RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Hello Stewart,


Pressure Cooker:

I appreciate you concerns for safety regarding cooking the Veggie Oil within the Pressure Cooker, but I respectfully disagree with this viewpoint. In fact it is safer to cook the Veggie Oil in this manner as compared to cooking it in an open cook pot exposed to the atmospheric oxygen. Perhaps my description of the process left out details to allow for full understanding.

I would suggest for testing purposes that only 100 ml of oil be processed to find the correct ration of glycerin/water/detergent/oil. Then you can process larger amounts as required.

Mix the Glycerin/water/detergent into a discarded food tin (can) then add the oil and stir. Place this tin into the pressure cooker. Make sure you place the tin on a support stand to elevate the can off the bottom of the cooker bottom. Pour some water into the bottom of the pressure cook making sure you don’t spill additional water into your tin. Seal the cooker and process at full pressure for 20 minutes.

The reason I claim the added safety using the Pressure Cooker as apposed to the stove top is quite simple: The Pressure Cooker will vent the atmospheric gasses out the top during the preheating process, this will flush the system with steam. Steam makes a more inert atmosphere than dry air. The oil is now seal from exposure to the stovetop and any boiling over or spill of the mixture cannot occur.

Since the cooker is using water as it operational fluid; then the temperature within the cooker will not exceed 260 F. Which is extremely safe for any oil, especially considering the fact that when you fry using oil you must heat the oil in excess of 320 F and this is often on an stovetop using a gas flame.

In fact this is the same process used to make Kentucky Fried Chicken (see recipe below), but making KFC chicken is more dangerous than making Veggie Oil. If you read below you’ll see that the cooking oil is raised to 400 F, the chicken is added to the oil, with many possibilities of boiling over, next it is sealed and cook at pressure for 10 minutes.

Errata:

I believe that Andy incorrectly gave me credit for your work: I would like to correct his mistake. He gave me credit for the knowledge regarding Klotz possible use of heating castor oil to 300 F to help polymerize the oil to increase it solubility within Kerosene.


Thanks:

Also thanks for suggesting the use of Olive Oil for these test.

One last thing: perhaps you could ask you chemist friend about the suggestion to cook the oil in the pressure cooker, since I’m only guessing that this may work.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Recipes
1. In a small bowl combine the egg and milk.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the remaining four dry ingredients.
3. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk mixture until fully moistened. Roll the moistened chicken into the flour mixture until completely coated.
4. Pour the oil into the pressure cooker and heat over medium heat to about 400.
5. In groups of 4 or 5, drop the chicken pieces into the oil and lock the lid into place. When the steam begins shooting through the pressure release, set the timer for 10 minutes.
6. After 10 minutes, release the pressure according to manufacture’s instruct ions, and remove the chicken to paper towels or a metal rack to drain.
7. Repeat with remaining chicken.
End

Kelly

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Andy,
Having seen your latest batch of photos.... can we get shares in your oil production facility ?

If you carry on with this rate of production you are gonna get stomped on by the oil conglomerates !

:) :D :)

Kelly,
Some interesting comments and suggestions. A few things there for me to mull over.
The washing up liquid was used as it was advocated in the original article which appeared in Aeromodeller sometime in 1986. It was a bio-chemist that wrote the article and, as I have absolutely no knowledge of the subject, I assume he chose it for a reason.... it could be that the alternatives that you mention weren't around or is it because he was utilising something that was known to be present in the stuff he recommended ???

Now if someone would just get on the phone to a likely university and pose some pertinent questions to the bio chemistry department...... anyone know a likely uni. ?

Ask nicely and we may arouse sufficient interest to get them involved ;)

THEN.... we patent it !

Reg

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Gentlemen,

I decided to run a test using the Pressure Cooker:

I did not follow the directions as prescribed on page (4) of this tread, but decided to try a modification:

I mixed together:

3 ml of non-scented laundry detergent
3 ml of water
3 ml of glycerin
50ml of canola oil

I stirred it together in a Pyrex measuring cup. It went milky and increased the viscosity a small amount. I loaded this into my pressure cooker with about 1 cup of water on the floor of the cooker and set the glass measuring cup onto a little stand in the bottom of the cooker. I cooked it at 20 psi for 20 minutes. I let the pressure go down in a natural fashion.

Results:

The hot mixture looked the same as when I put it into the cooker, but very hot now. I set it into the freezer to cool. When it came down to room temp it was still milky but much thicker that before cooking. It has tinny beads of water suspend within the mixture since I keep stirring it to try to determine the viscosity. It appears to have increased the viscosity about 2x or maybe 3x. This is not a scientific measurement, just a subject observation.

Next I put some of the mixture on my left hand and some standard canola oil on my right hand. The modified oil would rinse right off my hand and the standard normal canola oil stuck firmly to my hand under the faucet. The oil mixture currently appears to have much more affinity for water than normal oil, but this may just be a temporary matter, and this may change after the normal period of settling of the mixture.

Next I swirled the mixture in the Pyrex cup up onto the sides of the cup and watch it stick to the glass. It hung on very well with a very thick film, much thicker than the canola oil I tried in a separate glass. Again I could see tinny little shimmering beads of water suspended in the emulsion. So I think I’ll have to be patient and allow the water to collect on the bottom of the cup.

I’ll have to put the mixture out in the garage over-night in a tall glass jar and let the water rise to the surface and decant the oil off and post my observation tomorrow.

Reg,

Detergent chemistry can be very complex, I’ll agree, but Laundry detergent will not foam, and I did not see any foaming during an point of my current experiment. Why don’t you just try Laundry detergent in a small batch and see the results. It is very cheap if you mix up less that 100 ml of the mixture.

The chemist my just have not thought to use Laundry soap, just thinking about what was in the kitchen at the time. There are many possibilities in Organic Chemistry for substitutions.

Have fun,

Kelly

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Room temprature viscosity has almost no meaning at all. Margarine is solid at room temprature but thin at high temps. I hope you guys keep this in mind in trying to reinvent lubrication.

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Kelly
I must appologise today I realised i was reading deg F and thinking degC -- big difference.
A thought on your further explanation and experiment , the steam atmosphere would make it difficult for any excess water to boil out of the mix and may add to the water content of the oil .
My stove top moddifying resulted in a clear oil with no sign of water droplets even after prolonged settling.
Stewart

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Good stuff guys,

Thanks Kelly, for getting credit to where it's due. So much wonderful input, it's hard to keep track.

Some thoughts based on observations. How about using liquid soap from the Health Stores? These are supposedly just plain soap, no additives, perfumes, foaming agents etc.

Next, how about eliminating or minimizing the water when using the pressure cooker? OR, do a post treatment by simmering the mix for ten minutes or so to drive out the water.

Aright, I know that this is a diesel forum but after doing what's called a meth test to see if you've made good BioFuel, I had an idea. The meth test is to mix up oil with methanol in a 1 to 10 ratio. If the oil dissolves and stays in suspension, you have a good fuel. So I tested for 2 to 10 (or 20%) and I still had complete dissolution of the oil. Well wait, that amounts to glow fuel,, don't it?

So I just had to try it and IT WORKED. This was with OliveFuel and yes, I know that the "OIL" components were taken out as much as possible but so far, we had a steady run with good throttling. Power was WAY down, (no nitro) but the durn stuff ran.

OK, big deal, will the rod hold up? No way to tell except fly such a mix for a gallon or so and see. That'll have to wait till summer. But a local dabbler in things exotic, (like those of us on this forum) alerted me to a few products for the dirt bike and snowmachine crowd for boosting power. One of these says on the can, "contains nitromethane". That statement usually means that the mentioned item is the main ingredient. He's going to drop off a can to me in a few days.

So why don't I use BioOil instead of BioFuel?? Well, I thought of that but every oil I've tested, plain or modified, will not blend with methanol. But they ALL will blend with kerosene or any other DinoVolatile. And yet castor, which is also a veggie oil, blends just fine with methanol but is quite reluctant to blend with kerosene. Just what IS going on here?

OK, here's something else that happened tonight. I mixed up some OliveFuel with methanol at a ratio of 3 to 10 and that's 30%. That exceeded the oils limit to dissolve by about 10%. How do I know? Well, about that amount eventually settled out at the bottom of the fuel tank, exactly where the clunk pickup sat. Despite the clunk sitting in raw OliveFuel, the (glow) engine ran. It smoked a whole lot and I had to leave the glow clip on for a minute but once up to temperature, it appeared that the VeggieFuel actually ran in the presence of the glow plug. I'm speculating that the pooled oil had picked up SOME methanol and it was this that was responding to the glow plug. This is going to need some investigating.

THIS, I'm sure, will have to be switched to the fuel forum. Don't want to push our luck. :D

Another neat thing happened today. I was the lucky recipient of three Tanaka engines, the bigger one is a cream puff, excellent compression and the rings and cylinder look prime. I've got it apart and it has needle cages on both ends of the rod. Zero slop and oh boy, what a solid looking rod. Forged steel but quite slim and light weight looking. Besides, the double counterbalances on the crank are a sight to behold. I've got the prop hub made and the rest is just grinding off all the unwanted metal. I think I'll run it as glow first and spend the winter doing it up diesel.

But, big question. The Mills diesel is a sideport design. Am I not right in that as such, it'll run in both directions? Equally?

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Andy,
Good pickup with the Tanaka engines , will look forwards to your diesel experiments with them.
Yes the mills will run either way, as will all sideport motors, they also suffer the same as cox reedies in sometimes not starting in the desired direction. Not a problem with electric or spring starters but sometimes frustrateing till the correct hand starting technique is learnt.
Stewart

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Stewart,

That's good to hear. This engine has the cylinder held in place with four, equally spaced bolts. As such and with the side port design, that means that the carb can be placed forward and the exhaust to the rear. Or any combination you want. Wonderfully versatile feature. Hey what of a twin with counter-rotating props? Or even a four like a big B-17? Can you hear it? Four of these, on diesel, purring away on the tarmac,,, and then you hit the throttle,,,,,

And with the needle raced rod, it'll be cheap to run, just bit of kerosene and a dash of olives. [8D]

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Andy,

On the Tanaka engine, if the cylinder transfer ports are matched to the crankcase with the exhaust/carb in the side to side position, rotating the cylinder to a front/back position will block the transfer ports unless the crankcase has cutouts in that position.

Will

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Back in the '70s some Japanese company
made a kerosine fueled outboard motor.Was
that Tanaka ?

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Will,

That's a good point but this is another reason why I love this little engine. The transfer ports are part of the cylinder. They go along for the ride if you decide to rotate the cylinder to any position on the compass you want. Neat. I'm anticipating that with the intake and exhaust oriented front to back, the bypasses will be in a much more suitable position.

Despite the low mileage on this engine, there's LOTS of carbon on top of the piston and at the top of the cylinder. It reminds me of the Norvel when I ran that heavy DinoLube. Don't know what the drillers used for oil in this little guy but what if they used one of them new, BioLubes that are about to explode on the market in a few years. [X(] NO carbon implies much less pollution going out the tail end. If I had another like this, I'd look at the condition inside, and then run the engine on our OliveLube and gas and see what happens. Can't do that with the other two engines as the electricals are stripped off. Unfortunately, one of these also has a scored cylinder. Good for parts.

But, aside from the anti-freeze/Crockpot procedure is there any other chemical way to get the gunk off the parts? Not the carbon, the dried, cooked, god knows what on the outside. I'm contemplating anodizing the engine black,, or gold,, or,,,,

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Right.... Todays testing !

Couldn't use my usual spot as there were a couple of cars parked up, the tide was right up so they were probably bird watching - the birds being along the shoreline as their feeding areas were covered until the tide started dropping. Went onto the front side of the island. Waves breaking high up on the shore and quite pleasant :D

Temperature was a cool 8 degrees C (46F).

ALL fuel mixes used had 2.5 % of an ignition improver added.

3 hours spent testing in total and the engine was given several runs on each mix to get a reliable result and feel for each fuel.

Engine used was a PAW 2.49 with RC carb

First fuel mix.....

10% ether, 30% olive oil, 8% castor the rest kerosene.

Ran well, idled very slowly and steadily for minutes at a time and throttled O.K even from a long idle period....... it was felt that there was a bit of a "burble" when banging the throttle open.
This mix is good and I would happily use it.

Next mix.....

10% ether, 8% castor, 25 % engine oil (new and semi-synthetic) the rest kerosene.

Ran well, idled pretty well, but not as slowly and steadily as the mix with olive oil lube. It throttled well and was felt to just have an edge on the olive oil mix in this respect when the throttle was banged open.

There was no needle setting difference and the compression was exactly the same for the mix with olive oil lube and also the mix with car engine oil lube. There was virtually no difference between the 2 mixes although the mix using olive oil lube definitely idled slower and VERY steadily. I left it on a very slow idle for 4 -5 minutes and it never faltered..... either of these mixes is good but see later....

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Non-ether mixes. both with 2.5% ignition improver.

First mix

30% olive oil the rest kerosene.

Ran well, idled O.K and throttled O.K

This mix could be used to fly as it responded well. However it didn't seem quite as smooth as when using a mix with 10% ether. If I was using bigger engines than those I do use I would probably go with this mix on cost grounds alone...... however see later...

Mix 2

25 % new car engine oil semi-synthetic the rest kerosene.

This mix was a problem.... it was difficult to start, compression needed chasing around, the engine was never smooth. I never got to check it's idle and throttle response as it was running "lumpily"
it stopped and I tipped the rest of the fuel out of the tank.... test concluded.

This last may not have been a fair test. When I picked the jar up with this fuel in I noticed it was cloudy. It has beeen in my shed since my last testing and I am wondering if I got the right stuff or if something else has been put in and since forgotten about. I seem to remember a previous test with this mix of ingredients working O.K apart from the engine being rather hot.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Those who have read my previous posts will know that my 10% ether mixes also contain 8% castor as I am diluting down a commercial fuel mix to get the ether content down from 30% to 10%.
The % of olive oil is high at 30% as I am using up the first batch I ever made which had the quantities just measured out for simplicity.... the high oil content of 30% olive oil and 8% castor doesn't give any problems and indeed probably helps engine cooling by limiting the amount of kerosene in the fuel.

Conclusion....

The non-ether mixes are viable as a usable fuel. The car engine oil one was an anomaly as I have tested it before and it was O.K on that occasion. As I mentioned I would probably use these in a bigger engine.... with a possibility that is mentioned below.

The two mixes using 10% ether and either olive oil or car engine oil are both very good and I could quite happily use them, however......

I had a quick think and tipped an equal amount of these two mixes into a jar. So now I had 10% ether and a mix of olive oil, car engine oil and a small % of castor.

Will it.................................. ???????

It certainly did :) :D :) :D

This concoction ran like a DREAM ! It ran smoothly, it idled with all the slowness and steadiness of the olive oil mix and it had the marginally better response to banging open the throttle that was evident with the car engine oil.

Was it a fluke....? No 'cos I repeated the test with another tank full.

So there we have it.... two mixes using 10% ether which had just barely discernible differences between them - apart from the superior idling when using olive oil. Mixed together and I had a fuel that I don't think could be improved on. The only difference between this fuel and high (30%+) ether content fuel is .... the high ether will start easier. it will run a bit cooler - not a lot of difference though and the cost of the fuel is now reduced to a 1/3 of the cost of the commercial mix.

The engine, including the crankcase were at an acceptable temperature and I didn't have any concerns over the engine running too hot.

The 10% ether fuels ran with about a 1/4 turn less compression than when using a high ether fuel.

The non-ether fuels run about 1/2 turn less compression than when using high ether content fuel.

I don't intend to run a totally etherless fuel as I think the 10% ether is an asset in my 1.49 and 2.49 engines. If I was to consider a non-ether fuel then I would explore the possibility of mixing it with both modified olive oil and car engine oil to see if there was a benefit by using both. That can wait until I get a bigger engine or two !

So there we have it... 3 hours testing and most mixes were run at least twice and some were run three times to check consistency. At the end of it I have a mix that will do anything I want from it and will idle until the tank runs out if left to do so. All engine runs (apart from the aborted one) were of 10 minutes or more duration and varied from idle to throttle banged open, flat out running, 1/2 speed, left at various speeds for minutes at a time and then suddenly varied and all mixes worked (apart from the one).

The 10% ether mix containing modified olive oil, car engine oil and a small amount of castor will suit my purposes very nicely I reckon...... :D :D :D

Reg

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Andy - did you shrinkwrap the piston to keep the rings from expanding? Tnx - LH

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Stewart / Reg

I took your advice and heated yesterday’s mixture up and it cooked up like normal BioOil, it lost its extra viscosity. So I capitulated and mixed a new batch of BioOil to test Reg’s mixture as posted on page (4) of this thread. I add a bit extra glycerin and cooked it on the stovetop this time using dishwasher detergent, cooking it until it went to an amber color, then put it into the Pressure Cooker. It came out white again, so back onto the stovetop and I evaporated out the water until it looked like normal BioOil. I can’t see any change at all on either mixtures. So I have to say the pressure cooker idea was invalid.

I can say you could use Laundry detergent or Dishwashing detergent. Other than that I was not successful at increasing the viscosity of Canola oil to any appreciable degree.

This oil will not mix with methanol in any percentage, but it mix with Kerosene fine.

It looks like Olive oil maybe your best choice. I hope these test increased the “Body of Knowledge” regarding BioOils.

Andy,

That’s one fine looking motor. I think the crankshaft and rod look much stronger that my suggestion of using a Ryobi string trimmer motor. The only two good points about the Ryobi are the hemi head and they are often free, but you now have a much nicer engine that a Ryobi.

I have used the cooker/antifreeze method and it works great, you don’t have to have a cooker, just a metal container and a heat source. It will take over night to soften the carbon, but the lighter stains will most likely disappear in about 6 hours. Keep the temp of the antifreeze below 200 F and you’ll be fine. You’ll notice the antifreeze will turn from a light green to very a very dark green indicating that the antifreeze has started to reach it’s cleaning capacity, at this time you can change the antifreeze and it will become much more active at cleaning again.

Any brand of antifreezes will work fine, so buy the cheap stuff. Don’t add any water, use it straight from the jug. It works fantastic. The engine will look like new in about 12 hours of soaking. You may have to use a little bit of mechanical force to lift of large chucks of carbon. I pull my parts every six hours and wash them in hot water and inspect, if the carbon is not soft I keep soaking. Extended soaking will not hurt metal parts, just don’t put any plastic parts into the antifreeze. Rubber is okay, but plastic will dissolve.

Kelly

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Reg,

You may have just invented that perfect, all inclusive, best, good for what ails you, diesel mix. If I read it correctly, approximately, you have,

8% castor
12% semi-synthetic car, crankcase oil
12% OliveLube
10% ether
58% kerosene
Give or take for 2.5% Ignition Improver.

Whew, a long stretch from a single component fuel. But all parts are easy to get and affordable, considering the quantities of each.

Marvellous. I just regret the time of year, weather is holding us back in the rapidly freezing north. Today is OK but other obligations beckon.:(

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Lee,

The shrink tubing was applied to protect the rings from contamination from the cleaning procedure which consisted of scraping the crud off and then using sandpaper to refresh the surface.

Kelly,

Thanks for the effort on the Pressurecooker BioLube procedure. Nothing ventured etc. and now we at least know if it will or will not work. We may still have to play with the ingredients to maximize the thing we want to do though. And thanks for the tip regarding cleaning gunk. As you are a big engine guy I have no doubt it'll work.

I have a couple of emails out to several sources and companies for Biodiesel and have also provided links to this thread and our effort to make a good BioLube for our diesels. Most times these things get ignored but you never know.

Mylamo,

I have a toll free number to Tanaka and am waiting for a call back from their tech guy to find out if they ever made a kerosene powered outboard. Maybe they still do. That would be cool. [8D]

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Quote.....

Reg,

You may have just invented that perfect, all inclusive, best, good for what ails you, diesel mix. If I read it correctly, approximately, you have,

8% castor
12% semi-synthetic car, crankcase oil
12% OliveLube
10% ether
58% kerosene
Give or take for 2.5% Ignition Improver.

Unquote.......


Hi Andy,

Not far out I reckon the modified olive oil is at 15% or so with a consequent 3% less of the paraffin in your figures. I doubt it would be that critical though.

The engine ran well on the 10% ether mixes but this one just had that "something extra". I couldn't specify it really it just clicked into place as being THE ONE ! I honestly don't see how I could improve running any more. There was just nothing to fault with this mix. If it would idle very slowly for some 4- 5 minutes and then just instantly respond to the throttle being banged open then... there's not much else I can do !

Kelly,
The recipe for modified vegetable oil lube, shown on page 4, wasn't mine. It was originally written up by Robert Dulake - the bio chemist who wrote the magazine article back in 1986. We have just modified it a bit and, thanks to a suggestion from Stewart, moved on to use olive oil and extra glycerine.

Treven,
Your faith in car engine oil is justified.... it's just better with some modified olive oil in it ;)

Just in passing for anyone reading these posts....
A fuel mix made with the modified olive oil has more viscosity than one made with car engine oil.
The difference can be seen in the way the fuel "flows" when moved about in a clear glass container.

Reg

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Oh man, what a day.

I just got off the phone with Randy Haslam, Tanaka's tech representative. He was most interested in our goings on. As it turns out, I have a rather old engine with good but so last year's technology. Tanaka, like most good companies, don't sit still EVER and their latest engines have improved, multiple porting, better power to weight and various multiple new features that contribute greatly to their desirability as a handheld power plant.

Randy also informs me that many of the so called four stroke, small engines are really hybrids that still use a fuel/oil mix. Only Honda and a few others actually make a TRUE four stroke with an oil sump and the like. So Tanaka has retained the simplicity and superior power to weight of a two stroke but has concentrated on making it super efficient. This along with the catalytic element in their muffler and they are very much meeting anything the new environmental regs can throw at them. All of this is very good and just reinforces my belief that there really aren't any technical issues that can't be overcome.

Speaking of Honda, Randy tells me that they'll be introducing, next year, their first corporate jet. I remember far too many years ago, I owned a Honda 90 motorBIKE and when I heard that Honda was going to make cars, I laughed and thought what, with CHAIN DRIVE?? Nope, not laughing now. :eek:

So, we have a very good, versatile, homebrew. Now, we might just have a unique and very durable diesel conversion that'll stand up to anything we can throw at it. My poor, abused little .15 has got bunches of slop in the rod now. So much so that I couldn't get enough compression for a start yesterday. One reason I took a little side trip to glow. Another rebuild is in the works. Sure wish I could stuff in a needle bearing. Yes, I've looked into it, the .15 no, but maybe the .40,,, down the road some. That Webra .60 I mentioned had a needle bearing at the top and when I retired it, the wear was in the piston but not the rod. The solution there would be to make that part a press fit. Dare we say bullet proof rod? So all those low/no oil mixes have taken their toll. Ah well, it was fun seeing how far we could go. Stewart's high oil blends seem like a right thing to do for our current engines. Neat.

++++++++++++++++++

Oh, and by the way, Tanaka wasn't the one,, making an outboard that ran on kerosene.

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Check out the video,, engines on pods ABOVE THE WINGS.

http://hondajet.honda.com/

Well, it IS on topic, it burns kerosene. ;)

OK you have to click on gallery and then click on the videos to the right. Geez, imagine if GM made a jet,, but we won't go there. Won't be long, I guess, before the jet guys build a model.

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

So what caused the rod failure? Low oil percentages or lubricant failure?

Who cares if some of the utility four strokes are using fuel oil mix? They still have almost double the efficiency.

What sort of efficiency is Tanaka claiming?

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Andy,

You are correct that the cylinder transfer ports are part of the cylinder. However if you will look closely at the back and front of the crank case you will see where the cylinder transfer ports mate to the crankcase. Slip the cylinder in one half of the crankcase in its normal position. Then rotate it 90 deg and you will see that the cylinder transfer ports are partially blanked by the side of the crankcase. Although it may run, the output is going to be significantly less because of the flow disruption entering the cylinder transfer port.

I have been converting trimmer and chainsaw engines for model use for about 5 years so I've seen the inside of these type engines many times. Even have a 21cc Kioritz converted to diesel. I'm looking foward to trying some of the no/low either mixes in it. Soon as I get some other projects finished and out of the way.

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Greg,

Hard to say what caused the rod wear. Note that this was not a rod FAILURE, but rod wear. When I did these rods, one, likely this one, turned out with a press fit of the bushing that wasn't as tight as I'd have liked. I have few good measuring tools and do this by feel. This one, I used Loctite red and this is supposed to cure a not so tight fit but here we may have a spun bushing. Tearing it down soon, will get back to you.

About some of the four strokes NOT being true four strokes. Didn't mean much by that, just a comment on some of the things we talked about. Super efficient compared to common two strokes of the past. As in superior fuel atomization, something that can contribute to the use of a thicker BioDiesel fuel. That's kind of where I was going with that.

Wvarn1957,

Yes, I had taken into consideration what you're referring to. I had intended on cutting new bypasses into the case and plugging the old ones as I did in the conversion of a Norvel to rear exhaust for use on a heli and a pipe. See the first picture.

BUT, another problem has revealed itself on closer inspection. What fooled me was that the cylinder is square, but the bolt pattern is rectangular so the only flipping you can do is left to right. In that case, still, in a twin you can have counter-rotating props with inboard cylinders and with the muffler outlet straight down for both. Well, just thinking ahead a bit. I'm mostly 1/2A and am getting a bit saturated. Seeing the potential of the Tanaka has got me thinking likely too big for my britches but don't we all dream, from time to time?

But wait, you've dieselized a Kioritz? Please let us know more and pictures please. How about a submission to YouTube? Low/no ether, yes, that's the point as in needle raced rods may be all we need. Got to dig up that old Webra and see how they did it. As an old bearing man, I know that Torrington makes needle bearings with very thin outer races, these are more like thin tubes with the ends curled in to hold the needles in place. You can get them with cages and also with full complement needles with no cages. So with a brass rod for strength, maybe a rod could be made to hold these bearings on both ends. An idea worth looking into.

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

Found that Webra .60 rod. The piston end is fatter than the crank end and it looks odd but it worked very well. And note the slot on the crank end. A good idea that seems to have worked as well. There is no slop here except that which might be expected from normal clearance. And note that it isn't brass bushed. This engine saw many, many gallons for fuel over some six years. However, that was some thirty years ago and it isn't Schneurle ported. I'm fairly certain that it never saw anything but a castor based fuel at 25% as was the norm back then. Still,,,

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

I talked to guy that converted a 23CC Homelite to diesel. It's not impossible.

What is so unique about the Tanaka? It looks the same as other utility engines.

RE: Substitute for Ether
 

The outboards that ran on kerosine were made
by Tohatsu, you can see why I was confused.
Ralph