… or some subsitute that can be used directly in an IC engine in an emergency?
This assumes you have some primative heat source, such as wood. You don’t need to make much, but it has to work in a gas IC engine w/o modification besides a mixture/idle ajustment on the carb.
Alcohols comes to mind, which I would think they would require a still of some type to make, but is that enough, and what type would work best?
Any other options?
The short answer to your question is no. You’d need to be a petroleum engineer, have a source of crude oil, and lots of fancy equipment. Your best bet would be alcohol, and this book tells you everything you need to know, including how to get the necessary permits to do it. Another option is converting the car to run on producer gas, not exactly good for the engine, but hey, it works. This book will tell you how (note, you’ll have to dispense with a fuel injected car if you want to do this). You could, also convert your car to run on hydrogen. You could also convert your car to propane or LNG. You’ll have to find your own cites for how to do that.
Right, and most people who have a source of crude oil would be pleased by the high cost of gasoline, and wouldn’t need to make it at home. Currently, most people financially capable of converting their cars to hydrogen would also not really need to worry about rising fuel costs. Probably the most likely case where someone would own a source for vehicle fuel would be natural gas, though many people who have natural gas wells on their property do not own the wells. And you’d still need extensive machinery to make the natural gas into fuel (to remove the poisonous, explosive part of the gas, for example).
It’s possible to make vehicle fuels from coal and even convert a gasoline engine to run off gases from wood. Again, both are difficult, and I don’t know if a modern car could run off wood, or if it would meet safety and emissions requirements.
Besides alcohol, you could also make biodiesel at home, presuming that ‘home’ is a farm with oil-yielding crops and the equipment to extract the oil, or at least that you use a deep fryer very often. The raw materials there are vegetable oil and methanol.
An acquaintance of mine put a gallon of lacquer thinner (paint thinner?) into a '53 Chevy and it worked. :eek:
Paint thinner: AKA naptha, mineral spririts, stoddard solvent etc. is NOT laquer thinner!
Laquer thinner is more volatile and more inflamable and should never be used interchangably with mineral spirits.
Sure you could . . . if you lived in a refinery. Otherwise, no. I mean, you don’t see any DIY shows like “Petroleum cracking made simple,” now do you?
I guess the closest you could come is if you went biodiesel. Then you’d be pulling into Waffle Houses for part of your fuel needs. No, seriously; I’ve heard from friends that most fast food places like that are more than happy to let you haul off their old grease. And an extra bonus: your car smells like French fries. 
your humble TubaDiva
Former Queen of Gasoline Allocation, Southeastern Kingdom, Gulf Oil (no kidding).
As a kid, I remember the next door neighbor forever working on a home-made steam-engine car - don’t think he ever got it to work. Still, if you wanted a do-it-yourself horseless carriage, that might be the way to go… ?
Well this is more geared to operating a gasoline generator to run a water pump when gasoline is unavailable (this being a very isolated place).