Don't look now, but it's in your fuel already...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

yeah but not a 3rd ,,,,& a 3rd methanol hey?

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

"I loooove the smell of Shell A and Castrol R in the evening..."

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Not as nasty as you think, it is what a large part of unleaded fuel is made from.
Every time I start my wife's car I all I can smell is Toluene.

Methanol's a good octane booster, and Cart run 100% methanol.. so that's pretty tame. But one *third* toluene, that's pretty serious

I think the turbo-era F1 cars ran something like 80% toluene, and that was banned because it's too toxic. I remember my first Adelaide GP, and the thing that surprised me most about the experience was the smell of the fuel... maybe that accounts for my acute brain damage these days

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Back in the 60's we used to add 2 gallons of Shell Methyl Benzene or BP Benzol to each tank when we filled up, on Cooper S's.
I've been told since that that stuff was just toluene, am I right?
I ain't no chemist...

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I ain't no chemist either, but methyl benzene is the more "correct" name for toluene

I think maybe I'm thinking about a different hydrocarbon.. toluene may not be all that bad after all.

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

yeah ive heard methernol makes a crazy fuel but tests have proven that it burns out ur bores and pistons and crap like that really bad to run it to often, a mate of mine used a mix of standard fuel and methernol to get him home one night cause he was low on petrol and he said it ran like it was on steriods but the after affect cost him big time, a couple of days later the car was coffing and splattering everywhere he drove and we stripped his motor ( gemini) and found that the methernol had cleaned the combustion chamber so well it had eaten all the carbon away and started eating at the edges of the valves and started to burn them.

so yes it is good to get that boost using ethernol and methernol everyonce and a while but i wouldnt recommend every day use juz probably once every 2 weeks

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oil leak?..what oil leak..that puddle under the car is just sweat from all that horsepower

Got my car home after running out of fuel on the freeway in perth. All I had was RC plane fuel (which I had just paid 7 dollars a litre for) in the car so I stuck that in. 17 percent oil, 20 percent Nitro methane and the rest Methanol.

You don't so much press the throttle as you vary the choke. Revs like a power drill, but not much torque.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

Methanol if I'm not mistaken if at full throttle can make blue flames comes through an exhaust system? If not what could do that??

I thought methanol burned without a visible flame. They certainly have problems with that in the Indy series.. the only way they can spot a fuel fire is by the heat haze. The blue flame might be the result of something other than methanol in the fuel though..

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

Reason I ask is that about 18 months ago or so I was traveling along side then quickly was behind a Falcon Ute that suddenly took off and about 30 cm or so flame blue came out the exhaust tips

back in the old days of leaded petrol , wasnt it 106 octane? so mini's being from that time you would think that they should be run on atleast 98oc, my mini runs best on shell v power, and i normally like using only bp ultimate, the ultimate lasts longer but the v power makes it go harder

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

Somebody something like "their car runs rich on what ever octane fuel"

I think you will find that the mixture setting doesn't change noticably between the various commercially available fuels. Its more a matter of the fact that some fuels are smokier than others and in some cases its batch to batch variation in the fuels themselves.

Gulgong is a small town which makes it easier to recognise a trend. About to years ago, my cars (commodore, tonner and the mini) all started to miss and foul plugs. I was starting to think about different plugs and spoke to my local mechanic. He just simply said "did you get your fuel at the xxxxxxx servo" ?

Yes, then he told me that he had dealt with a rash of cars with the same problem. All used fuel from that servo. The servo proprietors are straight shooters and don't play games with their fuels - it was straight from their suppliers.

Back in the old days we used to judge the state of tune by the colour of the spark plugs. You cant do that any more - they are always smokey black and that is because of the fuel not the tune.

the indys run on ethernol isn't it? im not sure about the indys but 98 octane is the best for a mini anymore without modifications will cause a slight pinging cause off to much octane not enough octane u might need hotter plugs to burn it better ( i think it might be the other way around lol) but u get juz the right mixture and ur car will run like a dream, its like u havin a beer if the beer taste good ull feel a million bucks and will perform the best but if the beers a dogbox well ull be spiting it out and spewing. lol

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oil leak?..what oil leak..that puddle under the car is just sweat from all that horsepower