One man's attempt to build the ultimate flex-fuel car.

.: What I'm trying to do

Simply put, I'm trying to convert the hunk of junk that's slowly rotting away in my driveway, into a fuel efficient, environmentally friendly vehicle. I'm not interested in getting rich, I have no intention of patenting anything, and I intend to put nearly all (save the anti-theft features) the technical information about the car on the web, freely downloadable by anyone.

.: Why do I want to do this

After all, one can just buy a "flex fuel" vehicle, unless, of course, you want to be able to run more than just a mix of gasonline and ethanol. Then, you're SOL. It is possible to build a flex-fuel vehicle that is "future proof" in that it'll be able to run off any fuel that is flammable, with no modifications. This way, if diesel is cheaper than gasoline, or if you want to run your car on propane most of the time, you can swap fuels as easily as you now top up the tank in your current car.

.: How I'm going to do it

I'm going to yank the engine and transmission out of the car, and replace it with a steam engine. Now before you call me crazy, let me direct you to what noted automotive expert Jay Leno has to say on the use of steam in cars.

Quote:

With my 1925 Doble, I get in, turn the key, and in under a minute I can pull away. And it pulls away silently, whoosh, just like that. It's an amazing feeling. With 1000 ft.-lb. of torque, it's effortless.

Quote:

I took the Doble to the smog station to have its exhaust certified and its emissions are 13 parts per million, which means my 1925 Doble with its 80-year-old technology passes all current smog laws. Nothing like 2 million BTU to burn up all the fuel. There's nothing left over, literally. It's just pffft. Gone.

Most likely, the car wasn't running regular unleaded, but kerosene! That, you see, is one of the great benefits of a steam car: If it's flammable, a steamer can run on it.

.: thank you!

Thank you for paying attention this far. The site's always under construction, so check back often for updates (click "Latest News" to read my blog). I apologize if it seems like nothing ever changes, but I am not a web designer, and unless I can get someone to volunteer to take over handling the website, its going to take me a while to make big changes to this site.