thank you Steve, you surmised what i had been brain stewing on all night. The newer purpose designed and tested synthetics are absolutely aimed toward a fuel, that being a fuel we are not using! Or at least using it sparingly! the chevota will be getting its regular oil from now on, and I’m going to try a 5w30. I do detest the mallwart as a store, but i still get my cheap oils there. When time and funds allow i use Napa brand oil, rebranded Valvoline which i have taken a liking to, but only purchase on sale. Would like to find somewhere i could get it by the five gallon bucket for a buy once a year cry once problem solver. Have a stock of oil filters sitting ready. Oil pump parts should be here today lord willing ill have it back together tonight. On the upside, the new dodge is currently getting 12.2 mpg, a good upgrade from the old dodge at 11mpg!
Why to think in percentages Marcus.
That’s a 12% better! You know you will go a bit out of your way for now 45 cents a gallon cheaper gasoline too.
One of the reasons I went with the 3500 GMC cut-a-way van versus the E350 Ford . . . 13 mpg, versus 11 mpg.
Loaded it up yesterday with three full cords of family hardwoods (English walnut and Maple) firewood removing before that property sales closes at the end of this month. Ouch! The box body sides are bulging out a bit visible in the mirrors.
This vehicle is rated for 4500 pounds load weight. Geez. Must be 9000 pounds on board. She’s fat. She wallows. Gross overloaded And only using the first three gears, 45 mph.
My hard learned rule: Never move firewood longer than 50 miles. Too expensive in vehicle wear and tear. Traffic slowed, passing dangerously. And butt-cheeks puckering avoiding traffic tickets.
Here’s my oil place secondary:
https://www.hoursguide.com/bi-mart/washington
We shop here first. Then Wal-Mart. They are actually better for standard engine oils.
Yep. None in your area. Bi-Mart sells lots fishing, camping and hunting guns including pistols and ammo. A primary Sportsman Show sponsor down here. They do not want the anti-gun restrictions of the Puget Sound’ers area.
See one traveling. Stop in and browse.
Steve Unruh
Ooooooo you struck a nerve Steve! Bi-mart is like my crack dealer when i go east side fishing hunting! Bulk ammo pricing is usually good, great selection of fishing gear and friendly staff. Was actually just on the phone with good friend east sider yesterday who let me know there group 27 deep cycle batteries are on sale through may 10
https://www.bimart.com/bi-mart-rvdeep-cycle-battery-27rvdc-cca-575/p/749758
and i need to get out to the port orchard store ( right down the road from one of my yards) and pickup 4 of them. 3 for replacement of my aging dyeing solar system battery bank, one new for the boat for the now arrived fishing season, old boat battery stays in the Toyota i like having a deep cycle in it makes me feel better about running the blowers on cold mornings. Ill pick up some oil while I’m there!
It is great for your garden Jan but before you add it to your soil you must amend it or it will suck the nutrients out. That’s just how it works. I have more elaborate ways I amend mine but just pour a gallon or so of a water soluble fertilizer per five gallon bucket of char, mix it and let it sit for a couple days. The char will absorb all the liquid and then it will be available to the plant everytime it gets watered or rained on.
Ok I will test this, the neighbor has a field that is full of charcoal, there has been a charcoal warehouse there, and there it grows very well. Thanks for the tip.
Hi Marcus, did you get your car moving?
Not yet, got all the parts except the new oil pump, the one I got was packaged wrong so the right one is on the way. Need it done soon the V10 is killing the funds to gasify itself in fuel cost!
I had a thought from way back in this thread related to the moderator design.
On the one hand you want heat from the hearth to drive off moister and then you want to cool to condense the moister to dry the fuel…
Ok simple enough…
What if you completely divorced this from the fuel bunker and instead of cooling to and wasting the heat you used a counterflow heat exchanger to really cool and condense the tars…
And rather than waste the heat from gas cooling you again counter flow the return and rewarmed some of the dried air you return to the fuel bunker…
I don’t have a drawing of this.
and I am not even sure its possible.
Every calorie of heat conserved is calorie saved for water shift, tar cracking and driving off locked up moister.
There is a lot of wasted process heat, not just the gengas unti now think of the whole engine exhaust and cooling system as a source of additional process heat inputs.
Now a thought and observation:
The high presure drops across gasification units are in part because of the high velocities required to get hearth temperatures up.
Lower rates and flows make for tar because the temperatures are too low ( we know this )
Anything we can do to keep the temperatures up and reduce hearth loses means clean with less loading.
Therefor, we can make a larger less restrictive unit that operates at lower velocity IF we can add more or return more heat to the system.
Unlreated to this.
But I found I can use my exhaust system to make good dry steam that is proporational to engine load and gas volume on something I am tinkering with here.
I can spare gas cooling heat now from air preheat to maybe try and squeeze more hydro cracking out of this new char unit I am working on.
The idea is not to drop the temperatures…
BUT also not to add more heat than useful.
I notice a point when air is heated to excess and it thins out.
The losses from density drops mean I need a bigger tuyer and this throws everything out of whack.
I know some of my ideas are impractical even in a stationary plant
With out going into details, some of the things you are talking about is already being done in the WK Gasifier System. I call it the balancing act of gasification when making good gases. Wayne has put a lot of years of testing and building with thinking this all out to put it for use in a vehicle. The balance is you have to loose some heat you just can’t run the system on no heat lost, this is impossible in any situation. The goal is to make good gases in any Gasifier and they all have their limits of what they can do. This is from the many hours of reading and studying the different types of gasification systems that many have have done. “Have Wood Will Travel” is a great book to have with proven testing that have been done. In the documentation in the book.
Bob
I would rather have the monorator. If I wanted to preheat the wood even more I would have a transitional zone above the nozzles where it’s still kept hot by the bottom barrel, and have a monorator above to remove rising moisture. @Tone has just done this for his tractor.
Oh your ideas are very valid Wallace.
But as you say . . . practical to implement?
Before the rectangular short squat box “moderator” hopper was discovered by the Finn racing guys there was divorced steam and pyrolysis cooling and condensing trials and experiments being done. The name Herr Professor Lutz is what pops up. These worked but suffered from goo’s clogging.
The Finns racer guys simple box larger surface area condensing, hopper was then observed. And improved with a lower inner wood chunk hold up screened shelf. Below that a dedicated condensate collection and drainage out to a collection container. And all of this modified until it could be tars and goo’s build ups tolerant.
I quick scrolled up and realized you, JanA and MattR are the only ones reading along and participating on this topic who are not Premium DOW side members.
You’all do not get to see the many now WK inner system-in-use pictures. Clean as built. Soon later, as In-use tars coated.
The WK system as Wayne evolve it into; is much more sophisticated than just the added eternal hooper cooling tubes pictures shows. It has an overlapping finger slitted cone over the top of a mid-system condensed out tars and condensing “gutter”. The WK uses two gutter collectors. Upper hopper and lower hopper. The lower is actually jet level rising heat warmed. It re-vaporizes, the vaporizable out of the lower collection gutter. These are drawn inward for use as HC’s fuel contributing sources. This refiner stage ultimately draining out as still warm flowing asphalt-like tertiary stage heavy tars.
So The WK system for lowest energy costs removal of excessive condensates; is the most proven capable.
You, yourself Wallace with your extensive industrial experiences knows that system are evolved to give the most production with the least input maintenances, break down stoppages, and needed rebuilding. Productions experienced know that Maintenances WILL always be needed to keep production going on. Whether full shut down Batch processed… Or continuous production systems.
Wallace the relatively minor “thrown away to the Crows” (MaxG) in BTU’s/calories in a vertical linear woodgas system for condensate generation; concentration; and removal pays back multiples in system improvements.
Regards
Steve unruh
I think we need to get you over on the premium side and a book in hand Wallace, and a puruse through the Wilbur Smith build as well 
The more I get to read the more I realize… there is way more going on inside the gasifier than what meets the eye. It’s intriguing! I hope I can fully comprehend it one day. Until then, I’ll keep expanding what’s in my brain box by doing and reading.
Don’t feel bad Chris, I’m neck deep in it and I have no clue what’s going on!
Heat woods maker gas pump to engine screw oil prices ( spoken as neanderthal knuckle dragger carrying wooden club barefoot)
That’s as far as my thoughts were coming into this all. Now I have what went from my fabrication hobby/ job to heading in the direction of my own energy independence. The basic principle is still the same, but the knowledge explaining HOW it happens and how to make it more efficient and clean is a lifetime of learning. Like @SteveUnruh and his rolodex mind…cha ching! This guy did this…cha ching! That has been tried…cha ching! Look at this paper from 1971 for the beginning of this design and how it was discovered and what it does.
ENDLESS knowledge to be had, enough to make simple minds like @tcholton717 and myself to get a head ache 
Carburetor? Yes. I have understanding of this.
Vacuume delivery of a gaseous fuel derived from super heated tree carcasses? Foreign language!
But I’m having fun and learning more then I ever thought I would, and that’s a win in my book 
Please delete this post.
I’m not sure what I should say or not so I’m gong to walk my hounds and consider careful wording.
Congratulations Marcus.
Good thing you’re getting rid of gas again
+20 more melons.
I’ve never had an engine without timing marks. I have many times set timing by sound like you are but it always leaves you wondering just how close you are. I think this is the only way to do it but not easy with the engine or even just the cooling system in the truck.
Glade you are back on the road and thanks for the ride .