My plan was just to run the wood down low, but I had to pick a handfull of chunks out to get down below the funnel fingers. No need emptying the char pile.
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I’m hoping and praying that you get a passing inspection and be as “legal as a (beagle”) (dog that is) where they came up with that saying I don’t know. But it sounds so cool to say it
Bob.
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I need to get building. We have no such inspection processes here, it’s wide open, practically begging for gasification.
10,000 miles, that’s very impressive, and your system is remarkably intact, many miles yet to put on it. I would say owing to an outstanding design, possibly some luck, but you have a winning model to follow there!
I wish you best luck with the inspection, though I doubt it’s needed.
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Looking good jo i see you are leaveing the free insulation on the out side of the funnel and ss washer basket.Nice design 10.000 miles no motor tar ups and all in tack, thats good for a light weight modle that it is for the little RABIT.And i know you used the WK type heat recovery allso.
Oh, I never realised. I thought Canada was as “inspectional” as we are. You´re right, no reason not to get building 
The inner hopper is ordinary barrel material. But i like your thinking of the tar as free insulation. A little “insulation” on the inner hopper will actually improve condencing capability.
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Every province is it’s own kingdom, entirely separate regulations, some are much worse than others. And they seem to be in a race to make as much money for themselves and auto manufacturers as possible. At least so far, fingers crossed, no scrutiny or regulation in the prairie provinces. Ontario and BC could be different.
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That is correct it´s the ideal isolation, with the perfect diameter en formed in ideal shape and self made by the system. That is what I think. Nice system JO! Congrats!
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Tars. Corrosion proofing of the metals too.
S.U.
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I see your hopper is remarkably clean! Wery nice. I expected a lot more of sticked sawdust and debrie and partisly baked tar. You will DOW again in no time.
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Hm…bad news 
Today´s inspection…emissions, ball joints, brakes, lights… everything OK… BUT…
…RUST…The inspector smashed his hammer through the floor/doorstep box on the drivers side in several places. I´m up for a second appointment to get approval of a fix in a month from now. If not, every police car I meet will get a flashing light on their dash when my license plate get scanned.
So, what to do? The way I look at it I have two options.
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Start scraping the undercoating, oil and mess I put on last summer, and borrow a MIG to patch things up (my old flying friend will let me borrow his MIG. I support him with free firewood every year and I also helped him building his guesthouse/sauna). But I hate the thought of welding inside the garage with all the sawdust sneaked in every corner and loads of sawed lumber stacked.
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Put the gasifier back on and run as is for a month while focusing on getting the Mazda up and running. And then let the Rabbit sit from the end of February until summer when I can do some outside work.
Suggestions?
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Hi, Jan-Ola!
If the weather is going cooler the garage job with the Mazda sounds as a safer choise, so no:2.
Additionally, the Mazda may be more suited for bringing home bigger parts like more or less complete treshhold “beams”, furthermore a longer span of time increases the chance to find the right components at more junkyard visits (after the snow melts off).
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Oh no! I saw a longer post and thod oh great, a sucsessfull woodgas drive report already. But bad news…
I am with Max here. I have no dubt you will finish your Mazda in a months time, then you wuld have plenty of time for a body work.
I am sure once you start digging in you will find lots of hidden flaws, and if you plan to keep the Rabbit, its best to fix and protect for a lot more years to come.
Looks like we will both be looking in rust holes this spring, my Mercedes needs both frame beams new. When l jacked the car up for a tire swap, the jack just sunk in the doorstep 
Max, JO mentioned once his new truck has legal carryadge weight of about 1200kg, so he can carry the whole Rabbit on that Mazda
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Sad news. Your inspectors would have a hay day working over here in what we call the “rust belt”. Here we can buy replacement panels that are not “factory” but reproductions and very good. For your problem I could buy a “rocker panel” that would snap right over the thresh hold and around to cover the “rocker”. A couple of tack welds and your good for some time. But you fix one spot and two comes to it’s funeral. The rabbit is mechanically in good shape so it is a horse appease whether you fix it the rabbit or finish the Mazda. But call a body shop and see if the panels are available. TomC
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That’s a time consuming job. The main challenge is to cut back to weldable metal, as the body panels were thin to begin with and the rusted metal is only part of that, plus the rust will oxidize the weld material. I used 18ga galvanized steel, paper patterns, a pneumatic lapping tool, and a spot welder. A lot of work. At least you only have single door thresholds, and short rocker panels. And probably simpler design rocker panels.
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Wow Garry, that’s a lot of rust on that Tracker. Nice work.
Well, I went for the no:2 dicision. The Rabbit gasifier, piping, valves, cables and everything is mounted back on. I´ll be running for another month and will attend to the Mazda in the meantime.
A short DOW just to see that everything is OK for going to work tomorrow.
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That’s the trouble with rust, by the time it starts to perforate, there will be large areas that are just behind it. Fortunately the floor pan was intact. Rocker panels, and any mud traps, are the problem areas. Drivers side floor pan, salty snow coming off winter boots.
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That’s what I like about the Mazda. It has a real frame. Much easier to repair. Not that it’s needed now but the day will come eventually.
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And the other good thing about the Mazda trucks of that age is that they used galvanized metal for the cabs, makes a huge difference. Too bad that wasn’t made a requirement for all manufacturers.
The VW trucks aren’t built on a frame?
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No, these small ones are built like a car and so are even newer small VW, Scoda, Fiat, Opel pickups.
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I didn’t know that they built them unibody. Fortunately the Suzuki 1990’s vehicles were built on a frame.
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