Thanks for the clarification on where to cut the plug RCIGN1.Much appreciated sir.

Actually, gasoline can be used as glow fuel, though you probably won't like the way the engine runs. Problem is that gasoline is multi-fraction, which means that it is made up of hydro-carbon molecules of various chains. Methanol is single fraction - CH3OH - with a single auto-ignition temp of 464degC. The glow plug lowers the auto ignition temp, but it is still a single temp. Depending on the more volatile fractions in gasoline, the auto ignition temp various. Therefore, it is much more difficult to control ignition timing precisely with gasoline as a glow fuel. You get a can a gas that has sat in the garage for a while, and the volatiles have vapored off, now the ignition characteristics is different than fresh pump gas. Also, you folks living up north will see different gasoline formulation winter/summer.

I just ran my Homelite 25 on glow with petrol, it started but died shortly after the battery was removed. There was a long thread on this subject a while back, The guy who was trying this found if you adda little acetone it would help keep the plug hot (I think).

Rupert
Start runnibng/tuning the engine with streight alky with 5% oil. Then add gas mixed 30-1 or so in 5% steps. Stop when the engine rstarts to run poorly. Usually you can get away with 10-15% gas. You will se better MPG, due to the gas, as much as 20%.

TKG....can you just give us the ratio of each gas...Alky...nito...and lube. Plus any other additive lke acetone? Thanks Capt,n

TKG What lube would you use in the methanol.

Dear everybody! back some time I started the gas engine no ignition glo plug use thread, and got good results using gasoline 75% methanol20% ether5% and oil 5%< Back then I was getting a good idle response and 200 rpm's less than original ignition/gasoline set up, but just last week I started fooling around with my experiments but this time I used that new fuel that someone sugested using E85 which is an 85% ETHANOL and 15% gasoline, so I did severall combinations using regular gasoiline (to dissolve the synthetic oil I am using and not having to use castor oil0 and the E85 fuel, So here is a combination that will realy work!
Regular grade gasoline (89 octane) 60%
E85 Fuel 30%
Nitro 5%
Oil (synthetic or regular 2 stroke) 5%
Engine used Ryobi 31 CC, Propeller APC 18x6W, O.S. 4stroke plug
Rpms obtained with glo convertion 8200 rpm
Rpms with regular magneto Ignition and this fuel mix 8400 rpm
rpm's with just regular gasoline/oil mix and magneto ignition 7900 rpm
The cost of E85 fuel is here in San Diego CA. $1.95 a galon
I've heard that in the corn country states is $1.18 a galon
The reason I didn't use only E85 alone was the oil disolving issue which got fixed by mixing regular gasoline with this fuel, the other thing is that adding nitro is an option I did it to obtain a better transition from idle to full throttle, but it will maintain a low idle without it.
I ran short of time rigth now so I will get back with this thread A.S.A.P.
BTW for those who can not get E85 you can use methanol at 20% max and still get good results(this is to help keep the engine running at low idle)

Aero Nut: Keep up the good work. I think I am going to try this new fuel combo myself. Thanks Capt,n

We get 95 or 97 octane here, do you think thats enough of a difference to require more compression or hotter plug?

Rupurt! what do you mean by 95 or 97 octane? is that on gasoline or the E85 fuel, because I don't know the octanage of E85.
Well the other reason that I used gasoline mixed with the E85 was for economy we all know that gasoline burns at a 1:2 ratio versus methanol and being that I didn't measure the rate at which E85 was burned I opted to use gasoline as my main base for the fuel, later I will do the E85 with castor oil and nitro to see at what rate it burns and what rpms do I get. I have already tried the E85/castor oil combination (E85 at 95% and castor oil 5% Zero nitro) and it burns ok, but the low idle is shaky; probably a little bit of nitro will help and maybe I can replace the glo plug with a long standard R/C plug with the idle bar.
The other advantage that I found by using this mixture is being able to use nitro with gasoline the E85 helps mix nitro with gasoline thus giving us a little bit of ZIP to our gas engines without having to go all methanol conversion.
Also the carb worked very well without any opening of fuel spray holes or any complicated conversions the only thing I recomend is using a bigger venturi, but that you can accomplish that by scraping some aluminum from the ventur until it measures .4oo inches (I did that anyway to improve the performance on my Ryobi engine)

Petrol, we don't get the E85 here. sorry should have been more clear.

Rupurt I guess that you can purchase Methanol in South Africa , if you do just mix 20% of it to gasoline and treat it as regular gasoline as far as your oil mix ratio (32:1, 40:1 or 50:1) which ever ratio you use and see what results you get I was able to keep the 4stroke glow plug hot enough to sustain the low idle going which was one the problems I had encountered by using petrol alone; the other thing that you can try is DENATURED ALCOHOL which it self is ETHANOL mixed with METHANOL for health reasons so people don't use it as drinking alcohol, but if you can purchase pure ETHANOL you can mix it at a 30-40 % ratio with petrol and still get good results using a 4stroke GLOW plug.

I work in a lab so getting hold of methanol or even ether is not a problem, pure ethanol is very expensive due to tax and the denatured ethanol we use has got to much water in it. What I was wondering is the octane level of our petrol is quite a lot higher than that of the petrol you are using, would it be enough to make a difference? I suppose i will just try and see what works.

I think that a trial will tell you more specifically if it has any major performance change I think it will give a better transition running and that your plug will be cleaner; now i am not sure that if in your country the way that they increase the octanage is by means of adding some kind of alcohol because here in the U.S. the achieve that by adding either Methanol or Ethanol to the petrol as much as 10% of it, so give it a try and please let me know the results that you obtain so we can compare!
By the way I do also work in a lab I am a Chemist for a diagnostics company, what kind of work do you do?

I am working for my mother actually as a lab technician (While I decide what I am going to study if it ever happens), her lab does pesticide analysis on export fruit and such things.

We still add good old lead to increase octane. Our 95 is unleaded and the 97 is not, generally speaking.

I have an old stihl engine that a want to experiment with, its the 30cc it looks remarkable similar to the ryobi, should make for comparable results.

Here in North America, the "Octane rating" is calculated as RON + MON /2, which is commonly termed AKI or Anti Knock Index. I think many other parts of the world uses RON, or Research Octane Number, which is higher than AKI for the same gasoline. For example, 95 RON = 89 AKI. 92 RON = 87 AKI.

Most of the Really Big glow engines, with full rod bearings are running 20-1 oil on alky, gas has some lube value so most are running in the 32/40-1 range. Klotz KL100 and KL200 will mix with both gas and methonal. Some oils will react badly to one or the other fuel.

Thanks tkg.

Volfy, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that my petrol is probably pretty much the same as yours. Apart from what we call it of course.

Folks,Howdy.

Keeping a glow plug hot eh? Why don't just use a 3000 ma/h onboard glow at all times?
Weight of these new batteries nowdays is much less then it used to be so why don't just use one or rig it with the switch that will turn it on at certain throttle setting and turn it off at full throttle?
Wondering....

This debate has gone very well , I’ll drown tomorrow trying to make good notes of it all .
Then I realised ! ‘ Is there no mention of a Glow plug Tap size ‘.
Can anyone remind me of the correct Tap . I understand it may be imperial ,
such as ; …. 5cc glow crank shaft sizes are usually 1/4-28 .
It would be greatly appreciated .
If it is as stated below[:-] in the qoute , ' 1/4 32 ', Then thanks all the same ![8D]

Mitty: Thats a good Idea. You could also have a switch on the throttle to turn golw on ...say below 1/4-1/3 throttle. You guys that are experimenting with glow/gas combos....please let us know how this (battery helping glow) works with your engines. Thanks Capt,n

The spark plug in weedeaters is m14x1.25
Glow plug from what i heared is 1/4x32
I wasnt able to find a tap of such size or die but thats what others say.

Glow plugs are 1/4x32. Higly has the taps and dies too.
CH Electronics has the 14mm to 1/4x32 adapters for 9.95 Plus shipping.
These install with a standard sparkplug wrench, most standard glow plug wrenchs will install/remove the glow plug from adapter. The glow plug is way inside so the glow coil is where the spark is normally. No loss of compression due to recessed glow plug.

FYI - Homelite glo plug adaptor

http://prophub.tripod.com/

If someone needs both tap and die (or either) for 1/4x32 A-1 Hobbie in Mesquite, Texas has both at reasonable prices. If the address or telephone # can not be obtained you can either "e" mail me at [email protected] or post here and I will attempt to assist. I have no afilliation with this establishment but I sure want to keep them in bussisness because I only live 3 blocks away! My wife wants them out of bussisness, HI HI.

Try talking to "June" OR" Mickey" June knows about all of it but if you are into jets also Mickey is one of the top "jet guys" in the US.

They may also be able to assist you in finding other hard to find parts. They have done that for me.

Again not my money but a VERY good "hobby shop".

I Hope this helps someone.

Fly the airplane first

Lee K5MRC