MPG and modifications poll

[Axel]

O/T

I ran out of gas for my Briggs and Stratton lawnmower once and poured in some solvent my friend had in his garage - straight . Turned out it was Xylene and I got about 6 feet before it seized but it was flying . When it cooled off it was ok again .

[xschop]

xylene

xylene is one ingredient in the petrol mix from gas stations.....My friend Mouse said the old timers would mix in Acetone in a 50/50 mix to old cars and drag race them back in the 60's & 70's. He mentioned that they would jet the carbs to run more rich after adding acetone......for best performance.....this makes sense, because when you add acetone, you add oxygen to the fuel mix which leans out the fuel ratio....someone chime in, isn't the theoretical ratio suppose to be like 14:1?

[dbeardslee]

Chop - I humbly bow to your superior chemical knowledge. However it works, it does seem to work. Glad you brought it up.

[xschop]

Hmmm.......

Before I started experimenting, my carbs seem to have been running a little rich and I was having to pull the choke even after a good ride and the bike was warmed up. With the acetone added at 1oz(30ml) to a full tank, No more choke needed.....really baffled (not hard to do) I pulled the plugs and they are alot cleaner (No crud whatsoever) and more tan colored than before. I have just about drained the tank before the point of no return and my mileage is up by 3.8 MPG's. I am very happy because when I went to chain drive, my final drive ratio, although very zippy, decreased my MPG's by 4-5 MPG's......I am very curious now is this additive would help the high altitude problems that our bikes have with the carbs, someone above 4-5000ft SL should definitely try this out.......chop

[dbeardslee]

my carbs seem to have been running a little rich and I was having to pull the choke even after a good ride and the bike was warmed up

Chop - I thought pulling the choke caused it to run richer. Is my thinking bass ackwards on this?

Reason I ask is, after rejetting my carbs, the enricher circuit no longer seemed to function correctly. If I pulled it all the way out Betsy wouldn't run unless I applied copious amounts of throttle. She would run on the first notch a little better, but the idle didn't really rise. Luckily she started just fine using only throttle, and she'd idle down to about 2-300 rpms, so I let her warm up that way. With the acetone treatment I can now use the first notch on the enricher and the idle rises like it should.

[xschop]

chokin'

I do recall that 1/2 choke was always best before. It could be that my impatience always gets the best of me and that the bowls hadn't filled before I jumped the gun and started pulling the choke. This morning I did NOT have to pull the choke at all and it was chilly out, started right off the bat. It may be that my plugs are very clean now, but I believe it was rich before because of the black soot previously. I am just posting from my experience here and hope this info helps others....Oh, and I also had to readjust my idle down a tad bit more even.....chop

[Crazcnuk]

Lee you're right, the choke makes the mixture richer. In order for chop to need the choke, he would have had to be running lean, not rich. If he was rich and pulled the choke, it would run worse.

You will always get sooty plugs running on the choke, even when everything is running perfectly.

I had the same problem, when I went to larger and larger mains, I needed less and less choke.

I think the acetone looks interesting, but what is the cost?

It would be interesting to see if everyone gets the same % increase, for example does someone getting 28mpg get the same or more boost than someone getting 40mpg?

[xschop]

intriguing

So why would your carbs start idling higher under any other circumstances?.......When you remove stock airbox and put pods on, does the idle increase?

[dbeardslee]

Craz - Acetone runs around $9 a quart if you buy it at the hardware store. Thats enough for 32 tanks of gas, so the unit cost is about $.28 per tank. That's just about in my price range . Found an interesting article on acetone that provides a much fuller explanation of the benefits. There's even a graphic of the molecule there for Chop . Seems it's really good for the motor. Hooda thunkit.

My guess on the higher idle is more complete combustion of the gas due to finer vaporization resulting in a more energetic explosion.

[xschop]

vapors

beardsley said....

My guess on the higher idle is more complete combustion of the gas due to finer vaporization resulting in a more energetic explosion.

......I was figuring that acetone being a mid-polar solvent would saturate the hydrocarbon chains and remove any surface tension causing the best vaporization....not only that, the fact that you are oxygenating your fuel with a double bonded oxygen
(higher energy yield) cant hurt......

[xschop]

price

I am using Sigma brand 99.5%....it runs $40 for 2 liter and that's for the pricey stuff. The higher the percentage pure conc. the costlier and more important, more volatile which sucks when your trying to get it into your tank and a third evaporates while your pouring .....I have been using some Polypropylene 50ml screw cap containers from BD.....

[dbeardslee]

Chop - you were good at chemistry, weren't you. I used to cut that class, much to my detriment now .

One thing I noticed in the article was that it said to be careful of the kind of container you put it in. It said acetone will deteriorate cheap plastics. I got a couple one-ounce bottles from my brother the container guy, so he knew what the bottles are made of and their intended purpose. I've had them full for about a week now with no deterioration. Very handy - no measuring. I just put one in my pocket and dump it in the tank every-other fill-up.

Tupperj - you out there lurking? Might be an opportunity to move some merchandise

Chop - we must have been typing at the same time. I'm pretty sure polypropylene is the stuff my little bottles are made of too. The stuff I've been using just says 'Acetone' on the can - no percentages listed on the label. Seems to work though.

[xschop]

website info

cool website....seems like his reasoning is on the money. I am venturing (hypothesizing) to say that this additive, after doing some experiments would be a solution to the high altitude (low O2 content) problems carbeurated engines have. Acetone in itself is a fuel, it just combusts too rapidly with alot of energy release for it to be used in too great of a quantity in the fuel mix going into an ICE.

[dbeardslee]

Chop - ICE - internal combustion engine, right? Man, that one made my head hurt

[xschop]

Calc.s

Yep, I calculate an increase of 3.72 MPG's with this mix ratio. Every type of driving imaginable, believe me