22Ryan22

Quick question, I know that glow fuel is basicaly methanol, caster oil, nitromethane, and some other minor additives.

Well I race gokarts which run on a high-grade methanol.

If i buy some Klotz caster oil and properly mix it with the methanol, could i safely make 0% good enough to run on my os engines???

aerowoof

been done but alot of people have found that it is not worth the trouble.fai fuel was 75%methanol 25% castor.most fuel formulas at one time were given by weight not volume.

voyager_663rd

what aerowoof says. nitro in consumer quantities (if I remember correctly) doesn't exist. What is available seems to come in 50 gal drums. Then the mixing, storage, etc. isn't worth the hassle.

****eddaboutit.

strange. my last comment (that is bleeped out) reads f.u.g.g.e.d.d.aboutit. weird.

carrellh

For most of us in the US, it's pretty easy to get premixed fuel at a decent price. Buying bulk quantities of the chemicals, and doing the mixing, is less convenient than just buying fuel. As a kart racer, you may have drums of methanol on hand at all times. If so, it might not be too much hassle for you to blend your own.

80% methanol and 20% castor by volume is FAI fuel, which is used for certain competitions. It will run in your OS engines. You might need a hotter glow plug if you do not use nitromethane; but maybe not. You will most likely need to adjust the carburetor some. With no nitro the engines will likely have less power than with it.

22Ryan22

Well thanks for all your help. I think I am going to give it a go, since the racing season is over and I have almost 20 ga of methanol to burn-up.

I am having a hard time finding the right kind of castor oil to buy. Do you know what I should get, and where?

thankyou,

Ryan-

carrellh

Two sources
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXS627&P=ML
http://www.sigmfg.com/IndexText/SIGCO001.html

Drug store medicinal castor oil will work. Some large pharmacies and grocers sell Baker's AA Castor Oil, which is what SIG sells with their logo added.

22Ryan22

Thanks, thats great!

fayrwerks

Hi Ryan,

been thinking about same thing. i got access to free methanol and planning to mix some maxima 927 synthetic castor oil with it which blends well with alcohol based fuels and cost almost 4x less than what im paying for a gallon of brand name fuel with 10-15%nitro mix. however, being a begginer, deadstick is the last thing i need, but if the medicinal castor will work that would be more than 4x less.

I have a nexstar with 46ax and if this 0%nitro (maxima 927 or medicinal castor) will work with it... I can buy additional battery packs and practice all day long.

fokker20planes

I made some FAI fuel once just to run in my control line planes because throttle is not a problem. Here's another piece of advice. Mix the fuel using Metric volumes. For example, to mix 1 liter (1000ml) of fuel (about 1 quart) measure out 800ml of alcohol into a graduated cylinder and 200ml of Castor oil and mix. Where can you get a 1000ml (1 liter) graduated cylinder you ask? Try a high school chemistry class or possibly a small college chemistry professor will part with one. I work in a lab so it was easy for me. Mixing metrically is really easy and will let you adjust percentages with no trouble at all. Good luck!

fokker20planes

Looks like you could get all the graduated cylinders you want from ebay.

22Ryan22

Great idea. Will-do. My Chem teacher is pretty nice so I'll just ask him

SDR-Hammer

Ryan22, have you checked out the fuel talk forum?

You will learn much more than you will ever need to know. It’s been awhile, but the last time I snooped around, there were quite a few home brewers in that forum.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/forumid_161/tt.htm