making fuel
 

people have been telling me that making your own fuel is alot cheaper. i was wondering if anybody does this, and howyou do it. like what do u use to seperate the different "ingredients" becasue they tell me use like 20 percent of this and 15 percent of this . i was wondering if you guys do this

RE: making fuel
 

This probably needs to be moved to the fuels forum. Spend a little time there and all your questions will be answered.

Jim

RE: making fuel
 

Hi!
Many people mix their own fuel...it is very simple.
Just get methanol, oil (castor or synthetic or a mix of both) and some nitro.


Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

RE: making fuel
 

It is cheaper per gallon to mix ones own fuel. The difficulty is in finding a source for the ingredients. Having found a source it is not always easy to buy them in small quantities. So the initial dollar outlay can be high and there is a possibility that you will end up with a 5 gallon can or two kicking around. At 10% one gallon of nitro will mix ten gallons of fuel. If mixing all at once you will need say two gallons of oil and seven gallons of alcohol.

The best places to try first are the "Performance" shops, Go Karts/Motor Cycles and/or dragsters.

Figuring out percentages when using fluid ounces can be a chore. So, when mixing go to Wal Mart's kitchen dept and buy a I litre plastic bottle. These are graduated in millilitres. It makes the percentage measuring much easier.

Ed S

RE: making fuel
 

1% of a gallon is 1.28 oz. Not hard to figure, but doing it cc's is much easier.

Jim

RE: making fuel
 

ok i was told to make 5 gals 10 percent fuel u put 4 cups nitro 4 cups castor 4 cups klots kl 200 oil and 28 cups methonal is this correct ? and how do i bump that to 20 percent nitro ? my guess is add 4 cups more nitro and take off 4 cup methonal ?? and would this be the right amount of oil for trx 2.5 ?? any help is apriciated also i live in houston neone know a place near here or a place online with fairly prices nitromethane ?

RE: making fuel
 

Why don't you calculate that by the first principle that all of us have studied at school? I've been mixing my fuel that way.

Here's my mixture:
18% oil and 2% nitro(we run on low nirto here koz its extremly expensive $200 per gal!)

Lets say 100% ------> 6000 cc (5000cc methanol + 1000cc oil)
then 2% -------> (6000/100)*2 = 120cc nitro.

Isn't that simpler? You just have to change the 2% to the % you require!

Hope it helps.

RE: making fuel
 

Coolguy,

That is the reason that in my previous post I suggested the use of a 1 litre bottle graduated in millilitres. However The US does not use the metric system. Hence the over complicated measuring with cups. Cups can you believe?? Can you imagine the bother of having to pour out 40 cups of fluid from different containers without spilling any?? Let us hope that 40 cups equals 5 gallons!

Ed S

RE: making fuel
 

dont seem like it would be less hard to spill than with ml lol but i dunno its not that complicated 4 cups 10 percent how do i raise it to 20 percent nitro i know put 8 cups nitro in it but what do i take out methonal ?

RE: making fuel
 

4 cups makes 4.75 gallons

RE: making fuel
 

Using your cup measurement to make your 4.75 gallons of the following fuel.

20% nitro
20% total oil
60% alcohol

You will need

8 cups nitro
8 cups total oil
24 cups alcohol.

Wash the cup out before you pour your coffee!!

Ed S

RE: making fuel
 

A standard liquid measure cup is 8 fluid oz, or two gills. Four gills, or two cups. is a pint. Two pints is a quart and four quarts is a gallon. Isn't this fun!:)

Jim

RE: making fuel
 

alchohal same thing as methonal ?

RE: making fuel
 

Yeah right! stick with the one litre bottle.

Yes.

Ed S

RE: making fuel
 

Methyl alcohol is the same thing as methanol (poisonous so don't drink it) and ethyl alcohol is ethanol as used in gasohol for cars and rum, whiskey, gin, moonshine....I'm reliably informed it's drinkable :D

RE: making fuel
 

1. Assuming that the 'cup' being used has a volume of 8 fluid oz, the above recipe is correct, but it will make 2.5 gallons, not 4.75 gallons. (4 cups = one quart. 4 quarts = one gallon.)

2. Since there are 4 cups in a quart, the recipe simplifies to 2 qts nitro, 2 qts oil, and 6 qts meth. To make 5 gallons, put in 1 gallon of nitro, one gallon oil, and 3 gallons of methanol.

3. What all this boils down to is that for 20% nitro, 20% oil fuel, just put in 1 part nitro, 1 part oil, and 3 parts methanol. The 'parts' can be cups, liters, mouthfulls (wouldn't recommend that), gallons, buckets, barrels, whatever.

RE: making fuel
 

The last post emphasises even more the ease of using the metric system when measuring out percentages.

ED S

RE: making fuel
 

Once you have the ratio, it doesn't matter what measurement system you use! Lets measure in "glugs". One glug each of nitro and oil plus 3 glugs of methanol for a total of 5 glugs of fuel. A glug can be a cup, pint, quart or gallon (or millilitre, decilitre or litre). Just make sure that the final container is sized appropriately. The metric system is an advantage if you are working out a new ratio and are trying to calculate with mixed units i.e. ounces, cups, quarts and gallons.

Ross

RE: making fuel
 

So rather than use a bottle that actually has the percentages (Millilitres) marked on the side for all to see we are now being told to measure in "Glugs" . And how does one measure half a glug?

Unbelievable!!

Ed S

RE: making fuel
 

I'm sorry, but how to measure in half glugs is propriatory information.[:J

Jim

RE: making fuel
 

If I wanted to mix a litre (1000cc) of fuel with 12.8% nitro, 21.4 % oil and 65.8% methanol I'd pour 128cc of nitro, 214cc of oil and 658cc of methanol into a container. See a pattern there? And I didn't need a calculator to figure it out :) If I'd wanted to mix 4 litres of fuel (a bit over 1 US gallon) I'd have multiplied each figure by 4.

RE: making fuel
 

Downunder,

I truly think we are fighting a losing battle here. I have no answer for the proponents of the "Cup and Glug" measuring system.

"The Cup and Glug" Now that is a good name for a PUB! Maybe that is the problem, they have glugged too many cups!!!

Ed S

RE: making fuel
 

Ed

I am in no way disputing the simplicity or superiority of the metric system. I was just indicating from my post that once you know the relative proportions and reduce the data to the lowest common denominator, it doesn't matter what units you use. Any size of container may be used for measurement. Fractional container proportions are much more easily measured using a metric scaled bottle or cylinder and far more intuitive than some combination of ounces, cups, quarts and gallons. In addition, it is far easier to calculate and blend a new mix with a measurement system built on powers of ten.

As a laboratory scientist, I use metric measurement exclusively. Your derisive comments were neither necessary nor particularly appreciated.

By the way, 40 cups is 2.5 gallons (US), not 5 gallons.[>:]

Ross

RE: making fuel
 

I did not say that anything was equivalent to anything. I used other peoples figures. What were they now, Cups, Glugs, Pints, Gills, Ozs, Gallons??


Lacking the superior education and knowledge of a "Laboratory Scientist" I used basic common sense and bought a $1.95 one litre graduated bottle from Wal-Mart.

Ed S

RE: making fuel
 

i know the way to measure things everywehere ecept the us is simple but everyone has there own opinions if i learned that way first would be simpler but i dont know it yet so ill use cups mabyew sometime ill figure out how to use it and do things the simple way lol