wanted.

I drive to work 4 days a week with 20min (one way) highway driving 90-100km/h, the gasifer does just fine, like posted above it ain’t going to be the leader of the pack but it will do the speed limit. The largest difference (drawback) I have noticed is it’s ability to accelerate. There are 3 stop lights on the highway that I drive to work and a lot of times I hit all three reds. Compared to gasoline the truck is quite slow to get up to speed 0-90km/h especially when people just gun it off the line all late for work etc. When driving on wood I think of the truck more as a dump or transport truck its relatively slow off the line but can keep up with traffic once it gets up to speed… you will also find you will start driving like a transport i.e seeing a red light and start coasting toward it but never stop unless you absolutely have to, trying to conserve your precious momentum.
One other solution to the acceleration problem is blending in a small amount of gas. When this is done the truck accelerates about 2x as fast as compared to 100% wood. However the more you drive on wood the more you will despise using your “cheat switch”. When I drive 100% on wood even through relatively “poor” accelerations I still manage to catch up to the cars/trucks that gunned it pass me at the next set of lights.

Hey Dustin,

“never stop unless you absolutely have to, trying to conserve your precious momentum”

My first car was a Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel with 54 HP. It weighed only ~1750#, so it managed speeds up to 150 kph (93 mph) on a good day, that is…

My motto was always: “It’s better to die than to loose momentum!”

Best regards,

Sam

I like the freeway unless it’s bumper to bumper, stop and go. My system performs similar to a loaded semi, and following one seems to be a pretty good way to learn you don’t have to be at the lead all the time! A long stretch of open road, (and yes, momentum is precious), gives you the opportunity to learn about, and fine tune the gasifier as you drive at a fairly steady rate not found on hilly, curvy roads. Indiana and back with a 1000# trailer load, on a variety of roads was a great experience that included cruising at about 65, pulling long hills with a little help from dino, full switch over to dino when there is no place to stop and refuel, doing hot refills, (check the wind direction), and best of all: realizing you only have 1/8 tank of petrol and you are in the middle of Illinois farm country with no service stations in sight, and it brings a smile to your face, no problem!

Hello Neal,
The highway doesn’t scare me too much (hoping to soon raise the bar to closed track woodgasing). As Chris has pointed out several thousand miles of highway driving. I think if I were too add in all driving I would be over 80,000 miles on 100% wood power ZERO Gasoline. You name it I have probably built and tested it. :slight_smile: Trucks, Large and small. Generators Large and small. Home heating as well as green house heating systems. All on wood power BBB

A link to my youtube channel in your free time scroll through I have many videos to choose from.

Neal, This week I turned 4000 miles of woodgas driving this summer in my Dakota. Almost all on the highway. Some on the freeway. I have to go out of my way to get on a freeway, but I do it occasionally just for the fun of it. And it IS fun. It took me about three years to get going good. I have almost learned to weld in the process. Like Chris said, some of the welds are really critical and must be good or else they fail. My system has sort of evolved from a FEMA to a Kieth-sort-of. What really made things start to cook was installing a Kieth-type fire tube. And what makes it really fun is running in a Dakota.
But like I always say, it’s not really the goal setting, but the welding that makes it happen. John

Great replies! keep them coming - re-post if you like as much as you like. I love this stuff! I just ordered my welder a 175 mig from Eastwood and it will be here sometime next week.

hey neil glad to hear that you bought an eastwood welder,i have had eastwood 135 for several years and love it. the infinitly adjustable amp dial makes all the difference!

Thanks Walt! It’s out for delivery today! Now I just have to get the gas tanks for the argon and oxygen / cutting torches.

Don’t mean to be a stickler Neal, just to be sure you understand, Argon/CO2 mix goes with the wire welder, plasma cutter uses DRY compressed air. I cut everything I needed with a 220VAC plasma cutter, about same $ as wire welder.

thanks Carl! No not a stickler - I don’t understand that. May I ask what model plama cutter you have?

Like this, a Chinese knock off, some folks have Lotus too. Must be hooked up to 220 for thick cutting. Mine uses standard sized “consumables” Scroll down the pics to see 2-shapes of copper & 2-shapes of ceramic consumables. Have several on hand at all times. Not expensive. Mine worked great, till last week and the finger switch is out. (stays ON all the time)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-50-AMP-AIR-PLASMA-CUTTER-DC-INVERTER-50A-CUTTING-/390668762487?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5af5ac3d77

EDIT: The most amazing thing about plasma is it will cut SS & cast iron cleanly!

thanks. I will look into this.

Dam my luck — I just severely injured myself so I might not be so talkative. 1st my back went out this morning while working - no big deal worked slower. Then i walked into my top refrigerator door (standing below it on steps outside trying to walk up steps into open door i thought was closed) and put an indention in the right top of my skull - bleeding has stopped on pressure seems to be stopped now as well without pressure. I’m shaving my hair off right now to apply bandage. I think I will be ok and skip hospital. I might even go back to work after I get bandage on. I need to clean out this non functioning refrigerator to put tools in.

*edit
I think i’ll get this cutter:

*edit
I’m back moving around without a bandage. I shaved my hair off to see it and I think i put a dam hole in my skull but it’s not bleeding now just damp. Oh well I feel fine and I’m going to finish what i set out to do - just at a slower pace lol. I’ll be getting the torch you remmended Carl - I think there’s probably not much difference and the price is much less. I’m going to think about it - if i can lol at this rate.

If you get dizzy or nausous, immediately call 911 and get medical attention. I knew someone who hit their head like the on a shelf, felt fine for a while, but hours later felt weak and nausous. He went to go lay down for a nap and never woke up. Internal bleeding in his skull caused pressure in the brain which killed him. This is a “better safe than sorry” thing.

I think I’m going to be ok. Haven’t felt dizzy and decided to go out an work a bit but it was one of the worst “dings” I’ve had for sure. I didn’t do as much as normal and I’m definitely not 100%. I’ll know tomorrow. I have been icing it down here and there - I actually think it’s better to stay alert and do lite things if I can. Thanks for caring! life is so precious isn’t it… good news is my welder showed up and i made the bottom shevle in the picture after injured. I have 2 more shelves to go and this isn’t going to stop me. it does hurt though and i’m working slower. this only happened because my place is a mess.

Neal, the bottom shelf looks functional. Seek help if you need it.

Welding splatter can go a ways. The spray from a plasma cutter or torch can too. Be careful with the wood, flammable items in the area you’ll be cutting and welding in.

Ouch. That picture hurt my head.

Marvin

Neal,
FYI, I bought the LTP and it has worked well for me. But it does cost more coin. I copied this from e-bay

Difference between the Lotos LTP5000D and the Lotos LT5000D:

The Lotos LTP5000D uses the IGBT technology which is more reliable and robust than Mosfet technology present in the LT5000D. Also, the LTP5000D is a pilot arc plasma cutter which is a good feature for customers who need to cut rusty material (In a pilot arc torch, when you press the trigger of the torch, the machine will automatically strike an arc, you don’t need to remove the rust before cutting. For contact arc cutters, like the LT5000D, all the rust must be cleaned off in order to cut the rusty material. In addition, in cases where the torch cannot touch the metal, such as the corner piece of a metal frame, you will need to use a pilot arc cutter as a contact arc (asthe name implies) requires contact. 90% of all our business customers have purchased the LTP5000D over the LT5000D.