Stewart,

Thanks for the comments and information.

Yesterday I ran plain corn oil in substitute for castor. The engine ran well and performance was similar to castor in most areas. This stuff is an economy brand and somewhat thinner than Mazola. Both are way thinner than castor. The 50 weight AV oil is similar in viscosity to castor. No doubt one run doesn't tell the tale and burned out engines may be the only thing we get from this trick.

Next up was to retest the Motomaster cetane booster, the trimethylbenzene stuff. Different chemistry and a search showed that it's used in some products as an OCTANE booster.

I first ran an 80 kero 20 castor mix, no ether, no CB. I established the CR and needle setting. Then I added 1% of the trymethyl stuff. Then I did the same with Amsoil, cetane booster,,, octyl nitrate.

Both products behaved exactly the same. I could detect no difference. The more I added of either, from 1% to 2%, the smoother the top end got with more power and with a full half turn out on the compression screw. No difference. I really wanted to also compare MEKP but it started to SNOW. Global warming? HAH!

I did the same test using the 50 weight, no detergent aviation oil. Meme chose, tabarnac.

So my purchase of the Canadian Tire, Motomaster cetane booster will not go to waste. And just for the helluvit, I made a blend of the two products with good result. So there we have it, a good cetane booster, off the shelf. Well, for some of us so inclined. And if we're not fussy about throttling, you don't even need ether. The cetane booster really is all you need.

And today, with it still snowing a bit, I decided to mix up some biodiesel. No, not veggie lube but biodiesel to burn. I thought it was a boil and bubble process and it CAN be if you use waste oil but if you get three litres of Unico Canola/Soy oil for four dollars, there might be some cost advantage. If this works, I'm going to get a half dozen jugs,,, from Zellers.

For a full litre of fuel, you also need a 1/4 litre of methanol and a half teaspoon of sodium hydroxide. That's lye or caustic soda. The methanol was 5 dollars for a litre and the lye some 7 dollars for 6 ounces.

Here's how it's done at home, simply and cheaply.

Use a glass jar with a TIGHT, leak proof lid. MAKE SURE. The jar should be a half litre large. Add 1/4 litre of methanol to the jar and add 1/2 teaspoon of lye. Seal up the jar and shake. If in doubt, do not shake but just let the mix sit for an hour or so. The lye will eventually dissolve, you can help it along by gently stirring occasionally. Make sure that all the lye is dissolved.

Next take a 2 litre soda pop bottle and make sure that it's absolutely rinsed clean from pop and DRY. I set several over the furnace register and in a half hour, all moisture was gone.

Add a full litre of oil to your 2 litre bottle. Pour hot water from the tap into a pail and let the bottle sit in it for ten minutes to warm up the oil. Then add the lye/meth mix to the oil, cap the bottle securely and shake vigorously for 5 seconds. Wait ten minutes and go back and shake again. Repeat this four more times and then let the bottle sit in a warm place overnight.

In the morning, you'll find a browner material has settled to the bottom. The oil on top will be decidedly thinner and still be a bit cloudy. Let it sit for another day and it should clear up. Then carefully pour off the clear oil into another two litre bottle.

The next issue is that there will be soap in the mix and this has to be "washed" out. To do this you gently, carefully, add a half litre of warm water to your Biofuel. Yes, add water. Gently. Then, gently upend the mix back and forth, 15 or twenty times,, gently. You do NOT want to agitate the mix in any way. You want the water to absorb the soap. Gently.

Uncap the bottle, and then with a thumb on the opening, upend it gently and using your thumb as a valve, allow the now settled water to drain off,, as much as you can.

Repeat the preceding but this time, GENTLY upend the bottle 40 times,, gently. Slowly. Drain.

The third time you want to gently shake, yes, this time shake the mix, but do so gently. For a minute. Drain.

The fourth wash is a repeat of #3 but this time shake a little harder,, for a minute. Drain.

The fifth wash should be a vigorous shake. Go for it, give it all you've got for a minute. Drain.

The result will be a cloudy mess but let it sit for a day or so and you should see it all clear up.

The biodiesel I was given to try was made from waste oil and I'm not sure that the wash was done to it.

I'm speculating that I may be able to burn this stuff without having to add a lubricating oil. I'm hoping that adding a cetane booster will be all we need. In its raw form, vegetable oil won't mix with castor, for some reason. I tried corn, safflower and soy oil. If it's needed, maybe biodieseling an oil will allow it to blend with castor. If not, and if I still need a lube, maybe the Av oil will work.

If it doesn't run, I can add kerosene in increments. At one point we may get most of the biodiesel to burn but with just a small bit left behind to lube.

A caveat.

The methanol we are familiar with, but still, handle with care. The lye though, is the really nasty stuff. Wear gloves, goggles and an apron. AND DO THIS OUTSIDE. However, once you add it to the oil, it all gets real safe again. Just don't drink it,, or cook with it.

Hope this isn't too much of a tangent but all of this WAS about a no ether mix and well, I won't be adding ether. I just wanted to tie these loose ends down in this long saga before the winter set in and stopped all the fun and games. Not to mention I might be out of action for a month or so coming up due to family issues.