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Engine basics => Engine set up tips => Topic started by: Bootlegger on May 29, 2008, 10:29:36 AM
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This is more or less for the engine "Guru's", isn't medicinal castor also good for engines?
Seems that a few years ago Charley Melancon and I were talking about this and he commented that "If it's good for us it can't hurt an engine".
Charley is now deceased, so I can't go back and check with him although I wish I could... :!
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Yes medicinal Castor oil works really well it's more refined and more expensive than what we need. But it will work in a pinch. You can only get it in small containers around here. So it's really expensive to buy enought to mix for fuel.
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Thanks for your reply Mike. I picked up some at the local apothacary and had "sticker" shock.!
Thank you for your help...
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This is more or less for the engine "Guru's", isn't medicinal castor also good for engines?
Seems that a few years ago Charley Melancon and I were talking about this and he commented that "If it's good for us it can't hurt an engine".
Charley is now deceased, so I can't go back and check with him although I wish I could... :!
HI Gil
YOu can use the drug store castor, but you will be much better off if you just buy a qt from SIG or a nearby Hobby Shop, or a cart racing place may have some
Regards
Randy
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Thanks Randy. Never thought about the Cart Racing shops...
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The market I work at has 6 oz. Bakers AA for $1.99 a bottle. Mixing smaller amounts isn't that expensive.
Cheerio,Dan
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Clarence Lee of RCM fame wrote many years ago that medicinal castor was not degummed. Bakers AA was the thing to use in fuel. I buy it by the gallon from Sig.
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All castor is degummed as part of the initial manufacturing process. Medicinal castor has extra checks as a precaution to ensure there's no ricin poison left in it and may have some sugar added to make it more palatable...ugh. The early Merco instructions specifically warn against using medicinal castor.
AA castor, whether it be Bakers, Castrol M or whatever, just means it's only pressed castor and it's what's called Pale Pressed. #1 Imported (or Industrial castor) is a mixture of Pale Pressed and chemically extracted castor.
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In 18 months at Wheelus AFB from late 1965, most of the time we mixed our own 85/15 or 80/20 using medicinal castor from the base medical squadron and methyl alcohol provided from a 55 gallon drum provided by the paint shop. A few squirts per gallon of Zippo lighter fluid seemed to aid starting. Never had a problem, even though we flew next to a sandy salt farm. I still am using a couple of the engines from that period, even though I recently changed the crankcases on most to the newer style to allow the use of mufflers. They still have the same piston/cylinder combos.
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Speaking of the old days...
While in Omaha - early 1970's - I visited a (real) railroad repair shop. Noticed that they used Bakers AA Castor, from a big (gallon) red-label can, as release agent on the mold stub when they re-babbited wheel bearings. Asked where they got it. ...A neighborhood pharmacy around the corner from the yard entrance had a deal worked out with them... Their price was even a bit below Sig's at the time.
That's a third of a century ago. Sig still sells Bakers' AA, and no railyards are nearby. If I found one, it'd probably be under tighter security, now, too.