Nitro Fuel

[boyrex00]

Hi,
I am just wandering if anyone on here makes their own fuel??? Is it worthwhile? Also what prices are you guys paying on average, as I seem to be going through quite a bit lately. Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
James

[Dlux]

I only know of one. He's two time 1/8th Aust. champion. Unless you're a serious racer, those that make their own mixes are !jerkit

[BALISTC]

I was thinking of doing this myself at one stage, but by the time you buy everything, it doesnt work out much cheaper.

[4orce]

I mix my own for the planes. When a plane can go through a litre in one flight and you can mix it for 1/2 to a 1/3 premix price it helps. Also you can vary the mix ratio of the nitro and the oil type. So I guess there are exceptions to the !jerkit hey Dlux :p

[KingBob]

Perth RC make custom fuel, they'll mix it to your requirements.

[slappy]

who sells the cheapest nitro fuel around town? Im after 20% nitro. Stanbridges want like $57 for 4 litres according to their website, DANG!

[JD]

thats a pretty normal price...

my LHS does 4L of 20% for $60 or $20 a litre...

[Nitro LST]

I run 20% VP Racing from RMS and they sell for around $43 if you order of the net then drive down there. Or $50 if you just walk in.

I have had no problems with this fuel at all and recomend it.

[slappy]

Is that for 4 litres? RMS = Revlimit Motosports?

city models sells 2 litres of 20% for 23 bucks and give me a 10% discount as I'm a member. So thats $41.40 for 4 litres. I thought that was pricy too :@

[Jai]

RMS = Radio Model Supplies

[Nitro LST]

Yes Jai is right and yes it was 4 litres. Pricey??.....wlecome to Nitro!

[slappy]

bummer so you cant buy a 5 gallon drum cheaper anywhere? Isnt this fuel the same as they use in the nitro methane speedway bikes? They are two stroke with nitro i think, Im sure they buy in bigger barrels then 4 litres... Ill keep looking into it.

[Nitro LST]

Let us know where you live so I can pop in and Syphon it hahaha

[slappy]

Once I'v found out the oil/methanol/nitromethanol ratio of speedway bikes we can all go down to motorplex with jerry cans haha

[4orce]

They're slowly trying to get rid of nitro all together as it is the most heavily leaded fuel in the world. That's why it's getting dearer and harder to get. Even the Nito cars in the NHRA (drags) etc are cutting the % they run now.

I doubt whether speedway bikes would have a good enough oil to put into a RC screamer... good thought though.

We pay approx, if we wanted a 20% niro mix, $8-8.50ltr to mix your own.

[slappy]

hmm so it is cheaper but might be worth spending the xtra 3 bucks a litre to buy it mixed.

[4orce]

If you're buying small quantities it's not worth the hastle, but I run 3 different mixes and I want to know exactly what's in my fuels plus you don't get no fresher!!!

I mix what I want to take just before I go flying so don't risk the fuel sitting around going off. Just works for me...

[slappy]

Thats interesting. so what would you say the smallest PRACTICLE run would be? ie quantities that make it worth the effort.

[Matt]

how quickly does fuel "go off" ?

[JD]

ageeeesssss

u can use fuel after a few years if its stored properly

[remotebandit]

Im paying about $12 a liter and in fact ive got no arguments with that .

I remember when i started in nitro about 15 years ago , 1 liter was $9.80 so in that time a can of coke has trippled but this fuel hasnt really budged at all in comparison .

I think the issue is that these days the cars / planes / helis are running much larger engoines so were just drinking allot more fuel . My Heli runds a half liter tank so 4 liters lasts me a day if i have a good session flying .

I used to mix fuel with a mate ( went halves in the 100 liter drums i think they were ) and was worth it back then but not anymore in my opinion .

[4orce]

If you're only using a couple of litres a week you'll only save a couple of bucks so it's probably not worth it. The only advantage then is you know exactly what you have in your fuel, some of this premix stuff is s$#t - the stuff mixed for you by the hobby shops is much better.

The problem with either the methanol or nitro (can't remember which now, it was a long time ago when I was told - old timers disease!!!lol) is that it's hygroscopic, basically it collects water out of the atmosphere - like brake fluid. As JD says, if you store it perfectly sealed there isn't too much of a problem (don't know about the couple of years but!!!). I won't run any of my planes with fuel over a couple of months old - when the donk stops up there it's a bit different than just stopping on the track.

Holy crap, 100litre remote, I just buy a 20 of methanol, a US gallon (3.8ltr) oil (I also use castor oil in the race planes as this is the only legal racing fuel for us, so I keep a litre or two of that also) and I buy a litre of nitro at a time. Anything more than that and it sits around for too long...same problem then...

[remotebandit]

might have been 50 litres 4orce but definately not a small 20 litre .

We used to fly a good 30 tanks each a weekend on .61 size engines , i even would take out my scale plane somedays with a .102 in it , that ran a 1 litre tank so you can imagine how much we used to go through

[JD]

.102?

You mean 1.02 ...

[Jai]

i had nitrol fuel that had sat for over a year and i put it in attached the glow plug... pumped it up to pressure.... pulled starter and it went first go... didnt have a drama

[4orce]

It isn't a fact that it won't run, it just looses some of it's octane and you won't get the speed out of it, every little bit helps when you're racing. Not so important if you're just mucking around. The other thing that was explained to me was that the methanol would evaporate a little giving a higher oil mix and therefore gummed your plugs up???

I know what you're saying remote. My biggest glow engine is a 1.80 (30cc). It's in an Extra 260 and REALLY sucks through the fuel, needs constant onboard glow too. Don't get much of a chance to fly that these days I mainly stick to the .46's and wouldn't go through more than a couple of litres in a weekend. I also got a 1.20 4stroke and a 1.4 2 stroke both also pretty thirsty but again don't fly them much at the moment.

[slappy]

I go through about 1 litre a week on my 3cc truck haha.

guess Ill keep buying the mixed stuff, I dont race my truck I purely muck around with it. Thanks for the knowledge though, Iv learnt some good stuff from so called "oldtimers", good stuff guys.

[JD]

all this nitro crap, can;t wait till i get my 1/5th :D whipper snipper engine :D

$1 a litre, yes please :D

[remotebandit]

haha ... do you get trade price on Petrol JD

[JD]

atm fuel is 91.5 here... for unleaded

[4orce]

We're not allowed to use the petrol engines at our field cause we fly in amoungst cane fields and the petrol has a nasty habit of going up in flames in a crash. It's a $20000 mistake if we take just one field out, chances are more would go up and my fire hose ain't long enough to sqirt it all down !silly

[remotebandit]

Jesus thats cheap , we had an increase last week , were back up to $1.20 average

[avablast]

Ok i know this is taking over anuther thread but it is related so i was wandering if u could get say 4 stroke nitro methane then mix say racing motorbike 2 stroke oil in it or would this be to thick?

[slappy]

update: city models is doing 20% nitro for 10 bucks a litre if you're a member. Just thought Id share.

[4orce]

4 stroke nitro methane???

The mix for both 4 and 2 stroke models is the same. Not quite sure what you mean here.

Motor bike oil is definately NOT good enough for models. Models rev to WAY higher than any motor bike and need the special model oils. If City Models is doing 20% Nitro mix for 10 smackers, use it!!! Not worth the running around getting all the stuff to mix you own...

[slappy]

It's locally mixed and makes my MT rip! If I was going to race I'd consider mixing my own I think.

[4orce]

Is it premixed for a model? What is it mixed to go in? Does it have oil of any sort already in it?

[avablast]

yea you can get four stroke mixes for o.s four strokes and all the nhra dragsters run vp four stroke nitro mix i can get that from rockhampton but the only oil they have to mix it with is amsoil and im not down with that brand id rather motul or silkoleen
ultrahobbies in rocky sells it or do i have to mix say 50% castor with 50% synthetic witch leads me to motul etc. or maxima

[avablast]

it wouldnt be that bad it'll either be to rich or lean wich i can adjust out im not sure tho wich is why im asking

[slappy]

Is it premixed for a model? What is it mixed to go in? Does it have oil of any sort already in it?


Its 20% Nitro Methane, 20% Degummed Castor Oil, 60% Methanol

Its pre mixed for models yeah.

[4orce]

I don't have much to do with the car fuels but that would be about what we would run in the plane motors if we were running 20%.

Planes normally run 10% Nitro, 18% Oil and balance Methanol.

Avablast, bike / karting oils just don't cut it for models. The oils aren't rated to the high revs of the models and you'll risk nipping up your motor pretty quick. Degummed castor is what the pylon racers use and they'll rev to 40000 (no nitro). RC cars rev real high also and I wouldn't trust Silkolene or Motul in them... Your choice though...