I think the 240 could be perfect, accounting for HP loss from woodgas I think the stock 5 speed could handle it. Maybe for gasoline use an undersized carburetor to limit power, or plate it the old fashioned NASCAR way.
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The 240 and 300 are based on the same engine. The 300 is a stroked 240. It was easy to add stroke - 0.600 inches if I recall correctly to add more cubic inches to the engine to help recover power lost due to smog regulations. Cylinder heads interchange between the 240/300 with some slight chamber volume changes over the years and applications. The 300 was fitted with dished pistons which helped offset the increased displacement so the heads didn’t change much. The 300 was made with different connecting rods between models. The mid 70’s 300 van engines had the lightest duty connecting rods. The truck engines were better and the industrial engines were even more robust.
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I just remembered - there was a gent here on DOW who I discussed the Ford 240/300 with a year - 1.5 years or so ago. I wonder if he did anything with one.
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Now that is interesting… Do you know if the fuelie 5.0 into the nineties have the same bell housing as the 300?
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Only when the lake is frozen. Right now is our driest month. I can set fire to the grass patches. The rest of the time it’s 80% or above.
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Yes. The 90’s factory fuel injected 300 I-6 has the same bellhousing as the 90’s 5.0L V-8.
Careful now though . . . I am pretty sure one of the other of these during their long production lives from the 1960’s to their ending in the late 90’s did change block spacings. Ford pickup enthusiast forums are the place to search this all up.
And I do not know that crankshaft hubs were not different like the small block Chevy; and the GM LS’s both did mid-production usages.
The Man actually wood gas using a driving the Ford 300 I-6 is Ron Lemler. Here on the DOW.
Steve Unruh
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Well, I wondered because I want a better transmission for my 77
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And so far as forcing a woodgas fuel making process for a better engines grade fuel, hippy-skippy right on past methanol making. The real prize is in boosting the CH4 percentages.
From a charcoal systems nearly 0% - nothing: to a poor woodgases systems of at least 1%, to the better woodgas systems 4-6% CH4.
Now this may seem like little compared to good commercially delivered "natural gas’.
Small electrical generator systems says woodgas methane blended in makes a difference in crankshaft power.
Ha! I am at the wrong location to go out and photo my small white bottle of CNG proofing fuel gas. Blended in to verify this.
S.U.
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240, 300 internal balance, 302 till 1981 28oz external imbalance, after that 50oz The HO 302 had a 351w cam which has a different firing order. 240,300,302,351w, and 351c same bell bolt pattern, but they made 2 157 tooth 164 tooth fly wheels, which made bell housings smaller, or larger. This was for applications into smaller cars, like fox bodies.
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This good detailed info. Primarily I want to replace the three speed transmission, with a four speed with granny low.
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Should be no problem, if you can use the same bell, if not, like most makes, make sure you have the correct throughout bearing.
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I’m still going to mess around with the methanol SteveU. Not that I can’t make methane but it’s hard to get it from under the bed sheets and into some kind of container. My Cocker Spaniel doesn’t crap enough for me to make a methane digester. I have made another small still. I just need to get a meat thermometer or some other way to monitor the temp. Anyway it’s a wood based product so DOW.
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Greetings Steve, whenever someone mentions methane in wood gas I raise my ears, as you state it when gasifying charcoal is almost non-existent unless water vapor is added and the hot area is super insulated. We can see how much insulation means after the publication of our friend Giorgio in another topic, so the goal is to maintain a high temperature by supplying as little air as possible. The gasification of wood is no different, except that the oxygen bound in the wood is also hydrogen, in short all the necessary elements for the formation of a strong gas with a high content of methane, ie super insulation, direct preheating of fresh air with the resulting gas as close as possible to the outlet. , heating the wood storage and assisting in pyrolysis and drying with the residual heat of the emitted gas and, most importantly, push the overheated pyrolysis gases into the burning zone with charcoal. Steve, if my theory holds, a gasifier working like this would produce over 10% methane, I would very much like to make measurements of the content of individual gases on my gasifier. 
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I needed a flex plate for my 240 when I mated it to a C-4 trans from a Fairmont for my end loader. I went to a wrecking yard and they had one the right size but they said it was for a 302. I didn’t know the difference between the 240 or 302 flex plates and apparently they didn’t either. I needed one right then as we depended on the loader. The 302 flex plate worked but the motor always had a shake as it idled. It wasn’t until many years later that I found out that the chunk of steel welded to the flex plate was the cause of the shake. Unfortunately I could not access the flex plate to remove the offending balance weight for a number of more
years.
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Tom, run it through a thumper, temp. not as important. 
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Thermometer is nice and all but I go by cadence. Pencil lead thin stream is what you want. Since you’re making fuel don’t worry about making cuts. That poison at the start is methanol and some other nasties. Buy an alcoholometer to tell how much water is still left.
Methanol does distill at a lower temperature though, from 120-155 degrees.
Is this a wood alcohol still? Maple yields 20 gallons methanol, 20 gallons acetone per ton.
@Tone @KristijanL , everyone,
So the reaction between hydrogen and carbon to make methane is exothermic.
I never hear about methane being made this way.
Thoughts?
Sometime to make methane can be anti romantic 
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