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View Full Version : Anyone here try to make your own fuel?



aggressive male
02-02-2008, 03:43 AM
I really like using my big block but the price of gas makes me think twice about it. I was wondering if anyone here has tried to make there own fuel? Even if it's for a diesel I want to hear about it.

bigvegan
02-02-2008, 08:27 AM
You can modify many diesel engines to run off used fryer oil from restaurants. See e.g. http://www.lovecraftbiofuels.com/

As for gasoline powered engines, your options are fairly limited to, well, petroleum based gasoline and alcohol.

Making your own gasoline would be prohibitively expensive, dangerous, and almost certainly illegal.

Making your own alcohol CAN be legal assuming you get the right permits, but it's unlikely you could run a still in your home and make a sufficient quantity for driving for less than the cost of gas at the pump.

(And if you went to that much trouble, you could probably bottle your homemade hooch and sell it for more than the $3.00 plus per gallon that gasoline costs.)

On the plus side, algae based gasoline is in the pipeline - http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18138/ .

Sorry I don't have better news, but check out the Pro-fueling thread for some other tips on saving on gas - https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39316 .

mpozzi
02-02-2008, 10:31 AM
We saw a guy putting what looked like rubbing alcohol in his Honda's fuel tank yesterday. About four bottles of the stuff. Dave took a pic and since the guy looked like a "tree hugger," he didn't talk to him about the errors of his ways.

When we got in the store, sure enough there was four bottles missing from the aisle cabinet space ... and what's even more strange is each bottle cost $1.99.

Twit ...

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

dropit69
02-02-2008, 11:16 AM
on extreme 4x4 they did a veg oil kit that starts the engine on disel and swaps it over to veg oil that they got free from resturant used oil ..cool kit..and Stacy David made his own fry oil bio-diesel on old episode of trucks..

aggressive male
02-02-2008, 11:57 AM
So I guess alcohol is too much trouble to make for 3 dollars a gallon but when gas goes up enough it will be worth it. I'll take a look at that pro-fueling thread.
You can modify many diesel engines to run off used fryer oil from restaurants. See e.g. http://www.lovecraftbiofuels.com/

As for gasoline powered engines, your options are fairly limited to, well, petroleum based gasoline and alcohol.

Making your own gasoline would be prohibitively expensive, dangerous, and almost certainly illegal.

Making your own alcohol CAN be legal assuming you get the right permits, but it's unlikely you could run a still in your home and make a sufficient quantity for driving for less than the cost of gas at the pump.

(And if you went to that much trouble, you could probably bottle your homemade hooch and sell it for more than the $3.00 plus per gallon that gasoline costs.)

On the plus side, algae based gasoline is in the pipeline - http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18138/ .

Sorry I don't have better news, but check out the Pro-fueling thread for some other tips on saving on gas - https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39316 .

Jim Nilsen
02-02-2008, 01:20 PM
Methane comes to mind but I never make enough of it to get me enough energy to get me out of a chair ,but it can clear a room pretty fast:lmao:

bobbaganoosh
02-02-2008, 03:25 PM
I've used rubbing alcohol as a water dryer in gas before, but 4 bottles might be a little overkill.

mpozzi
02-02-2008, 03:29 PM
I've used rubbing alcohol as a water dryer in gas before, but 4 bottles might be a little overkill.

Dave and I both counted ... yep, four of 'em. We thought the same thing about "drying" the fuel system but agreed that four was about three and a half too much.

The veggie oil and diesel, aka: biodiesel, has been used on a lot of our tow trucks. The exhaust smells like french fries.

With all those tree huggers buying the hybrids, guess that'll leave more gasoline for us with the fun stuff.

Cheers,
Mary Pozzi

Restomod
02-02-2008, 03:39 PM
So I guess alcohol is too much trouble to make for 3 dollars a gallon but when gas goes up enough it will be worth it. I'll take a look at that pro-fueling thread.

Thats called Moonshining and it will have the Revenuer after you

Beige
02-03-2008, 09:00 AM
You just need the proper forms, so the government can tax you.

If you're bored, you can look up Wood Gassifiers.
Nothing like running your car on wood chips or charcoal.

bigvegan
02-03-2008, 10:58 AM
Beige - interesting stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas

I can't imagine we'll be seeing a wood-chip burning PT car anytime soon though, the firebox isn't very sexy. http://freeweb.deltha.hu/zastava.in.hu/wood-gas.htm

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2008/02/170101g-1.jpg

paul67
02-03-2008, 01:27 PM
What about running on propane,lpg, I run my dodge ram on it as its only a thrid of the cost in the UK got my conversion costs back in 4 months.