| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| cirvin |
Posted - Feb 14 2004 : 12:09:44 AM
I have a 5 hp b&S engine on my go kart that I want to convert to ethanol. I think I have covered all the bases to the conversion:
-enlarge carb jet
-Increase compression with new crankshaft
-ajust timing
Does anybody how much power I can gain with 180 proof ethanol conversion?
Where coud I get the modified crankshaft?
Thanx.
http://daxter12.topcities.com |
| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| cirvin |
Posted - Feb 22 2004 : 12:58:54 PM
I think it was like MIT that engineered a bacterial battery. It had bacteria that emittted electricty, but thats a little off topic.
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| Chamkeeper |
Posted - Feb 22 2004 : 03:19:02 AM
The guy was a friends with a professor in Florida. I think she was at Florida State? and came up with a bacteria that converts ag waste to ethanol, for the most part directly. He employed the technology and was trying to prove viability. I knew him because he was a pilot.
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| cirvin |
Posted - Feb 21 2004 : 12:23:22 PM
THere is a Kart racing track just outside of town. once spring rolls around ill go down there and check it out.
How did the guy ferment the trash?
http://daxter12.topcities.com |
| Chamkeeper |
Posted - Feb 21 2004 : 01:33:23 AM
I think a piston would be an easier (and cheaper) change than the crank. The kart racing guys should be able to find you (maybe give you a retiree) piston in the correct compression ratio. There is a class of racing go-karts that run on methanol, a piston from them should be almost dead on.
The guy got sued for highway fuel tax issues, an environmental safety lawsuit, a zoning problem, city ordinances for traffic, you freakin' name it, he got hit for it.
What really burned my hide was the fuel he made was from complete waste materials, free for the hauling in most cases. He produced ~82 or 83 percent ethanol at 106 octane, easily pure enough to run through our engine. It produced less BTU per pound but becasue it would run in a high compression engine, the power was there. Milage was a little worse than gasoline, but at $0.70 gallon when fuel was a little over a dollar a gallon, things came out ahead.
Keep us posted on the project, alcohol is great fuel.
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| cirvin |
Posted - Feb 20 2004 : 7:49:03 PM
Wow. Final proof that oil companies shoud die
Still, shoudn't I be able to buy a new crankshaft to increase the compression!?
BTW, on what grounds did the oil bastards, err, companies have to take the guy to court?
http://daxter12.topcities.com
Edited by - cirvin on Feb 20 2004 7:52:22 PM |
| Chamkeeper |
Posted - Feb 18 2004 : 5:37:47 PM
It wasn't illegal at all. The local fuel distributors buried the guy in legal defense fees. They had him in court on a monthly basis until he finally gave up.
Another note on alcohol motors. Be wary of turbo charging. One of our fellow ethanol guys burned a car up. It had something to do with the fumes and extremely high turbo temps.
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| BEatonNo1 |
Posted - Feb 18 2004 : 5:13:44 PM
why would it be illegal to produce fuel alcohol?
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| Chamkeeper |
Posted - Feb 18 2004 : 01:02:27 AM
Any machine shop can increase the compression by shaving the head. You can modify the ignition with a pick-up and homebrew ignition box and get the timing right, not as simple as a mag fired motor but still doable. About 60% on the jets should get you close, based on BTU per/lb. vs. gasoline. Ethanol is aprrox. 106 on the octane scale so somewhere in the low to mid 11s for final compression will maximize that value (from memory, so check it).
Many years ago a friend and I built a Karmen Ghia to run on alcohol. A guy locally was producing it from agricultural waste. The moter idled perfect, made TONS of power, and exhausted reasonalby safe fumes.
Big players came in and hammered our source. That car changed my view of the world.
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| cirvin |
Posted - Feb 16 2004 : 5:23:59 PM
The coil is no problem. about those crankshafts tho....
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| Aaron Cake |
Posted - Feb 16 2004 : 11:59:59 AM
Problem is, without increasing compression and advancing timing, an engine will make less power on ethonal then it would on regular gasoline. So in that case, the conversion is essentially pointless...
One problem though: you will have to make a new mount for the magneto in order to get timing advance. B & S engines have fixed timing.
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| cirvin |
Posted - Feb 16 2004 : 08:58:53 AM
That is exactly what I am trying to do. I still need to know where to get those crankshafts that increase compression. I tred searching, but came up with thousands of kart racing sites that didn't really help. maybie I am searching for the wrong thing. I dunno.
I am not crazy for building this monster, but by actually driving it.
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| Kale |
Posted - Feb 15 2004 : 3:55:24 PM
Cirvin has a point. Turbines, for instance, can run off of a lot of different types of fuels, but to get the best 'bang for your buck' you really want a system that is optimized for the fuel you are using. Since he's building a performance go-kart (and is crazy  ) he'd want to do significant amounts of tweaking to that engine.
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| cirvin |
Posted - Feb 15 2004 : 11:30:52 AM
I know it can run with out major modifacations, but I want to maximise the efficency with a higher compression ratio and i'll still have to ajust the timing to reduce predetonation.
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| n/a |
Posted - Feb 14 2004 : 6:19:03 PM
corbin you noob. you do not need to BUY or MAKE anything to run alcohol. the only thing you will need to do is a little mixture adjustment to compensate for the density/burn rate of the new fuel. when i ran alcohol in my tractor, i ran cooler than before.. when you'd let your foot off the gas the exhaust would be cooler than the outside air itself it felt like, but i doubt thats related. anyways, all you'll need to do is richen/lean your mixture, and your idle mixture ( www.briggsandstratton.com for schematic of where these are) keep in mind that these needles are very sensitive, 1/8 of a turn can totally cook your motor (almost did that to mine with running lean :( )
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