Wood Gas! Wood Gasification Powers this Truck
(Page 4 of 6)
May/June 1981
By Mother Earth News editors
Then — for further flexibility — our researchers modified the linkage once more, a change which made a great difference with respect to the engine's performance under the sorts of unpredictable traffic conditions that the everyday driver might encounter. Instead of allowing the sliding control pin to move both "smoke fuel" clevises at the same time, they drilled an access hole in only the right shoulder of the air mix (red) arm and fastened a short spring between the lever's slotted bracket and that of its silver-colored (wood gas) neighbor. Next, they determined the position of both the air and wood gas throttle rods when the "flap" valves within the two-port carb body were fully open, then carefully installed a two-stage spring on the air control lever so the secondary, or stouter, coil would come into play exactly at that point in the progression.
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The final modifications included tackwelding a small stop onto the shaftmounted arm of the producer gas throttle valve to prevent it from revolving past its full-open position . . . and driving a 1/8" X 3/4" roll pin into a hole in the upper surface of the Pinto carburetor body, which allows the air "damper" to travel beyond its maximum flow location, yet keeps it from going so far as to close it again completely.
In use, the dual-fuel setup is very effective. With the dashboard control cable pushed in, the truck runs solely on gasoline, as usual . . . but when the handle is pulled to its midway position, both the wood gas and petrol throttles function . . . allowing the motorist to pull away while rapidly bringing the gasification unit up to a good fuel-producing temperature. (our system, unlike most others, doesn't incorporate a power-sapping and potentially dangerous blower fan to get the coals glowing after the wood fuel is lighted with a match at the beginning of the day. The engine vacuum produced when the truck is running in its half-and-half mode provides enough draft to guarantee an adequate supply of "smoke" fuel after only a mile — or several minutes-of warm — up driving.)
Once the coals are up to heat, the cable can be fully extended and the engine run on producer gas alone. Since, in this configuration, there's not sufficient draw to influence the carburetor, very littleif anygasoline enters the manifold through that atomizer's idle circuit. And furthermore, the adjustable progressive throttle assembly allows the engine to receive the proper air/wood gas ratio at all times . . . and the driver can, in addition, feel the powerplant's response to any given traffic situation and make corrective changes with the accelerator pedal.
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