acetone in your fuel??

[grumpyvette]

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Acetone_as_a_Fuel_Additive

 

http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/

 

what do you guys think?

[Dnaught14]

I dont know what to think. If its true than its amazing. I would however be worried about deterioration of parts. I know that the guy says that acetone doesnt damage any parts, but, I think it would be all the lines and hoses i would worry about. Coming from personal expierence, with potato guns, which is funny, i would use acetone as a fueling agent. It would shot the sh!t out of an apple. I shot one almost 250 yards once. However, the acetone slowly ate away at the pvc piping, and my cannon eventually exploded on firing it. I had previously used all sorts of fuels and had no such problem. Granted PVC and fuel lines are completly different, but i look at plastic as plastic and would be a little worried about long term use. On the plus side, i suppose its just like running alcohol. It might casue some problems if you dont monitor your parts, but if you maintain your vehicle its no problem. Im gonna try it out in my little saturn and see what the fuel gains are cause im curious. But I dunno, Id need to see some documentation before i put it in a z consistently.

[Phantom]

Acetone is the primary ingredient in PVC solvent - no wonder it ate your potato gun away. If you had used polyethylene you would not have had the problem - same with many other polymers.

Grumpy - isn't this the same basic benfit the old timers used to get putting mothballs - napthalene - into their gas tanks?

[grumpyvette]

most of these things Ive tested before, TOULENE WORKS TO BOOST OCTANE, the acetone is a NEW ONE, IVE yet to test,

my first reaction s its B.S. if exon,shell,BP,ford or G.M. could add a few ounces of acetone to a tank of gas and increase mileage 10% plus they would do it in a heartbeat without even thinking twice if there was no serious downside

Im not saying it won,t work only that IM VERY SCEPTICAL

[Drax240z]

if exon,shell,BP,ford or G.M. could add a few ounces of acetone to a tank of gas and increase mileage 10% plus they would do it in a heartbeat without even thinking twice if there was no serious downside

 

Except they wouldn't sell as much gas!

 

Still, very skeptical here too. Someone try it!

[Tony D]

I tried those old mothballs in some stationary powerplants and was amazed by the blue flames emitting out of the exhausts afterwards.

No scientific, but an interesting thing of note for a 14 year old who was curious about "mothballs in the gas tank seizing an engine" theory. Mothballs didn't do it, and sugar had tobe mixed VERY well in HIGH CONCENTRATIONS to actually effect anything...

But I digress.

The reason for no acetone in modern fuels may simply be cost economics. How much does cost to add it in such a high concentration? A fraction (we're talking added cost in the area of 0.000001) of a dollar added to each gallon refined would mean a decreased profit of Millions of not tens of millions a year.

While not the "insidious conspiracy" favored by most, lots of "potentially beneficial things" are left out of ANY consumer commodity simply because most people are too cheap to pay a single cent more! With the talk of the gas prices projected this summer, can you see anyone actuall believing that they can save 10% (maybe) if they pay a penny more per gallon? For me and my F250 that would mean 16.5mpg instead of 15 on the freeway. Three gallons per tankful. I could do that math, and might try this out on the company truck (muahahaha, like Canola oil in the Diesel one time... just to see "what happens") but given most of the public's attitude at this time, some slick marketing would need to happen to make it fly IMO.

Maybe a patriotic angle.

 

But what kind of long-term effects on plastic fuel system components will this concentration of acetone have? The way I read that Acetone Formula, it lookde similar to Nitromethane, so that's good enough for me to give it a try... But a lot of petro refiners have to satisfy the Big Three in their fuel demands. If Ford GM and Dalimer decide they all want to run a plastic that is .02 cents per component cheaper in their vehicle fuel systems and it's not Acetone Resistant, I suppose they would probably put pressure on the refiners to keep the stuff out rather than THEM pay the costs up front to use the petro that could save their customers money.

 

Now if they make a retrofit fuel system component that IS resistant, and let the customer buy it as an UPGRADE to be able to use this "wonder-formulation" then the cost is totally on the consumer for the usage, and they make money on both ends...

 

I digress even further, and on a tangent.... But am thinking some Acetone is on the back shelf from the last FRP extravaganza I had... and I do have to take the Company truck out otday to get the Bridgeport...

Hmmmmmm Decisions Decisions!

 

Interesting thought. Post experiments. I can see how this might help with some of the "EFI Syrup" they sell today when run in a carburetted car...

[johnc]

The second link was interesting until I got to this paragraph:

 

Questions asked of someone in the petroleum industry regarding ACETONE will often automatically trigger a string of negative reactions and perhaps false assertions. We may have heard them all. The mere mention of this additive represents such a threat to oil profits that you may get fabricated denials against the successful use of acetone in fuels.

 

Another member of the tin foil hat brigade.

[Nismo280zEd]

After having already gone through one car fire with the Z... I'll just pay my 2$ at the pump and drive away knowing my components arn't going to get eaten away by the fuel I just payed for.

 

-Ed

 

Also my webers have plastic floats in them and the metal ones are becoming very hard to find.

[blueovalz]

Increased vaporization. Hmmm, this accounts for the layer of ice that surrounded my plastic bucket (that I mix fiberglass resin in) half filled with acetone. Very cold to the touch due to the evaporative cooling effect.

[JMortensen]

Increased vaporization. Hmmm, this accounts for the layer of ice that surrounded my plastic bucket (that I mix fiberglass resin in) half filled with acetone. Very cold to the touch due to the evaporative cooling effect.

Acetone is an aromatic I think, along with Tolulene, Xylene, and other solvents. Lots of vapors. As someone pointed out in another thread, you might get better gas mileage just because the stuff at the pump is oxygenated alcohol crap nowadays. I don't think that a few ounces would make a huge difference, but I haven't tried it, so who knows...

[Guest Phil1934]

Acxetone is a nitroparaffin so carries some oxygen and will lean out the mixture. If added straight it can melt the pickup sock, but blended is not a problem.

[TheNeedForZ]

Acetone is CH3COCH3, it's in the ketone class, not really a nitro compound or aromatic.

 

.......O

.......||

H3C-C-CH3

 

Other than to make more profit, I BELIEVE there's one more reason why acetone is not added to our fuel. Acetone is used as one of the solvents in the manufacturing of propellants(nitrocellulose.) Since acetone is not a petrolleum distillate(not produced from crude oil), it must be manufactured. Thus acetone is relatively expensive to obtain and easily spent. During WWI, The British ran out of acetone and England could not produce cordite which is the smokeless propellant they used. They had to borrow acetone (300,000 tons?)from other source, I forget which country.

 

That's why I think acetone are "reserved."

[BrandonsZ]

If your fuel pump, fuel lines, regulator, and injectors, carburator, etc... survive It'll cause the gasoline to evaporate faster similar to oxygenation. Ever dipped different rubbers and plastics in acetone? Watch the fun. Tyr spraying acetone on styrofoam, if I'm not mistake, you'll get a nice little bubble show and then end up with a soft plastic mess on the table. Faster in killing bugs than raid as well, just watch the pergo.

[Guest PROJECTRB240SX]

Most Fuel Systems Should Be Neoprene (gas Safe).... My Father Used To Sell An Adative That Was Over 90% Acetone Mixed With A Water Separator, And A Moisture Evaporator. This Addative Was Used In Over 3000 Vehicles At Hawaiian Electric Company, It Would Disolve 4" Water In A Diesel Tank With Only 2 Treatments... And The Gasoline Vehicles Saw Over 5mpg More. He Says It Works Wonders, I Would Have To Believe Him Seeing As He Would Stake His 28 Year Reputation With Hawaiian Electric On It.... Now Hawaiian Electric Buys That Adative For Every Vehicle.

[240jz]

Acetone is actually commonly used in forms of racing. Specifically it is blended with methanol or nitromethanol mixtures. It helps methanol cars start. It can be blended to increase combustability of less volitile fuels like nitro and methanol.

 

Fuel Fuel/Air Heat Energy Latent heat of evap

Acetone 1:10.5 12500 btu/lb 225

Methanol 1:4.5 9800 472

Nitromethane 1:2 5000 258

Prm unleaded 1:12 19000 135

Figure taken from four stroke Performance Tuning by A. Grahm Bell.

 

As per above the addition of Acetone in place of petrol will tend to lean the mixture and will cool the cumbustion chamber.

[Z-TARD]

I'd like to give this a try with my Cherokee once I establish a baseline for it's current MPG. It was running at 15MPG when I bought it, 17 MPG after tune up. 18.5 after adding a K&N intake and PowerAid TB spacer. I'm waiting now to fill up again and run another tank after I added one of those Tornado insert thingies (As seen on TV) Results so far are promising, It seems to be doing better now, probably at 20MPG or more. Once I find out for sure I'll try the acetone and see how well it works. If nothing else I should have nice clean injectors afterwards.

 

Mike

[TheNeedForZ]

I am already running some acetone-gas in my VW Jetta

 

It normally uses 87octane but now I am using 3 ounce acetone per/10 gallon gas ratio. I just added half a tank yesterday.

 

I THINK it has better idle quality and better power since it kinda pulls better when I am cruising at 70kph~80kph.

 

However I won't do the mileage test because the wheel alignment is a bit off right now.

[Z-TARD]

I just added the acetone tonight, I'll have figures after I fill up again in about 2 days. The tornado thing didn't do crap, I'm still between 17 and 18.5 MPG after installation. It may be non compatible with my TB spacer, or perhaps I'm getting as much efficieancy out of my intake as is humanly possible. For the purposes of testing, I'll leave all the bolt on stuff installed. If I get anything better than 18.5, then we'll know the acetone works. The So Cal guys might want to watch the news for the next few days, if you see a green Jeep Cherokee burning on the side of the freeway, thats probably gonna be me

 

Mike

[Guest PROJECTRB240SX]

A Co-worker Here Used Acetone On His Trip To Los Angeles From Phoenix. He Put Only 2 Ounces In The 26 Gallon Tank Of His Tahoe. He Usually Get Around 320-350 Miles Per Tank (depends On Type Of Driving), Well He Got 428 Miles This Last Tank And Where He Normally Stops In Indio (about 100 Or So Miles From La) For Gas He Drove Right Through To Disneyland.

[Guest bastaad525]

this is getting interesting.....