Machines

[Bull]

I'm throwing this out there for anyone else to be thinking of, and to share my ideas. I'm looking into buying an old truck to make a vehicle for when TSHTF. I'm not counting on having a ready supply of gasoline so I'm thinking of alternative means to run it. The general idea is to convert a gasoline engine to run on methanol or ethanol, because that can be distilled on your own, and conversions should be relatively simple. I'm doing the research now, so any info would be helpful. A lot of race cars run on methanol, and the main differences I am aware of for an engine to work is that you need larger jets in the carb, fuel lines that are resistant to corrosion from the fuel, same for the fuel tank, advance your timing, use hotter spark plugs, and you might need better valves that can handle the heat. You might need to tweek your cooling system a little to get the desired temp. Anyway, it could be a bit in depth, but not too bad, and not very expensive. Additionally, you could have a spare carb setting around to use, keep running on gas for now, and when TSHTF, swap carbs, plugs, and make some adjustments, and you're good to go. Also, I think you can buy methanol from race shops and other places if you wanted to convert completely now, and you might save a little money. Not sure about the savings but I'm looking in to it. So, I'm thinking about all of this, and I realize that if you kept the spare parts you needed to perform this conversion on your generator, you ATV or whatever, you may be in better shape than if you just rely on saving a bunch of gas, as it doesn't store well for long. Diesel would be great if I could afford diesel generators and everything else, but I can't. So I'm looking into these alternatives. Methanol(wood alcohol) can be created by distilling different woods and other such material, similar to how you would make moonshine. In fact, methanol has to be removed while making shine from what I'm learning, so it seems that you might have a good means to create fuel on your own if you had to. The problems with it seem to be in maintenance, storage, and use of the fuel, and you can really mess up your equipment if you aren't careful. However, in a situation where you are out of gas, but you can make methanol, I would rather have a high maintenance, potentially difficult to deal with, running vehicle or machine, than one that just sits idle. I've been reading up on this and thought the idea was pretty cool, especially for running a generator or something, and I thought I would bring it up to encourage some thought, discussion and commentary. If anyone has some knowledge about this I would be interested to hear what you have to say. Anyone else just interested in the idea, let me know so I can share what I learn as I look into it.

[Klayton]

I am not an expert here on this subject, so what I say is based solely on what I have read and heard throughout the web (i.e. possible rumors/bs)

I am in the understanding that methanol/ethanol only engines usually do not last long. From various reasons, higher temperatures, corrosive fuel itself and so on.

The amount of money you spend in a diesel engine and generator will be WELL WORTH IT! Diesel engines last forever! When I left the military, we still had deuce n halves (2.5 ton cargo trucks) running from 1967 (VIETNAM ERA)!!! I have seen a WWII German Diesel Generator still functioning and running back in 1997 when I visited the Eagle's Nest and the Nazi Dining Hall down the hill, what was that hotel called... something Gardens if I remember correctly... (well this was right before dumbass us turned the property over to the Germans and they LEVELED THE WHOLE DAMN THING -- ya thats right, if we destroy any symbolism of the past we can pretend it never happen). Stupid people!! GEESH

Sorry, back to the topic, the point was the German Diesel Generator, and let me tell you, this thing was HUGE!!! We are talking ROOM SIZE not truck size. Still functioning, being properly maintained.

From what I have read the only downfall for diesel engines is they have a more frequent recommended oil change frequency. But I am betting you could prolong this by using modern high grade synthetics.

Well just my two copper pieces...

[Klayton]

OH the main reason diesel engines are so expensive is the MANDATE for cleaner fuels... :(

To bypass this buy FARM USE ONLY diesel engines (I believe the blood sucking tree huggers have not bestowed ridiculous emmision controls on farm equipment yet)

[Bull]

Thanks for the info.