[Gasification] Rebuilding engines (was Re: Charcoal Gasifier No 2.)

[Alan Bowen]

I will third it then.
I used to have a Buick Skylark that I bought for $300.  It had 205000 on it when I bought it and never a wrench on the engine.  I took it to 299,994 and everything was still original and running great.  
Then all of a sudden,,,,,  Something snapped.  That engine still ran, but the whole car jumped almost into the air because that engine was so unbalanced running on five cylinders.

Then there is the 4wd Chevy Astro that I scrapped out in Feburary.   It had somewhere over 348,500 miles on it and it still ran great.  The body was rusted bad and the aluminum in the tranny was so rotten it was falling apart.

The 1998 Ford F-150 that I am driving now is pretty rusty, but it runs too good to stop driving it.  It has 278,000 miles on it's 300 cid straight six with a five speed stick tranny.

I say a lightly loaded car engine that is well maintained should go at least 300,000 miles if it is fed clean fuel.

Alan Bowen

Daniel Nicoson <A6intruder at adelphia.net> wrote: I would second that notion.  I'm guessing that most of you saying an auto
engine will only go 100,000 miles on gasoline in the automotive environment
haven't actually worked with these engines.  As a kid in the 1960's and
1970's my family regularly bought used cars with 90,000 miles on them (full
sized Fords mostly) and we drove them another 60-70,000 miles.  The engines
ran fine, no excessive oil usage.  We normally stopped using them because of
rusted out bodies etc. the engines were still working fine.

Currently I have a 1998 BMW that has 150,000 miles on it.  Engine is in
perfect condition.  A 1994 Mustang GT with 90,000 miles that I flog heavily
any time I drive it.  The engine is fine.

Of course you will find instances of engines failing early but most of those
have not been properly maintained.  The modern auto engine is actually one
of the better designed components of any car.  The designers generally have
done a good job.  In the use this list considers the engine is VERY lightly
loaded, they should last a good long time, far more than your 100,000 mile
equivalent calculation.  Your biggest challenge is feeding them with CLEAN
producer gas.  You feed an abrasive fuel mixture to ANY engine you will have
the same problem of wear.

One engine you guys could give serious thought to are the engines out of
fork lifts.  They are built to run a long time, big bearings etc.

Final note.  Many light duty industrial engines are actually an automotive
engine configured for the industrial use, they are built to cost very
little, and they work for many hours on end simply because their operation
is a steady predictable load that doesn't work the engine very hard.  They
can last a very long time.

Take care,

Dan Nicoson

       
---------------------------------
Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel.