[scott ticknor]

Okay, so here`s one for the old school rodders. We were at the drags a couple of weeks ago and there was this old duece with a flattie, the track announcer said it was a powered by kerosene. I have never heard about this before. Was this popular in bygone days? Someone said it had something to do with low compression in a flattie. inquiring minds would like to know!!

[Silver_Camaro]

Kerosene or Propane... Just can't imagine an engine running on kerosene... It burns waaaaay to slow giving off my heat then combustion...

[68Impala]

Kerosene is a direct relative of Diesel fuel - while it doesn't burn directly under ambiet pressure, under extreme compression can cause it to move big things... ie a car.

[Sandflea427SS]

At least the internal engine parts would stay veeerrryyy clean!

[bluesman123]

I think the announcer was just having everyone on. Lots of those old flatties ran what we would consider VERY low compression (on the order of 6:1), but that was because the octane levels of the gas were low and unreliable until they started putting tetra-ethyl lead into the mix. Farm tractors back then would sometimes have a dual fuel system ... start them up on gasoline then switch to kerosine when they got hot ... but I doubt any of the high speed engines used in cars and trucks used this system.

Bluesman

[Forsaken502]

Back during world war II when the government was rationing everything (ie gas) people would not have enough gasoline to run their vechiles very long. However, due to the limited uses of kerosene, they had plenty of it. So they would start their cars by squirting a little gasoline down the carb and then run it off kerosene. It wasn't as powerful as the gasoline, but it got them from point to point.

The only other alternative was to remove the engine from the vechile and pull it with horses.

Atleast this is what I was told by my Grandpa

[willys36@aol.com]

Back in the old days in the oil fields people would drain the hydrocarbon condensate out of natural gas collection lines and run it in their cars. It was called 'drip gas' and was essentially kerosene (and free!). Low compression engines will burn it but it's not the best internal combustion fuel around.

[bluesman123]

It was a little higher octane that kerosene but probably not much. The big problem in the Texas and Oklahoma fields was the high sulfur content. A biproduct of that combustion was sulfuric acid!!!

[78 monte]

We once accidentaly filled a truck up with Kero and boy did it not like that!!Barley ran,stunk and smoked.

[CrashFarmer2]

Originally posted by bluesman123
I think the announcer was just having everyone on. Lots of those old flatties ran what we would consider VERY low compression (on the order of 6:1), but that was because the octane levels of the gas were low and unreliable until they started putting tetra-ethyl lead into the mix. Farm tractors back then would sometimes have a dual fuel system ... start them up on gasoline then switch to kerosine when they got hot ... but I doubt any of the high speed engines used in cars and trucks used this system.

Bluesman

We have a 1925 John Deere tractor (Grandpa bought it new) that came new with the dual fuel setup. The smaller tank was for gas and the bigger one for kerosene. But this was a long stroke huge bore slow rpm engine. This has been the first time I have heard of anyone running a car engine. I have to agree that the announcer was probably pulling everyones leg.
Kerosene and #1 diesel fuel can be used pretty much interchangeably. I know a lot of people that burn #1 in their kerosene heaters

[troy-curt]

Yeh, Must have been pulling your .......................................leg?

[bluesman123]

I know about those old John Deere's, Crashfarmer. Had a big flywheel on the side that you pulled through to start it up ... and for a kid it was truly a b**** to get started. We didn't have one but a friend's dad had one on their farm.

One time his older bro and a couple of friends got hold of some beers and decided the clever thing to do was to ride that tractor down to the creek at the back of their place and drink them there (where their dad wouldn't catch them). As usual, it took forever to get that tractor running, so they just left it on when they got down to the creek. After a while Robert needed to do something about the bio-processed beer in his system, and still nursing a grudge against the tractor, he said ,"I'm gonna p*** on this old thing!" which probably would have been OK had he intended to simply water down a tire. Unfortunately he decided to stand on the seat and really make his mark.

Let's just say the tractor got its revenge!

[CrashFarmer2]

I got a good laugh out of that one bluesman123!

This John Deere Model D came with a spoked flywheel that after so much use tended to crack and come off unexpectedly. I guess after the flywheel cracked and went spinning through a fence, Grandpa found a solid flywheel and installed it.
The hand start models can get very hard to start. Dad had an A that he always parked on a hill and coasted to start it.