adding kerosene to your gas

[pisten-bully]

There is currently some discussion on the 101 Scout forum about the benefits of adding a bit of kerosene to the gas you pump from a modern filling station. Curious if this is a widespread idea as the proponents of the idea are really enthusiastic about how it improves the running of flathead engines designed to consume gas from another era. Anyone try this?

[tfburke3]

Well kerosene and jet fuel are basically the same thing so maybe these people should just recommend that you put jet fuel in your flathead ,sounds much better.

Seriously though I would just say thats idiotic.Premium is probably a waste of money but may be worth it if you add marvel or 2cyl. oil to lubricate the top end,which lowers the octane,or the gas is in storage which also lowers octane..
Tom

[T. Cotten]

For what its worth, Harry,..

The pump kerosene was a lot 'sweeter' last winter than previous years, burning noticeably cleaner!

A quick search: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/q...-than-gasoline

"Kerosene has a very low octane rating, somewhere around 15, and isn't a good fuel for spark ignition engines as it would detonate on compression. This is why kerosene and diesel are used in diesel cycle engines which rely on the spontaneous detonation of fuel under pressure. Kerosene is not typically used in internal combustion engines, however in aviation there are turbo-diesel piston engines which run on Jet-A1."

....Cotten

[Skirted]

And what are they stating as benefits Harry? Is it conjecture or from actual dyno test results. I can't imagine my Chief starting or running better than it already does by mixing Kero. And the way you put miles on when you ride you'd need to strap on a jug full of Kero and a measuring cup!

[tfburke3]

I dont anything about sweeter but some people think gas is like pepsi wjth a specific reciepe to be followed.
My brief experience in a refinery was that they blend whats most profitable with the stocks on hand with wide lattitude so long as specific parameters are met,like octane.
Jet fuel is kero,certified to higher standard of I believe of moisture and particulates,stored in separate tanks.
Tom

[chuckthebeatertruck]

Heck -- 50 years ago (1971!!) people were already saying gas was terrible and "different" from before . . . and they were saying that 70 years ago and 30 years ago too.There's always someone who will SWEAR adding a pinch of this or that will dramatically improve how a bike runs. Oddly, these are all "special secrets" and never widespread . . .but hey, this person knows an inside track that no one else does.


When I was a lad growing up -- bath tub chemistry ministers were always buying cans of acetone, xylene, toulene, and all other manner of "dope" to "improve" fuels. My father, who was a master porsche/audi/VW mechanic even got into that game and bought a franchise to sell some additive I can't remember anymore in the late 70s.

The only thing I ever noticed from all the experimenting is that we did a lot of exhaust valves, seats, and guides prematurely.


I can tell you that anything which doesn't burn completely in the chamber does one of two things: 1) forms a hell of a crust on stuff; and 2) forms a mess in the exhaust side of the equation.


I did, however, enjoy running the family lawn mower on all sorts of weird concoctions. Like the above note -- the only things I noted were two fold: 1) awesome flames out the muffler of various colors and 2) burnt exhaust valves/seats/guides.


There's no coincidence there . . .on a flatty if you have a hot slow charge still burning . . . it just toasts the exhaust side.

[Grantracy]

I run Avgas ( 100 low lead) in my bikes and air cooled cars burns cleaner and cooler and wont turn to lacquer if left sitting for a time

[T. Cotten]

I run Avgas ( 100 low lead) in my bikes and air cooled cars burns cleaner and cooler and wont turn to lacquer if left sitting for a time

I think Harry's talking Flattys, Grantracy..,

All that extra octane just flies out the pipe (and your wallet); because the motor design requires another hundred degrees to hit efficiency... If such cooling was real, it would never warm up until you whipped it.

Or added kerosene. .. .


....Cotten
PS: Harry!
This 101 Forum isn't FB is it? Otherwise, a link would be great, Thanks!

[kitabel]

MMO has been used in their "Inverse Oiler" (rather than as a gas additive). It requires a complex and bulky delivery system, which is practical in cars, but not bikes. If anyone wants the original instructions, PM me.
The operation is simple: high engine vacuum (light throttle cruising with low effective CR and low cylinder pressure, where lower octane is harmless) draws it in through a metering hole, but stops as the throttle is opened and vacuum falls, so only the original gas is burned at the designated octane.
With a MMO storage tank higher than the point of entry to use gravity as the fuel pump (to a manifold fitting?) a vacuum solenoid could do the same thing.

[T. Cotten]

MMO has been used in their "Inverse Oiler" (rather than as a gas additive). It requires a complex and bulky delivery system, which is practical in cars, but not bikes. If anyone wants the original instructions, PM me.
The operation is simple: high engine vacuum (light throttle cruising with low effective CR and low cylinder pressure, where lower octane is harmless) draws it in through a metering hole, but stops as the throttle is opened and vacuum falls, so only the original gas is burned at the designated octane.
With a MMO storage tank higher than the point of entry to use gravity as the fuel pump (to a manifold fitting?) a vacuum solenoid could do the same thing.

Can't we cut to the chase, Folks,..

Water injection.

My dielectrically-corroded Datsun headgasket made me a believer.

....Cotten

[pisten-bully]

This 101 Forum isn't FB is it? Otherwise, a link would be great, Thanks!

The discussion on the 101 Association site started with a fellow from New Zealand who's been adding a small amount of kerosene to each tank full of regular gas and he was sold on the benefits...quieter running, smoother, a bit higher performance among other things. I don't know anything about it but the talk is that period gasoline was nothing like what comes out the hose at your filling station (..duh!) and that the kerosene sort of "dumbs down" the gas to something more like what you may have found in the teens, twenties, and thirties when you bought gas.