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Offroad TechDiscussion pertaining to additions or questions which improve off-road ability, recovery and safety, such as suspension, body lifts, lockers etc
I am going to make my 83 4x4 amphibious. I saw a samurai do it, so I thought "why not" and decided to do it myself.
I will be using special paint on the frame and all inside body parts to keep from rust, and I will put tubes from the differential breathers, steering gearbox, etc. To run air in and out from a level over the water. I will be attaching cute little air filters to the ends of each of them.
If I were to seal the cab and bed, how much approximate displacement would each of them produce, and how deep will they float without pontoons?
Also need to know the gross weight of the front end, fully loaded from the firewall to the front bumper as I will not be sealing this area.
Also, I will not be doing any sort of body modifications, in fact I will restore the body to it's original look, with all original paint and stickers. (Terra Cotta)
I will be attaching a 4.5 HP outboard motor to the tow hitch, and be making a flat bow that I can remove as it will be connected to the triangle bar mounts as well as two more mounts underneath.
I obviously don't want this rig to go very fast, I will be fully happy with 2 1/2 MPH or less in water. All I really want to do is be able to drive my truck out into a lake and chill.
After I do this, I will strap pontoons to either side.
Judging from the image, it's very amphibious and does it's new job quite well, although it doesn't seem to go too too fast.
After this I plan to attach a light bar with four KC daylighters, a 200 amp alternator, and a dual-row timing chain, as well as a version of a downdraft gasifier of my own design which leads me to my next question;
Have any of you converted, or seen converted, a 22R engine to run on producer gas? If so, how much HP and torque can I expect to have off of it? I plan to use either hardwood or anthracite as fuel, as well as gasoline for a backup. I will have an air/fuel mixer that runs from the bed at the height of the cab top, down under the truck through a homemade skid plate, and up through the inside of the fender to the engine intake. The intake will have an airtight flap which switches between stock air intake/gasifier intake, and while I'm at it, I will use the gasifier intake as a snorkel. I will also have a blower in the line, probably made from a little electric fan similar to those fake electric turbochargers, to mitigate the effect of air drag so I don't lose power from having a long intake pipe.
I know these mods will take me years, but I figured f*** it, I have a life I might as well do something with it, I always wanted a truck that could go anywhere, so why not make it do everything but fly?
Last edited by Johnsoline; 01-11-2016 at 10:53 AM.
It's k you'd get more insurance from the truck than you would get from me.
I've built and tested my gas scrubber, output is completely clear, but the system is complex it uses an oxygen sensor and gauge with a control system to manually adjust airflow for optimum production.
What I'm wondering is what kind of power I could expect from the 22R on producer gas.
I've got some hundred year old books on producer gas and blast furnace gas engines and the calorific value of various gaseous fuels, but the math makes my head hurt.
I can say this though....Producer gas is weak.
The fuel element in producer gas is CO, and it is strongly diluted with CO2 and, of course, nitrogen, so calorific value per cubic foot is very low.
I'd be suprised if you could get 25 or 30 HP out of a 22r running it.
Nobody has run cars and trucks on producer gas except in most dire wartime emergency, or as a novelty.
You might theoreticly do a little better with water gas,(CO+H) but I think the problems of production are near insurmountable in any small, portable form, since continuous supply from one vessel is not ordinarily possible and insulation needs are greater.
CO is deadly, even a minor leak in the producer piping could result in a fatality.
Exhaust gases are also deadly, but one does not die simply because the piping is underneath the vehicle. The producer gas piping, by this example, will also not be run directly through the inside of the cab.
I will be using an oxygen sensor to control air flow through the burner, reducing the amount of CO2 to some level. I was assuming about 25HP was even in itself unlikely to be achieved, and I am perfectly happy if I only reach 30MPH.
Yes it is true that exhaust gasses are deadly, and that is so at CO concentrations of only a couple percent or less in exhaust gasses.
Decent Producer gas is near 30% CO, and a single large breath of it can kill. Once a quantity of CO is ingested, the hemoglobin only purges it excruciatingly slowly.
I got some of my inspiration from the Toyboata actually.
And yes it will become a build thread. After six years of research and designing, the plan will all come together now. Not sure still how I will seal the doors yet, or how I will seal the shifter. But it's going and the ball is finally moving.
I am actually very familiar with CO poisoning. Had it happen to me once. you feel sick for hours if not days. The only thing that likes to bond with your red blood cells more than oxygen is CO.
To be honest I hadn't even considered the electrical pieces yet, I will do more research into the workings. (taking them apart and looking at them real hard)
Probably sealing the alternator (because brushes), gasketing the distributor, idk if the starter needs anything it seems to already be sealed, at least mine, and the whole process will no doubt involve gaskets, filling gaskets with gasket shellac because I love gasket shellac, and squirting everything full of hydrophobic gel.
Never underestimate the power of gasket shellac, I used a gasket dry like instructed, then switched to Permatex black, then Permatex grey. Nothing seemed to be able to repair my oil leak, then I used a nice, cork/rubber gasket pasted on both sides with shellac, that thing will never leak unless I smack it really hard on a rock, or otherwise break it really, really bad on my own.
Alright, I have discovered the water cooled alternator! Renault uses one that produces 155 Amperes, which hits my original goal of alternator upgrade to 150A to run all of my fancy lights as well. I can get a completely remanufactured one for about $300, which is... pretty expensive. Considering that this whole project will be carried out with redneck magic and poor man scavenging skills, that is easily the most expensive item that I will be using in this project. The 7.00 x 15LT tires I use have to be special ordered from some backwoods guy in Nebraska, or else get them from the single real company that makes them; in Sweden, and they are $110 apiece. But anyway, this device is completely shielded from mud, water, and all other elements, and is perfect for this job.
Last edited by Johnsoline; 01-14-2016 at 09:42 AM.
Alright, I have been revamping my project over and over again, and after endless shift between the feeling of defeat and groundless reassurance of myself, I have come to a few conclusions:
1) My calculations imply that a road vehicle (this one especially) has virtually no lateral stability in the water. Therefore, I am going to have to either make the truck sink (much) further in the water (by adding weight) , or I am going to have to widen it's beam. (by adding pontoons.)
2) All previous alternators that I've discovered do not work in water, depressingly even the water-cooled one that was so promising. Therefore, I am going to have to take a different route. I have found a completely sealed magneto from an old tractor, and have even gone so far as to consider hooking it up to the truck as a form of backup system so the engine will still function if the alternator and battery fail, however if this happens; no radio and no lights.
I feel almost fraudulous for considering the so stupidly simple idea of using pontoons, but the more I research, the more they are the most obvious best choice. So I am heading the route of making sort of a Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang type of device, which will incorporate an onboard air compressor for automatic inflation. I will write and update on the propulsion system after dinner, and hopefully soon get a pic of my brand new tailgate (!!) on here, which I will do a skit for reinforcing and modification.
It gets me thinking though, since water is the same weight as water, it will not sink in itself. won't ballast tanks be redundant? I mean to say; a sub uses ballast tanks full of air in order to float, but it fills the tanks to get rid of the lift, and the weight of the sub's hull itself is what causes the contraption to sink. Therefore I would have to deduce; if I was going to sink, I would have to add something heavier than water, like lead blocks.
But I come to the bigger issue here; when doing off-road things like fording a river, I want my truck to sink so I have traction and I don't drift downstream. But when in a lake or such, I want it to float, because if it sinks it will just keep on sinking. So I need some kind of controllable system, such as something similar to a ballast, as you say. What I wonder though, underneath the vehicle is there enough empty space to attach tanks that they will supply sufficient displacement? Keep in mind that the vehicle still needs to have the same amount of clearance, as I use the crap out of said clearance on a regular basis.
There must be enough space under the bed, surely. But I have to wonder if the same applies to the underneath of the cab, and my biggest concern with the conversion is the engine compartment, which is the heaviest point, and which really seems to not have any room to attach tanks for buoyancy, as well as having a gigantic hole in the bottom of it.
I have been doing research on steam gasification. The systems are more complex than an imbert style, but when done right can get good fuel output. I found a steam gas powerplant that, instead of CO, got ~57% hydrogen when running on rapeseed. Of course I'm planning to have a little less than that, but it would be far more powerful than CO, but requires a steam generator of which I am having a hard time coming up with a design (700 centigrade steam).
Make it amphibious first then worry bout alternative fuels.
Maybe consider tanks in the bed to act as ballasts like Dropzone said. This would help counter balance the weight of the engine and keep you level or better yet maybe even a little "tilt" then add the pontoons to make it float ballasts would just be for adjusting how low it sits in water and angle not add buoyancy the pontoons will do that.
Definatly don't wanna use lead. Water weighs as much as water but with the ballast it will add more weight regardless of wat you use, more weight is more weight. Atleast with water you can pump (check out rv pumps 12v powered) it in when needed and pump it out when you don't. Like a submarine. Then add "buoyant bags" where you can under truck and seal things as you already planed. Check out kayak stuff they have bags (what I referred to as bouyant bags, not sure teqnical name) but if your kayak don't have bulkheads you use those bags to help. Could make something similar...
Oh and highly suggest carrying a buoy with long strong rope tied to truck so if you sink it you can find and hopefully recover it
I've put together a new thread about the gasifier part of the project. It's brand new, has a couple pictures but a lot of info. It will be updated frequently as I continue this project.
The engine got ruined because of me being a dumb young idiot a few years ago, spun out a harmonic balancer seal and my oil pressure sensor (the fkn sensor of all things!) got stole off my truck, so I didn't even notice the pressure loss. 5 miles of driving completely destroyed the engine, removed the rod bearings so there was bare rod-on-crank-pin-action, and the pistons had 1/8" side-to-side play.
put another 15k miles on it like that.
Needless to say, that put the amphibious conversion on the backburner until I build a new motor for it, and while I'm at it I will be doing the gasifier conversion as the optimal engine for producer gas is one specifically built for it, which will make it unable to run regular gasoline anymore. A stock engine can be converted to wood gas but will have a 30% power loss, whereas this motor engineered for wood gas won't have that loss but won't have the ability to run gasoline either, so I might as well.
Yes it is true that exhaust gasses are deadly, and that is so at CO concentrations of only a couple percent or less in exhaust gasses.
Decent Producer gas is near 30% CO, and a single large breath of it can kill. Once a quantity of CO is ingested, the hemoglobin only purges it excruciatingly slowly.
Hey I was reading through old posts and I saw that you were interested in my build thread. Anyway I've had one going for a while, here's the link:
01-11-2016, 10:32 AM
