rc car nitro as fuel ?

[digitaldust]

has anyone tried using RC fuel known as nitro it comes and 1 gallon plastic jugs I'm told it has a finite shelf. I wonder if it will work in a m1009 or m35

 

[jdknech]

i wouldnt risk it.. that is like race fuel (high octane)

 

[swbradley1]

You can use anything as fuel once.

 

[doghead]

At $40-50/gallon, why would you even ask?

http://www.amazon.com/Torco-RC-100-Nitro-methane-gallon/dp/B00655PVAI

 

[patracy]

Nitromethane? Nope, not a good idea.

 

[SCSG-G4]

If you do, make a video and put it on Youtube. It should be less than two minutes long unless you do a detailed inspection of the carnage.

 

[doghead]

has anyone tried using RC fuel known as nitro it comes and 1 gallon plastic jugs I'm told it has a finite shelf. I wonder if it will work in a m1009 or m35

fi·nite

adjective \ˈfī-ˌnīt\

: having limits : having a limited nature
grammar : of or relating to a verb form that shows action that takes place at a particular time (such as the past)

Full Definition of FINITE

1
a: having definite or definable limits <a finite number of possibilities>
b: having a limited nature or existence <finite beings>

2
: completely determinable in theory or in fact by counting, measurement, or thought <the finite velocity of light>

3
a: less than an arbitrary positive integer and greater than the negative of that integer
b: having a finite number of elements <a finite set>

4
: of, relating to, or being a verb or verb form that can function as a predicate or as the initial element of one and that is limited (as in tense, person, and number)
— finitenoun
— fi·nite·lyadverb
— fi·nite·nessnoun

Examples of FINITE

• a finite number of possibilities
• the earth's finite supply of natural resources
• the finite human life span
• a finite verb such as “is” or “are”

Perhaps you meant INFINITE.

[SUP]1[/SUP]in·fi·nite

adjective \ˈin-fə-nət\

: having no limits
: extremely large or great

 

[JCKnife]

Perhaps you meant INFINITE.

I took him at his word, thinking perhaps he had a quantity of the stuff on-hand and wanted to use it up while it was still useful.

 

[doghead]

Could be!

I suppose the best response to his post would be, "why do you ask"?

 

[JCKnife]

Could be!

I suppose the best response to his post would be, "why do you ask"?

Yes, some more information would have been helpful. Sounds like the stuff would not be very safe by itself as a fuel, but I'd wager that a gallon or two poured into a tank of WMO wouldn't hurt anything.

Of course I'd make that wager involving someone else's truck.

 

[Recovry4x4]

While not exactly nitromethane, I did dump 10 gallons of methanol into my IBC that had about 175 gallons of WMO, 75 galllons of diesel and about 15 gallons of rancid gasoline. Ran it through the deuce with no problems.

 

[TMNT]

Nitro-methanol. I have several RC cars and trucks and a good bit of experience with them and the fuel. That fuel absorbs water like crazy. It is very hygroscopic due to the methanol content. That's why it has a limited or "finite" shelf life, especially once it has been opened.

I would avoid putting it in your truck due to the water issue alone. I would think it would likely contribute to lubrication problems at the IP and it might foster the growth of biological contaminants in the fuel system.

On the other hand, I have a 3.5cc nitro motor that makes 3.5HP at 40,000 RPM. Scaled up to deuce proportions, we're back to catastrophic damage.

I recommend you not use RC fuel in a multifuel if you plan to keep it running.

 

[DeucesWild11]

Good thread as I just saw some for free on Craigslist and was thinking of mixing it in with my fuel blend. Glad I saw this first..

 

[VPed]

Nitro is really hard on conventional gasket materials such as head gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, etc. Just 5 - 10 percent nitro in a friend's three sand drag vehicles had us changing gaskets to copper. I would put it in small percentages in my lawn mower. Easier to fix and I don't like mowing the lawn so anything to finish faster is interesting.

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Yes, some more information would have been helpful. Sounds like the stuff would not be very safe by itself as a fuel, but I'd wager that a gallon or two poured into a tank of WMO wouldn't hurt anything.

Of course I'd make that wager involving someone else's truck.

I agree, Nitromethane will most probably work fine in any diesel fuel blend if it is below 3%. Above that you are risking swelling seals in the IP. The head gaskets should not be an issue.

Since it is hydroscopic, then old Nitromethane might have so much water in it that it will settle out in the blend, but it might dissolve into the oil and leave the water behind. But, all solvent-waste oil blends should be settled for at least a few days, if not a week to a month, anyway. Anything that settles out in my blends gets dumped into the sludge bucket.

Every time I make fuel I pour off any clear amber fuel off to the top of my sludge bucket, which typically is about 75% of the contents of the sludge bucket into my next fuel blend batch. It settles for at least 24 hours with the rest of the blend, before settling.

When I finally have 5 gallons of sludge to dispose of, then it either goes into my distillation/fractionation system, or I dispose of it at a motor oil recycling bin, and let them figure out how to use it.

 

[ducer]

Nitromethane has about 1/2 the btu content of gasoline, it is harder to ignite, costs a small fortune, even in a tf or fc engine you need to add a top end lubricant and loves water why would you want to use it? Leave it to the top fuel and funny car guys they know how to use it.

Denny

 

[Kawgomoo]

RC Car fuel is only 10-30% nitromethane. The rest is Methanol.

Methanol is the ONE fuel PROHIBITED for use in multi fuel engines. It will destroy all the rubber parts and pieces inside your pump.

Viton seals are the only ones im familiar with that are cross compatible. {gas and alcohol}

Rc car fuel has a shelf life not because of the nitromethane, its because the methanol is hygroscopic. It absorbs water out of the atmosphere. Of course this is much over played. Ive stored a gallon for over a year and it didnt get wet {the bottles seal well} If you left the top off..another story.

Also the fuel left in the car will go bad very quickly. easy to tell, it visibily chages color when wet.

Nitromethane DOES NOT mix with gasoline. Or diesel i would suspect. It would sink right to the bottom.

Nitromethane has a LOWER energy density than gasoline, or alcohol {alc has less energy than gas....like 40% less} it is also VERY hard to ignite. Most people would think of this is a high octane rating. Nitromethane is used on top fuel dragsters and rc cars because they have stupid high compression, and any other type of fuel would auto ignite or "detonate" {uneven flame front in combustion chamber}

If you ever watch a fueler fire up, you will see a guy with a dawn dish detergent bottle spraying clear liquid in the hat of the blower. Thats pure methanol. The car with cold cylinders will not fire the nearly pure nitromethane mixture they run.

A compression ignition engine would like never be able to get nitromethane to fire off. If you did, its because it is cut with methanol.

 

[trukhead]

Nitro-methanol. I have several RC cars and trucks and a good bit of experience with them and the fuel. That fuel absorbs water like crazy. It is very hygroscopic due to the methanol content. That's why it has a limited or "finite" shelf life, especially once it has been opened.

I would avoid putting it in your truck due to the water issue alone. I would think it would likely contribute to lubrication problems at the IP and it might foster the growth of biological contaminants in the fuel system.

On the other hand, I have a 3.5cc nitro motor that makes 3.5HP at 40,000 RPM. Scaled up to deuce proportions, we're back to catastrophic damage.

I recommend you not use RC fuel in a multifuel if you plan to keep it running.

A majority of those iddy biddy engines use a "glow-plug" ignition system as well as the compression. The glow plug filament stores some of the heat of combustion for firing the next ignition-combustion cycle. The glow plugs come in different heat ranges. Just think, a little wire filament controls the timing and firing of the combustion cycle as well as shimming the head for the different nitro content percentages.
So no, nitro rc fuel is a totally different animal and would not be a compatible alternative fuel for the multifuel IMO.

 

[Kawgomoo]

Correct about the glow plug. Its not just used for starting like a diesel, it stays red hot all the time and is part of the tuning process.

fwiw all engine manufactures recommend sticking with the same percentage of nitro throughout the lifespan of the engine. Seems once they get used to alot of nitro, they wont run well without it. Tune and Tune as you may.

I would not put nitromethane in any engine i expected to last more than a few hours. Rc car engines are typically good for about 3-5 gallons of fuel.

My old race buggy ran a 3.5cc **.21ci} 2.5hp motor at 34,000rpm. not exactly 14 litre diesel operating range.

 

[Dodge man]

MOST model airplane fuel is only about 3 to 5% NitroMethane (I've had it analyzed) and 15 to 20% Castor oil and about 65% alcohol. The rest was dryers, stablilizers, etc. Cox 40-40 was 40% NitroMethane and 40% Castor oil and 20% alcohol. That's the highest NM content that I've ever heard of. Fuel made for the bigger engines has less NM and fuel made for the .049s and other small motors has more NM. Since most RC planes use larger engines, the RC fuel that we used to get only had about 1.5 to 2% NM. When we mixed our own fuel we usually used no more than 5% NM and as low as 1%. Lubrication would NOT be a problem when running any model airplane fuel, it's FULL of lubricants. It has to be in order to use in 2 cycle engines! Octane content is also NOT a problem. Alcohol is only about 65 to 80 Octane. I doubt that mixing a gallon or two of any RC fuel in tank full of regular fuel would make any difference! However, as was already pointed out, it is hygroscopic so I'd wouldn't leave it sitting in the tank very long. I'd add it just before I was planning on running it enough to use up the tank of mixed fuel.

YMMV.