Bill Nixon is A brilliant old school mechanical engineer, life long Model T hobbyist and a dear friend who got my interest with Model T's started, Thank You Bill!
Here's the link to the 13 minute You Tube Video produced by Sierra Community Access Television.
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItF5B8pLBcRn4e7FeYg6g
Direct link to video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krp6kgCiV7c
If I recall correctly, there is at least one other video on Youtube of another Model T running on a wood gasifier.
Oh shades of Mother Earth News, that is cool! I thought the wood was heated in a separate tank and the gas was used, didn't know it was burning and self generating in the same tank.
Eric, Thanks for correcting the link.
These gasifiers where used intensively during WWII in Denmark and other European countries.
The gas is carbon monooxide - CO - developed by incomplete combustion of the wood.
Normally you have a cooler/radiator in front of the normal radiator to cool the gas before it is led to the engine. Here often som wooden tar, that also developes, will condense and had to be drained out at regular intervals. Some of the tar though makes it to the engine and does it no good ;-)
Here is a system drawing (System Imbert).
We have at least a couple of cars around here with operating gasifiers and one motorbike (danish built Nimbus):
If everybody drove a motorcycle with a side car loaded with wood chips for the gasifier the government pigs would go nuts getting enough money to keep the arabs from lowering their standard of living.
the EPA would be pissed too.
I think there were versions that used coal to heat the wood too.
I remember those well from the WWII years. Farmers made like a hopper with chicken wire on the south side of their barns to dry the wood for their tractors and trucks. The small pieces of wood was locally called "knott". I remember the generators made a special clicking sound from a flapper valve, that I didn't understand the purpose of, - may be to create a limited amount of air and create incomplete combustion. There were also a few vehicles that ran on acetylene gas generators. I think they were commonly used on emergency vehicles, as they were quicker to get going from cold start up.