glow fuel

[Dan McEntee]

Dan,

Here's how he came up with 26 oz of 50/50:

A gallon is 128 oz.

A tenth of a gallon is 12.8 oz.  This is the "move the decimal" trick.  For 10% nitro fuel, a tenth of a gallon of nitro is needed.

12.8 oz rounds to 13 oz for ease of calculation.

Since the 5 gallon pail is 50/50 nitro/methanol, we need to double 13 oz to yield 26 oz of 50/50 required.

Wasn't that simple?  Easy to do in your head with motorman's method, too.  If you wanted to double 12.8 oz, that 25.6 oz., not that much harder.

Sorry for the levity, but 26 oz vs 25.6 oz is "close enough for government work," a popular saying among contractors here in the DC reion.

Peter

    Hi Peter;
    Thanks for clarifying. I never could do math in my head. Math has always been a problem for me, but I have always been able to find my way through stuff and make things work. It's that middle part where the alcohol is not mentioned that is what I could not get past. I need to see the whole picture so I know where everything is and where it goes.  That is assuming the alcohol content and I was taught never to assume anything, make sure it's there!  I have lived my whole work life needing to be precise. My high school welding instructor stressed tolerances and their importance.  He used to build jail cell bars and used that as a simple example. If you make a consistent error of 1/32" over a specific distance, that would leave a space at the end big enough for a prisoner to squeeze through! I have had to deal with things to .001" my whole working career, and I am just used to it. By MM way of explaining it, he would be .8 ounces too much oil and nitro. That's almost an ounce, and some where down the line he may be an ounce short of oil  on something and wish he had that back. Or the excess oil causes him to lose a few RPM on a race engine. That's why the use decimal points! If I am going to be paying that much for the mix, I have to be confident that VP Fuels is paying attention to the details and not just be "close enough".
  Thanks again for clarifying. I worked it out on paper to see it better. I have a ways to go before I need to put in in practice.
  Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Peter in Fairfax, VA]

Keith,

In motorman's post, he did calculate the methanol, too.  Here's what he said:

10% of 128 oz is 12.8 oz, rounded to 13 oz.

For 20% oil, add 26 oz oil to empty gallon, which is 10% twice.

For 10% nitro, add 20% of 50/50, for 26 oz.

So now there are 52 oz in the new gallon.  The balance should be methanol.

128 oz less 52 oz gives 76 oz more methanol needed.

Peter

[MikeyPratt]

Dan,
Think of it this way, the Mix of 50/50 needs to be cut with methanol to get it down to 10% Nitro.

10% Nitro is 12.8 ounces of Nitro per gallon, 10% of that is 1.28 ounces of the 50/50 mix, cut with methanal = 10% Nitro.  Sig Fuel mix is as follows;

Nitro @ 10% of 50/50 Mix is 1.28 ounces
Castor oil.                           12.8 ounces
Klotz Oil                              12.8 ounces
Methanol                           101.2

Total ounces.                      128. Ounces

Hope this helps,
Mikey

[phil c]

The new Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttiegieg has already asked for a usage or mileage tax coupled with a carbon tax.

Hopefully the added taxes cget added to the electricity cost for E cars- especially the carbon tax.
We have to do anything we can to make sure that happens.

[Reptoid]

Dan,
Think of it this way, the Mix of 50/50 needs to be cut with methanol to get it down to 10% Nitro.

10% Nitro is 12.8 ounces of Nitro per gallon, 10% of that is 1.28 ounces of the 50/50 mix, cut with methanal = 10% Nitro.  Sig Fuel mix is as follows;

Nitro @ 10% of 50/50 Mix is 1.28 ounces
Castor oil.                           12.8 ounces
Klotz Oil                              12.8 ounces
Methanol                           101.2

Total ounces.                      128. Ounces

Hope this helps,
Mikey

That is totally incorrect
I don't know why this is so difficult for many of you. Think of it this way the 50/50 is your new power additive, not the base to add to.
 The best way to mix fuel is start with the oil. In your example you want 20% oil so you add 10% castor (12.8 ozs.) and 10% Synthetic (12.8 ozs.) If you wanted 22% like GMA you would add 14ozs. castor and 14 ozs. synthetic. to the empty 1 gallon jug. Then add the nitro. for 10% you want to add 12.8 ozs. pure nitro or 25.6 ozs. of 50/50. then the remainder is Methanol. so for 20% oil thats 25.6ozs of oil and 12.8 ozs. of Nitro =38.4 which means you need 89.6 ozs. of methanol to make one gallon. For 22% oil as in GMA you would add 14ozs. castor, 14ozs. of Synthetic and 12.8 ozs nitro (=40. and 87.2 ozs methanol. When you use 50/50 instead of 100% nitro it goes like this: 10% castor (12.8 ozs.) and 10% Synthetic (12.8 ozs.)  to the empty 1 gallon jug. For 10% nitro since 50/50 is only half nitro you double the amount in ozs so 12.8 x 2 =25.6 ozs. of 50/50 so 25.6 oil, 25.6 50/50 =51.2 ozs. so you need to add73.8 ozs. of pure methanol to complete the gallon.
The simple way to do it is to take an empty one gallon jug and measure any liquid into it to exactly one gallen (128ozs.) them mark a line at the fluid level. Then when you mix a gallon start with the oil, add the nitro or 50/50, then top it off with the Methanol to the line. That way you don't have to measure all that methanol every time and as a bonus, you will never forget the oil!
 The simple rounded off formula's are:
GMA 10%=14ozs. castor, 14ozs. synthetic, 13ozs. pure nitro or 26ozs. 50/50 and remainder methanol

20% oil 10% nitro=13ozs. castor, 13ozs. synthetic, 13ozs. pure nitro or 26ozs. 50/50 and remainder methanol

[944_Jim]

I dunno...I guess I'm dumb too.

I use a two fuel mix excel spreadsheet to determine how much fuel A to mix with fuel B, with a measured shot of castor oil. The component measures of both fuels does need to be known. For any commercially bought fuel without "the oil numbers," I assume 1:3 caster to synthetic. At worst, I wind up with a light castor oil to synth mix.

With respect to 50/50 rule/nitro, call this your first fuel.
Call your second fuel 100% methanol with zero nitro/zero oil.

The calculator will require you to put in a value for quantity of "oil added" as your third variable.

I scaled a copy down by reverse-engineering the spreadsheet for 1/2 pint mixes (I fly small).

Thank you Andy Batts:
http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.batts/ps/fuel.htm

[Dan Berry]

   Well, you are round up on a lot of stuff and that can come back to bite you. I can figure percentages of 128 ounces, but how did you come up with the 26 ounces of 50/50 mix? That is the question I have been asking. Like your teacher told you in grade school show your work!! How did you come up with the 26 ounces of 50/50 mix?  Everything else is just jiberish in an attempt at humor. Don't talk down to me, teach me!! The web site you posted is for spiking existing fuel to start with, and we are not talking about that here . So, again, HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE 26 OUNCES OF 50/50 MIX?  And is that a rounded up number? Don't say it's close enough. I have seen "close enough " get people hurt or killed!
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

Make it easier on yourself.
Make 2 1/2 gallons.
Or... ten quarts. Each qt is ten percent of your mix.

2 qts of the 50/50 means you have one qt of nitro, one qt of methanol.
So---
2qts 50/50
2 qts oil
6 qts methanol.

Don't over think things.

[944_Jim]

Well, the ratios posted don't change just because the units of measure change. Use pints to mix 1.25 gallons.

I wish I had someone nearby to split a 5 gal pail of this high-brew stuff!

Oh, and the windshield washer bottles match the last gallon of fuel I bought. So I searched out and bought 6 red plugs to cap off the gallons the next time I hit the meth-burning-race-engine shop. I think I spent $11 for them delivered.

[Dave Harmon]

I've been trying to stay out of this discussion......
I must admit though....it has given me some needed laughs.....

The 50/50 nitro is just what it is.....half strength....if you like to think of it that way.
The other half is alky that you can forget for now.

For one gallon of 10% fuel...because the nitro is half strength....you have to calculate 20%....25.6oz.
Then calculate the oil....assuming only one type of oil to make it easier.....22% (GMA) 28.16oz.
For one gallon...I use empty fuel bottles....fill up the bottle with balance alky to halfway up the handle.
Not necessary to calculate the alky content because we are only talking about the 50/50 nitro in this discussion.
Easy enough to do though.....

In this example.....to calculate the amount of new alky to be added......
The alky content already in 50/50 for 10% fuel is.....12.8oz.
The nitro content in 50/50 is....12.8oz.
The oil content is....28.16oz.
Then the balance alky is 74.24oz.

One gallon = 128oz
Minus the 50/50 alky that is already in the bottle = 12.8oz.
Minus the 50/50 nitro already in the bottle = 12.8oz.
Minus the oil content already in the bottle = 28.16oz
Balance new alky to be added = 74.24oz.

The Brodak 40 loves this mix.
For some time now I have been cutting Cool Power 30% Heli fuel to 10% nitro, 18% oil for use in the Rojetts.....runs great!
This is a bit more involved to do considering CP mixes by weight but I gotta burn up this Heli fuel somehow.
No castor in that fuel though.....

[Brad LaPointe]

Guys , go metric . I have a 2 litre graduated cylinder that is much easier to deal with than the old math system you lot are using . Just saying.

Brad

[Dave Harmon]

Guys , go metric . I have a 2 litre graduated cylinder that is much easier to deal with than the old math system you lot are using . Just saying.

Brad

No real need.....just use which system that is more familiar.

[John Rist]

While we are talking about fuel mixing here is a fuel calculator that will help you change the oil content of a ready mix.   The big problem is knowing what's in the current mix.

http://www.nitrorc.com/fuelws/oilonly.asp