I believe you SeanO’
These Washington and Oregon visible finished and capped landfills can no longer visibly burn flare off. The IC engines did need a minimum gas-made capacity. And the State’s Departments of Ecology’s even monitor these special pollution eaters engines exhausts.
AND Kubota chose not to upgrade their DG972 and DG1005’s from EPA Phase 2 to Phase 3 certifications.
They only make, import, and sell, upgraded certified, four cylinder 1600 engines in other than diesel now.
What is interesting is these previous DG972 (58.7 CID) and the DG 1005 (61.08 CID) were using just dewatered and mildly filtering “sewer gasses” pretty much using as is. Acids and all.
Just like the Arrow, Whitte and other oil-field pump engines use just out of the well de-watered and screened well head gasses.
This is the closet comparables to wet, sooty, woodgas.
Other bigger water pumping natural gas engines like the Ford, IHC, Waukesha’s are using fully dehumidified, filtered, and acid balanced, delivered street type natural gas.
The small three cylinder Kubota’s are all larger bores than strokes.
With dedicated cylinder heads depending if diesel, od natual gas, or LPG intended.
Thier four cylinder series of block bases are made in diesel, natual gas, LPG or actual gasoline versions. The gasoline versions needing three-way catalytic converters and SEFI for Phase 3 and Phase 4 certifications.
The Tail, wags the Dog in the must-comply to import, distribute and sell world.
Steve Unruh
Wow. Now Tone, Francois Pal and K.V.L. reading.
Here guys this one is for you. SI units and maths:
Watch CC enable. Gear tools icon translated into French or Slovin understandable.
Now TomH, Marcus and other mo’power gearheads: this is not just efficiency maniac’ing.
In the WWII air wars the Naval aircraft the USA and Japan had to develop superior BSFC. To go multiple hundreds of miles and then have a combat time, and then return to the carrier or an island base. You splash down out of fuel you die. Shark food.
The over the land piston fighters of Brittian, Germany and the Soviets had to sacrifice BSFC for more-power, more-power or be out fought, and die. Closer based. Out of fuel, maybe, recoverable. US army air force fighters had to try and range with the British and US super long-distance bombers. We lost a lot of fighters (and bombers) until drop tanks. And later bases could be had with ground advances.
In the 50’s/60’s a few fellows tried putting these very powerful v-12 Allison engines in their West Coast long haul rigs. Blast on up the mountain grades. Fuel costs and aircraft interval of expensive maintenances quickly put them off the road and those slow diesels kept on chugging along delivering the freight. Turbo-chargeing like the WWII aircraft they got to be more powerful, and faster with similar BSFC.
It was low comparable BSFC, that truly killed off the early 60’s Chrysler gas turbine cars. KIlled off Mazda’s across the board in the early 70’s all Wankel cars.
Back of ChrisS’s and WayneK’s book Dr Brandsey in closed track very raining condition was able to measure on Waynes truck as clearly more conversion efficiency on woodgas versus on gasoline.
This Engineering Explained fellow in the video at 9:50 says larger displacement tends to give better efficiency in IC engines.
At 13:12 he says higher compression ratios always gives better efficiency.
Steve Unruh
I remember reading somewhere that WW2 German fighters injected hydrogen peroxide for added power in dog fight situations, able to out climb the British fighters.
Non-LS or LT Small block chevy, by far. Especially for cheapest parts. Easiest to modify only because of the incredible number of aftermarket parts manufactured.
Yeah, these kinds of videos just make me feel stupid. Start talking in formulas and I get that far away look in my eyes and start thinking about boobs. But I agree with the conclusions. After he showed the one second of engine with the two spark plug per cylinder engine I couldn’t think about much else. If it wasn’t for the project farm videos I wouldn’t be real world explaining something that I always intuited and that is how combustion actually occurs inside a cylinder. Him burning various substances beneath his visible combustion chamber was kind of like getting the last turn on a rubic cube for me. A prime example of how simple minds work. I only wish I had mathematical abilities and could work out things I can only visualize but it breaks down into how pressure and therefore power is actually generated. It’s kind of like the difference between ramming powder and a ball down a flint lock and banging the primer on a modern cartridge. Any fuel has to spread out across a certain area after it’s somehow injected. It gets ignited and burns from one molecule to the next until it is all consumed. It may seem simultaneous but it’s not. Having the molecules pushed into as smaller volume means there is space between molecules and therefore less dead space between them. Typically that pressure created by the combustion will produce little effect until it hits a cylinder wall at which point it can no longer go sideways and has to push up or down. If you have two points of ignition in the same space depending on the placement of the spark plug, then you have minimized the flame path and it probably runs from the perimeter back to a central point. If you increase the energy of the spark then you are going to ignite faster. The reason we run magnetos in maximum performance engines. I know this is fuzzy logic and maybe all crap but it’s how I see things. I am not offended if you prove otherwise.
I’m in love with all the gun references here, there are some parallels we can draw. In reloading say a center-fire rifle cartridge the primer is like a spark plug, the plug can be gapped different to change ignitability. It can be a hotter or colder spark (hei,points,magneto) ambient air temp makes a difference what powder may perform with what primer the best, and each will perform completely different from say 308 to 223 or 300 winmag. The powders ability to handle the heat or cold, amplified by the primers ability to do the same, will change burn rate and velocity. All can be applied to a engine. A tight fitting match grade bore is going to outshoot a sloppy wore out of poorly machined bore, same as a higher compression ratio engine will out perform a lower compression, given the gas quality or powder charge. Just mull these over and you will see the parallels
The efficiency of the engine is actually expressed by the highest temperature of the ignition gases and the temperature of the exhaust gases, but beware, the highest temperature also quickly passes into the cooling system, which reduces our efficiency, especially if the combustion chambers are made of aluminum. I love gray cast iron engine heads, which allow for lower thermal conductivity and heat loss, which is reflected in the power of the engine. My opinion is that a wood-gas engine should have the largest possible volume of an individual cylinder, a compression ratio of at least 1:13, a cast iron head, … in this way the power drop would be less than 30% and the efficiency would exceed 35%, as already noted, the ignition energy accumulates in the proportion of ballast gases and not so much in the engine housing.
Tone the GM/Chevrolet V-8 engine TomH and BruceJ are talking about is cast-iron block and cast-iron heads.
My actual personal lifelong favorites were all cast iron too. Inline fours. The one V-4. Many, many Inline sixes. My still owned Ford 302/5.0L V-8.
To really conserve and save “Internal Fire” energy (Clessie Cummins book) you would have cast iron pistons too.
Harrumph. Bruce knows I sought that in my oversized, made-in-India Lister clone hop-a-way, vertical single engine. 6 1/8" diameter cast iron piston makes for a lot of counter force hopping energy. Having TWO 150 pound large external, cast iron, can-get-loose at 1000 RPM, external flywheels adds to the risks-fun too.
But more practically many of us can still get cast iron block and cylinder head engines in some modern (after WWII) diesels like you have. Swede Johan Linnel, JanA too. My 1980 Yanmar 3-cylinder diesel tractor.
What is totally unnecessary are higher RPM capable overhead camshafts.
But . . . if that is all you have available, those can obviously now, be made to work too.
Here in the USA and Canada Lands-of-many-engines not hard to find all cast iron non-valves bending four cyclinders.1st generation Ford 2300’s. GM Iron Duke fours in cars pickups and boats. Chrysler/Dodge 2.2L fours.
Problem . . . you can’t get 1:13 out of most of these all cast iron “Ideals”.
10:1, sure. 11:1 m-a-y-b-e.
Ha! They did make some GMC all cast iron LS’s. If you look hard enough.
Diminishing returns on moneys spent out searching out, finding limited production Rare-Ones. My all aluminum 1962 Buick 215 CID V-8. The all aluminum Chrysler 198 cid, slant-six: I never did find.
Use what you do have, with realistic expectations.
Do Not chase making woodgas perform Just Like a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g other that batch made variable energy woodgas.
Race yourself as WayneK, and others do; to better daily useability. That’s the real woodgas in engines challenge.
Grow your own working engine fuel as the true Freedom reward.
Regards
Steve Unruh
And Marcus for the real pains-gained apreciation of the coonecting rod to crank throw part of it . . .
go out and distance, hills bicycle. Be no easy one leg at a time push-down relax-coast left-right alternating. Nope. Nope. You must get more degrees of power input with each leg with minimized power gapping.
Strap those feet in and ankle-over the top of the stoke. Carry down powering and following tru across the bottom of stroke. And you then lift UP.
Make you huff. Make you sweat.
After really advanced performance then the crank lengths are changed out to match the best cadence you can maintain. Cadence (and willpower) set by the heartbeat rate. Heartbeat rate guided some by the cadence. Those legs becoming blood pumps.
S.U.
Edit add: never fall in with the spring-air rifle guys who try ether injecting to boost power. Too damn tweaky temperature sensitive. Turns you precision tack driver into a scatter gun. Forget about head shots then.
Excellent post TomH.
So’s to get you really in trouble with the wife I just have to put up deep math’s videos, eh.
The two modern engines with dual spark plugs I’ve worked with are the later Ford pickup 2300 fours. Was for emissions. Sometimes only one plug firing. Sometimes both.
The dual plug Dodge Hemi V-8’s both of the relatively close together spark plugs fire at the same time. I think I know why. Dodge/Chrysler engineers would never confirm. (Allows for bigger bore centered two valves. Two centralist spark plugs to have the flame front edges reaching out at the same time.)
Best to just go with the MSD re-fire the single sparkplug every 20 milliseconds system. You will idle smoother. Can get much better too-rich, too-lean usability. And now with better longer-lived Platinum sparkplugs you will not be ~50% shortening your plugs service life’s.
Dual plugs doubles your chance of a stuck one in an aluminum head, stripping, forcing a head still-on repair IMHO. Uggg.
Regards
Steve Unruh
When the full switch was made to ECM engines we found much greater longevity and fuel economy but what makes me real curious is why all of a sudden you get a hundred thousand miles out of spark plugs instead of maybe twenty K. Coil on Plug? I don’t know. I attribute the engine longevity to robotically controlled manufacturing and engine assembly.
When you look at a plug fired through a magneto it looks like fingers of lightening spreading beyond the electrodes. That’s impressive.
First it was more consistent, greater energy-into the ignition coils. Not limited for contact points life of only 2-3 amps switching. Full power transistors switching 10 amps then. GM High Energy could draw up to 20-25 amps. Why they’d whopping secondary 80,000 kv burn through the distributor cap grounding out on the steel shaft. Ford having to go with their terminals spread caps. Chrysler and Japanese with the brown plastic caps. Black is carbons. Less available carbons. Less carbon tracking shorts.
This was a Federal Government YOU, now Must, Mr. Manufactures warranty for no-touch ignition services needed for 50,000 miles stability, effective 1976. Or repair, restore at your own costs.
Later that part of the mandate You-Must got extended to 80,000 miles, early 90’s. Takes platinum and Iridium plugs to do that. Then that negotiated, traded away to favor warrantee longer cat converters, late 1990’s. Why the later systems heavily monitor catalytic converter efficiently and WILL de-power, limp you home. “I steal your power sweetie” The manufacturers on the hook for the cats. You get to pay for the actual causes. Say . . .leaking oil into the intake stream from OHC’s too many valves stem seals. “You caused this.” They’ll say. “Wrong oil. Not changed often enough.”
S.U.
Coil over spark plugs is the second part of the take-control story.
Nothing In the Federal Regulations Mandates say manufacturers have to go this way.
As evidenced by the Chevy/GM V-8 and now new production V-6 still having spark plug wires: coil-near-plug. Dodge/Ram/jeeps Hemi’s having spark plug wires too. And more than just because it was technological possible to do COP’s then.
It was for full individual cylinder control over ignition, in addition to the individual fuel injector. System can now individually control each cylinder’s spark timing. One cylinder pinging. Only ignition timing retard that cylinder. One cylinder detected under power contributing. Crankshaft power pulse acceleration NOTS detected for miss-firing since 1996/97. Some before that. System will then try advancing the IG timing and more fuel to just that one cylinder possible then.
Then high speed traction control helped made possible. That is what needed the no steel cable anymore but electric wire servo motor throttle plates.
The various reasons for shutting down of individual cylinders made possible.
Control. To help you. Yes.
To limit you. Enhanced Rev limiters. Slow you down. Shut you down, if needs be.
Ha! Actual programable parental controls possible then. No Really. 80km learner limits with-in the car enforced.
Remote wifi and cell carrier connected cars since 2010-2012. On-Star before that. Other’s can and will control your car. Electric steering. Save gas, some. Save manufacturing expanse - I laugh.
Control.
Steve Unruh
We have two of these…they have cast iron four cylinder engines with cast iron heads. They have low compression. They have huge pistons. 1400rpm. 335 cubic inch displacement.
I’m all about control. That’s why I am more comfortable in the semi-ludite car world. I mentioned before that I got this see-through plastic V-8 take apart engine when I was ten. It made total sense to me as I kept disassembling and reassembling. I never really moved on because I saw no need. That and I was a teenager in the Detroit area in the early sixties, an era when cars were a religion. My high school had a fully equipped auto shop and there were two Ford assembly plants in my town. Ford kept that shop filled with engines, trasmissions, differentials. Most of my friends took the shop class but I couldn’t because I scored to high on some tests and was forced into advanced classes. Shop was for dummies. Didn’t really matter. My friends took shop and we spent all our time working on junkers so I learned what they learned anyway. I learned how to tune carbs by swapping out jets and changing metering rods. I learned what it sounded like when you hit fairly optimum timing by simply turning a distributor and listening and checking with a timing light proved you were not far wrong if at all. Slap in new points and condensers, set gaps, lose battery, stick a new five dollar voltage regulator on the firewall, Weld up spider gears because you couldn’t afford a limited slip differential and never heard of a spool or locker. The point being that it was all simple and you were in control. Not some module taking reading from crank and cam sensors or reading manifold pressure. No matter how much smarter the ECM is than me, I don’t want it to be in control. I want to tweek my four or five manual engine controls and if one fails I won’t need to plug my code reader in. I’ll pull and read plugs, I’ll run a couple of checks with a multi-meter and swap out a few simple parts. Control.
My dad talks about his high school shop class in the 60s, him and two friends made what he called a Short Dog. Old Buick with the Fireball engine was stuck in a field, they pulled that bad boy with a pickup and it bumped started and his buddy sitting in it to steer while towing was now piloting a runaway car.
Apparently they took the cab of a truck, shortened the Buick frame. Wish he had the pictures of it.
Not sure what a Short Dog is but I’ve never been able to Google it and get a result that makes sense.
