there has been many people that have told me that you should not run airplane blend in your rc cars! but i have also talked to people that say that is a bunch of b.s i want to know your guys opinion on this i dont want to be hard on my car if it is bad but i also dont want to spend a crap ton on the "car fuel"
thanks
tenfigure

I have heard not to run airplane fuel because it has a higher percentage of nitro in it which wouldn't be good, if your gona run any fuel choose either monster trinity 20% nitro or 20% bryon race 2000 fuel, both are great, just dont even worry about running airplane fuel in your car. [8D]

you can get airplane fuel in all kinds of blends and %s of nitro. actaully most fliers use 10% which would be lower then the car fuels.

one is made for airplanes...hence, made to use in airplanes. the other, for cars....made to use in cars. Its not that expensive either.

Since airplanes have that big fan (propeller) blowing across the engine, they tend to run cooler and so the % oil tends to be less. Also, most plane fuels use pure synthetic oils. Synthetic oils have a low flash point compared to the oils (mostly castor) used in car fuels. One thing you don't want to have happen is for the oil to burn off and not do it's job. Can you get away with running plane fuel in your car? Sure. But it's not recommended.

Man, here we go again.

tenfigure, you are correct in that "car fuel" is much more expensive than "airplane fuel". You have already heard conflicting opinions. Here's mine;

I have been running Omega 10% nitro "airplane fuel" in an RC-10 and Nitro Rush (and now MT2) for several years. It works just fine. This was after I paid $6 more for a gallon of 10% "car fuel", and almost burned the Nitro Star .15FE up because it was overheating due to low oil content.

I tested that popular brand of car fuel and found it to have LESS oil than my airplane fuel. This test is simple and can be done by anyone. Find a graduated container that you can figure percentages from. The little mixing cups that have milliliters engraved into the side are perfect.

Pour in a quantity of fuel to equal 100%. Let it sit for a few days. The methanol and nitro will evaporate; what's left is oil. See how much is left, compare it to the 100% figure you started with, and you'll know approximately how much oil is in that particular fuel.

Personally, I think the car fuel is more expensive because the fuel companies know they can get away with it. Car guys don't use as much of the stuff as airplane and heli guys, so it doesn't bite as much when you buy fuel.

I have noticed, via ads, that Trinity and a few others are now listing higher (18%-20%) oil contents. Good for them. It still isn't worth ten bucks a quart, which translates to $40 a gallon. That's simple larceny. You can buy airplane fuel with that much oil (and nitro) for less than $20 a gallon.

The conventional wisdom that running airplane fuel in a car/truck engine will ruin it is absolute BS. A lot of us who fly aircraft mainly, and run the trucks as a diversion, run airplane fuel in our vehicles every day. Some folks are brainwashed into believing that you simply MUST run the more expensive "car fuel".

We know better.

.

Steve you are 100% correct, I have been using airplane blend in pretty much everything for the past 8 years, never had any troubles with it. And actaully airplane blends usually have more oil then the RC car fuels do. and the kind im using has half synthetic and half castor so you get cooling and protection at the same time. If anyone is interested its called sig champion. it is indeed a marketing scheme, and if you go to a hobby shop they will tell you that airplane blend will destroy your engine so that you buy the more expensive "car fuel". I would never run my engine on fuel with only 10% oil!

Regarding the Sig Champion fuel, I'm about to try some of that (25% nitro) in the MT2. I have a quart that I bought to use in a 1/2A control line model with a Cox .049 engine. That turned out to be not as exciting as I remembered; radio control rules! I found this fuel the other day while looking for something else, and said to myself, Why not? Maybe I can beat my pal's Savage now...

You're right about the castor, too. Castor is a MUCH better lubricant for our engines than synthetic, for two reasons:

1. It has a higher flash point, and will stay lubricating during a lean run far past the point where synthetic oil is cooking off

2. It leaves a film of protective oil on everything. This makes for a mess on the outside, but leaves your engine nice and clean on the inside, where it counts. No worries about bearing rust when castor is used.

The Omega fuel I've been running is a 50/50 castor/synthetic mix, like the Sig Champion. The aluminum header and pipe on the RC-10 have some brown stains, as do the exhaust systems on my aircraft; but the plastic/composite pipe and black metal header on the Rush (and now the MT2) look fine. When the stains become objectionable, I clean them off in the crock pot.

There is so much disinformation, wrong information, and downright nonsense floating around about fuel that I sometimes despair. There are folks who are seriously brainwashed about this "no airplane fuel" thing, even when they can see the positive results with their own eyes. Don't confuse them with the facts; good old so'n'so at the glitzy car action magazine said it, so it must be true. Right?????

.

the 25% sig champion fuel rules, i run it in my mbx r2 and it puts out tons of power. And at 14 bucks a gallon it cant be beat. guys its all the same, all they do is color it different and put "car fuel" on the jug and then mark it up about 50% thus making money off your ignorance.


it aint rocket sceince

thnaks for your opioin on this fuel....i think i am going to stick with the airplane fuel never have had any problems with it and nether has one of my friends
thanks agin guys
-tenfigure

I would certainly like to know where you get it for $14 a gallon. Man, that's dirt cheap for 25% nitro.

.

Here's the lowdown on fuel.


There is NOTHING wrong with using airplane fuel in a car engine. A word of warning though, using airplane fuel WILL cause your engine to LAST LONGER.

Airplane fuel has higher oil content then car glow fuel. The decreased oil in car fuel gives the engine peppier response and a better top speed but at the expense of the engine's life. If you are racing and don't mind rebuilding after 5-10 gallons then car fuel is your ticket for extracting the most amount of power from your.

However, if you rather give up a little power and measure your engine's lifespan in YEARS not GALLONS then airplane fuel is the way to go.

Airplane fuel comes in many flavors. 100% synthetic, castor/synthetic blend and in high nitro too.

I have saved a ton of money not buying car fuel. My current fuel is a 50/50 blend of 30% heli fuel (100% synthetic oil, 23% oil content) with 15% Omega (17% oil 70/30 syn/castor ratio). This gives me a nice 22.5% nitro fuel with 20% oil content that contains some castor.

My last 2 gallons I used were YS 20/20 fuel which worked great but I desired a little castor protection which 20/20 fuels don't provide.

15% Nitro Omega works great by itself too for backyard bashing and all around fun if you are on a budget.

So the choice is yours, more power at most fuel cost and short engine life: use car fuel.

Slightly less power, significantly less fuel cost and much longer engine life: use airplane fuel.
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RCAEROGUY, you may wish to check your facts before you post. Car fuels can contain oil percentages as low as 8% and the highest I have seen is 16% but most are around 12-14%. Airplanes fuels (except for the ST fuels) are typically 16-23% oil.

man i have bin buying traxxas fuel 10% for like 22 bucks. when the store stopped selling it i have to pay 27 bucks for 20%. i am going to get airplane fuel

if you can find car gas cheap and want a higher mix racio i just add alittle bit of klots beanoil. it does your engine much good, mot to mention it will be the best smelling car out there.