I’m used to the old diesel engines of years ago and I can still smell the fuel.
Got me wondering what the model diesel fuel consists of, so thought I would do some searching:
- Enya suggested fuel for their diesel 4-stroke: 36% paraffin and 36% ether and 25% castor oil and with a 2 to 3 % splash of Amyl Nitrate
- Model Technics:
- 35% Ether, 35% Kerosene, 28% Castor oil, 2% Isopropyl Nitrate – this is a general purpose fuel
- 30% Ether, 47.5% Kerosene, 20% Castor oil, 2.5% Isopropyl Nitrate – this is a high performance fuel
What you see from this brief list of fuels are four main components:
- Kerosene – the base fuel component of the mix
- Ether – low auto-ignition temperature of around 160°C
- Castor oil – the lubricant that you need to keep the engine operational
- Isopropyl Nitrate – ignition improver
I’m going to have to add to this thread as lots of discussion on “etherless” model diesel engine fuels.
References
- AdriansModelAeroEngines – a great page going through the fuels used for model compression ignition engines.
- Model Technics – a table of the various fuels that they supply