Day 16 25/02 2007

Test run on wood gas! The day we have worked so hard for, and finally its here! There were some more things to do before we could start though. We had to hurry, because Martin was going to go back to Stockholm today. We began with getting a new ignition distributor lid and an ignition cable. I took them from my old Volvo 245 with a B23 engine. The lid did not fit right on. But with some drilling and makeover with a knife, it fitted quite ok.

Micke and I fixed a leak on the filter and filled it with filter material. In the mean time Martin went and got wood from Mats Linell, a friend of us. Then Martin and Micke hacked the wood while I went to Anders Wäster to get the pipe between the producer and filter welded. The last bit of the pipe was difficult to reach and weld, but Anders had better equipment so he fixed it for us.

We filled the producer with wood. The film camera was prepared so we could document the start. Finally it was time! We put the burning diesel cloth in the air intake and started the fan. The smoke from the fan got thicker but did not light. We turned of the fan and closed the valve so the pressure in the system got higher. This way we could se if there were any leaks. We found leaks in the service hatches on the filter and in one of the producer hatches that had a crack. We fixed the leaks with exhaust paste and tried to start agine. This time the gas burned but the engine just coughed and sounded strange. We did not get it to run on wood gas.

Now Martin had to go back to Stockholm. We took farewell and continued with the car.

We earlier thought the fault could be in the carburettor. But when the same symptoms appeared with wood gas it should be something else. We thought about the ignition. I turned the distributor so much I could to the right and YES! – Then engine started.

At once we took a long test run. We drove in to Furudal and the speed was 70 km/h almost the whole trip. Everything feels really good. When we come in to Furudal the engine suddenly stops and dies. Micke and I was happy any way and while we ware waiting for lift back home, we took something to eat and drink at Lottas Café.

Back home in the garage, we found the problem. It was the camshaft transmission that had broken. Fantastic any way, that we could drive 10 km with a loose cam shaft transmission. Volvo power!