RE: Substitute for Ether
Amsoil Cetane Boost is basically pure octyl nitrate. I found other diesel fuel additives but none were pure. The 16 oz Amsoil will treat up to 200 gallons so use that as a reference. Most other additves are only good for 20-30 gallons for a bottle. So we could assume that a whole bottle of typical additves raises CN the same amount as 10-15 percent volume of pure octyl nitrate. This is in the range I've seen in some MSDS that actually specified now much octyl nitrate was in the bottle.
Our engines are a little different than injected diesels It's hard to say weather higher CN is good or not any better. Too much cetane improver is bad because it costs more, even if it doesn't change how the engine runs. Again, if synthetic diesel with CN of 70 is superior but costs 15USD/gallon and you have to order, there is little point. If kerosene or diesel and cetane booster works, then I don't think I want gasoline or acetone and something which is hard to get. I think I read the same article you did about gasoline and diesel fuel mixing. It's interesting because I read something that said if you put gasoline in an injected diesel it ignites too quickly after injection and will cause engine damage. I did find something that said cetane index of gasoline is 26-28. Gasoline burns at higher temperatures. and cooling will become a problem as I mentioned earlier. Gasoline does not have the lubricity of kerosene or diesel so we would need more oil. And quite honestly I would rather have spark igntion if I was running gasoline to allow proper timing maps and simplified starting.
Greg