For char gas I think things will work out ok, but those webers can really breath. I would take the truck for a test drive just like that, you may have to much of an air restriction to feed the engine on dino at WOT. I know a samurai 1.3l couldn’t breather through a 1 1/2" shop vac hose past 3000 rpm under load. Free rev all day with no load but try to drive it down the road and totally gutless. Just do a quick test drive and see if she can run up the rpm with all the giving Mazda power it has and doesn’t feel doggy
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I was afraid of that.
I’ll try to cap off one end and drive it through the 1.5" butterfly.
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It seems fine. I leaned out the air adjustment just a hair. Idle isn’t as smooth as it was but it’s stable.
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Actually yeah I’ll try to make my gas line have two hoses going in and my air adjustment be at least 2"
I had to set the idle so high to stay alive that the engine doesn’t want to shut down when I turn the ignition off. Sort of stumbles to death.
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Changed air intake to 2" ID with a bigger pod filter. Much more stable. I can idle it back down to the stock 800rpm.
Also the truck stopped smoking as soon as I installed this snorkel unit.
I think it was the valve cover breather making the carb inhale oily air and causing the smoke. I’ve since just added a filter for the valve cover. PCV is still hooked into the Weber.
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Whew! Got it sitting in the truck bed. Need to finish the plumbing but she tucks away pretty good. Cruddy night time photos but heres how it sits at the moment. I’m going to get some steel tape and turnbuckles and cinch it down to the corner rings of the bed.
Taking it to work for a test/demonstration flare and that’s about it.
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I think as a way to cap off the flutes in shutdown mode I’m going to just make some bolt down flaps. My biggest concern is the flutes leaving a flame when there’s no vacuum and it melting my truck bed liner or someone seeing the flame and pouring water in it. Right now I’m using heavy duty aluminum foil.
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Cody have you opted for a maco type generator?
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This one is the double flute, but I will probably make a Mako in the near future for my Sierra.
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Got my 2" spa gate valve for air adjustment in the Mazda. Weather permitting I’m going to make an attempt to run it. Hopefully I can give it a spin around the block and SWEM
Guess I’ll need to buy some lemon trees soon!
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Got it to barely run. Could only go about 10mph in 1st gear and even that was a challenge. Shut down and noticed there’s still tons of moisture making it all the way to the carburetor. Not good.
I really don’t think the double flute is a great idea in a barrel type iteration. I at least got it to idle and drive but my top range of RPM is basically gone. Used a 2" vacuum hose to plumb it in.
I checked the cyclone and it collected about a cup of water.
Also at least the moisture in the carburetor wasn’t dirty so the filter did its job.
Currently uploading a video of it idling before I test drove it.
After shutdown I made sure to start it back up on gasoline to clean out any moisture that was in there.
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Hi Cody,
just thought that maybe the ceramic wool is a problem regarding the moisture.
Krisitjan just had one layer in a small hearth zone. You have several layers.
It insulated quite well against heat, but is not tight against water and gases. So during cool down, moisture can condenser in the wool. When you light the gasifier, the heat drives the moisture out through the grate with your gas.
In other words, maybe the problem is not the flute nozzle but the moisture sneaking through the ceramic wool. Maybe it would be helpful if you try a rigid hearth constriction with only one layer of wool.
I don’t really know how I could do a rigid hearth with the way it’s built now. I had attempted to seal the ceramic wool with refractory cement but it just tore it up.
It’s been weeks since I last flared this up and it has been kept in a dry shop.
There’s way too much moisture for it to just be the wool seeping in. I think moisture is slipping past the layers of wool and the active zone. I think it’s just a total design flaw.
I’m glad that I got it to run the Mazda as weak as it was. But I believe a Mako type design will be more successful for a tubular form factor. I’m sure that Bob’s rectangular made one will be even better.
I’m just glad that my filter worked.
The bag filter is damp as heck and the soot is caked onto the top edge. Probably a half a cup of water inside the filter body.
I could maybe attempt to cast a hearth made of refractory but it will add a bunch of weight to the gasifier.
Could strengthen the refractory using chicken wire to hold it together.
About an hour after shutdown the reactor is very hot. Took the lid off and there’s moisture droplets on the lid. It rained the other day but I kept a tarp on top of the entire unit.
If I can’t get this iteration to work I will recycle the flutes into a cross draft design I think.
I’m just not sure the diameter of the holes or number of holes I would need in such a design.
Where do you think all that water is coming from - the charcoal or the air? Maybe the H2 is combining with air leaks to form H2O?
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