has anybody ever done this? i have looked up plans on the internet and they cost $35-$40 and the supposedly the parts to make the still are around $600. but does anyone know where you get the "mash" which from what i found in about 30 minutes of research can be molasses, beer, corn. since i don't have any diesel vehicles i thought this would be a nice alternative. the only conversion for my trucks would be a fuel pump and gaskets in my carbeurators. any input out there guys?  

It is kinda pointless to convert a gas motr to alcohol without rebuilding it properly to run on it. For one, pure alcohol has a very high octane of around 110 but it also has a much lower energy content than gas does so you have to burn a lot more of it. Corn mash yields about 2.5 gallon of alcohol per bushel so at today prices that is about 2 buck a gallon just for corn not counting heat to cook it or enzymes. To make up for lower energy content and also to take advantage of higher octane you need to raise CR to at least 12 to 1 or better, This will improve fuel efficiency and boost power output as well. If you just take a std gas motor and use it in it, power will be about the same or a bit better but fuel usage will increase about 40%. They can also be fun to start in cold weather (one reason E85 has gas in it to help cold starts) Not trying to be a downer here but you need to think this thru more.  

out of curiosity how many vehicles have you converted to run on alchohol? are you speaking from experience or just stuff you have read in magazines and on the internet?  

if I am brewin alcahol.....it may not make it to the tank...  

manontractor:
out of curiosity how many vehicles have you converted to run on alchohol? are you speaking from experience or just stuff you have read in magazines and on the internet?

Actually ran it on the strip in a car many many years ago using Methanol and mechanical fuel injection around 13 to one CR. Alcohol has potential but like I said it has a much lower heat content than gas (heat drives motor so you have to burn more of it) so you raise CR to improve thermodynamic efficiency (better power/MPG for fuel being burned) and take advantage of higher octane of alcohol. BTW, we used to start cold engine by misting gas into intake tubes. Also in case you are curious, the reason alcohol is a nice racing fuel is because of its octane and endothermic properties (it cools mixture more than gas making it denser) but using it in a regular CR gas motor is wasting a lot of potential and MPG too.  

well if your argument against alchohol is the cost of a bushel of corn then what about something like rice, potatoes, cane sugar, molasses, wood? my issue is that i am spending nearly $800 dollars a month just to get back and forth to work so i was hoping to be able to brew something in my my own backyard to alleviate my wallet a bit at the pump.  

hho?....


 

i have heard about that hho. i read into it quite extensively. it will work, to a degree. the problem is you have to have stainless valves and either alluminized or stainless exhaust because of the rust issue. the one thing i cannot find is how long does that little jar of water last? 100 miles? 10 miles?  

manontractor:
well if your argument against alchohol is the cost of a bushel of corn then what about something like rice, potatoes, cane sugar, molasses, wood? my issue is that i am spending nearly $800 dollars a month just to get back and forth to work so i was hoping to be able to brew something in my my own backyard to alleviate my wallet a bit at the pump.

I am not unsympathetic to your cause it is just that all is not as it seems. YOu need a LOT of biomatter to make  enough fuel to feed your car and figure on 400 to 600 lb of corn to make a tank full (depending on tank size) then there is the waste from mass to get ride of. Cellulose biomass (using switch grass) holds promise because grass is cheap but they have not perfected the enzymes you to make it worthwhile and cost effective. I actually looked in to making biofuel around 1980 when there was a big fuel crunch but did not follow through and prices dropped too.  

HHO sounds interesting, i read an article about higher heat output and causing damage to the engine? i am kinda skeptical about that. on another board someone mentioned converting to run on propane but it just seems like it would be hard to find in a pinch if i was on a long road trip.  

actually the quart lasts close to 2500 miles depending on how its regulated. then ya refill it with baking soda and distiled water...

this method is just a suplement. it's not the fuel source, kinda like nitrous, only free

http://www.hhowater4gas.com/  

hey mudb8, do you have that installed on any of your vehicles?  

I had a similar principle (ammo box science project) on a 71 monte carlo 18 years back, It wasn't for fuel economy though... I doubt it helped the mileage, I ran it with the loud pedal on the floor all the time.

the water for gas is something I recently stumbled across, I have been doing lots of reading on the matter lately.  

the principle is interesting, kind of like nitrous just a gas being introduced into the engine to improve combustion. but i don't think i like the idea of giving a website $97 dollars of my money to tell me how to build an electrolysis machine haha. get a jar with water, an electrode with a positve wire hooked up and another electrode with a negative wire hooked up, seal it up and hookup a vacum line to you intake manifold and one to your air cleaner down stream from trhe airfilter so there is still a slight vacum. of course at the same time you are producing these gases you will be creating heavy water, hope i don't get pulled over and accused of developing a nuclear weapon haha.  

lol, nuclear weapon..