Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 16:35:55 -0700
From: Robert Harris 
Subject: Left Field
To: Dave Williams 

Last summer most fertilizers were primarily ammonia nitrate.  Which
dissolved in fuel, was the boost fluid for power that I wanted to experiment
with.

Now, everything is ammonia sulfate - about the same for soil, but I really
don't want any SULFER in the fuel making sulfur components under combustion.
Added lots of phosphates - great fire extinguisher stuff and phosphorous -
neither of which intrigues me as fuel additives. 

Anyway, back to searching for something.  Hydrazine might be available - but
a teenie tiny bit will go a very long way.  Its too far into insanity almost
for me.  Aniline is available - made from hydrazine - will be looking into
its properties.  Nitro benzene or toluene is available but I think thats
real close to where I don't want to go.

Looking for nitrogen bound "explosives" almost like nitroparafins.
Nitropropane sposed to be hot shit - haven't found a source for it yet.
Looking for controllable nitrogen release energy.

Acetone still looks good - specially since the CO cools the initial
combustion then releases the heat later when it grabs a passing oxygen.

Anyway, the home page is up - looks very amateurish - will be working on it
more this week and trying to get it presentable.


Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 09:00:54 -0700
From: Robert Harris 
Subject: RE: Books, Books more damned books
To: Dave Williams 

Nah, you are thinking of Hydrazine.  Nike Missile used Red Fuming Nitric
Acid (RFNA) and Hydrazine.  It's pretty much the last stop before straight
hydrogen and oxygen.

Well, once more got some water facts out.  Maybe will tingle a brain cell or
two.  We'll see.

Before EPA, aniline was widely used as a cheap liquid upgrade.  Slightly
more blending octane than xylene's and much cheaper.  Almost as cheap as
leads.

But, it contains nitrogen, and fuel nitrogen goes into an NOx quite nicely -
sometimes.  But, sometimes, that may not be all bad.  Specially on a turbo.
If it then breaks down in the exhaust, ahead of the turbo, and there is some
fuel around, you get instant delayed heat.

So, if you built the engine strong enough to handle 500 hp mechanically, but
de-cammed, and de-boosted it, etc. to only produce 400 hp it would probably
be orders of magnitude cheaper.  Then you use an "exotic" blend of boost
fuel to bring it back to 500 hp.  Just gotta avoid getting greedy and
bringing it up to 600 hp.


Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 01:01:49 -0700
From: Robert Harris 
Subject: Turbo thoughts for the road trip.
To: Dave Williams 

My thoughts were along the line of - the Miller cycle uses high static
compression and reasonable dynamic compression ratio's.  You get the benefit
of greatly reduced clearance volume and residual exhaust, much higher
expansion ratio and overall thermal efficiency at the cost of lower power
because of less trapped charge.

Now most turbo's make ridiculous top end power.  In fact almost way too much
top end power.  What would happen if I "Miller" cycled a turbo setup.  First
looks it's not too bad.  In fact, may need to make sacred cow burgers for
the poor boy Fanglers Ball.

Lets start by looking at critical timing. Nimmos pressure balance rules -
any engine that I can build will have closer to a 2 to 1 pressure ratio than
a 1 to 1.  This mandates no overlap.  In fact, it sets in concrete that the
exhaust valve must be sealed prior to piston leaving TDC and downward.  The
intake valve must not open before I have 2x clearance volume to keep from
backflowing.  These points are set in concrete.

Notice that there is NO need for any piston clearance cuts.  Nothing is open
at TDC. Perfect flat top piston.  Now here comes heresy.  The best piston
shape is not a reverse dome, nor a flat top - but a high dome - in fact big
enough to slow the flame front!!!.  What da puck is dis idiot talking
about???  NA - big bang done quickly or power falls off.  Supercharged.
Takes much longer to burn anyway.  Mechanically slowing the flame front ***
may *** produce more power by delaying the spread of the flame until the
piston is further down stream might give more pressure at a higher leverage
arm.  May also improve the detonation characteristics by slowing the early
pressure rise.  Not quite shure, but getting real close to being self
convinced.  Also done right, might induce a nice barrel roll swirl.  Or if
not big dome, at least Fire Bowl which would work great because we could go
metal to metal since the valve does not even begin to open until well past
TDC.


Date: Thu, 03 Sep 1998 18:39:28 -0700
From: Robert Harris 
Subject: RE: ???
To: Dave Williams 

 That's what happens when NH meats NO so far as I
can determine. Is also on MSDS to not get oxygenated nitrogen's around
Hydrazine.  Formaldehyde also radically speeds up combustion but doesn't add
to knock too much.  Its one of the early combustion products so is actually
consumed during early combustion and not around like a paraffin.

> -> >  My
> -> > >understanding
> -> > >is that it's a concoction of Benzene, Tolulene, etc.
> -> >
> -> > Don't forget the Xylene--the nastiest and most carcinogenic of the
> -> bunch, > unless, of course some or all of the above are nitrated to
> -> one degree and > percentage or another!!! Then there are other neat
> -> things like hydrazine. > Try reading a book about the things Werner
> -> Von Braun put into V-2's and > some of his later rockets. Also try
> -> reading some stuff about torpedo motor > fuels. Neat, but don't sniff
> -> it.
> -> >
> -> > Regards,
> -> >
> -> > and other nasty
> -> > >stuff that isn't usually
> -> > >a large part of pump gas.
> -> > >
> -> > >It may be lead-free, but it's not pump gas.
> ->
> -> I have some experience with Hydrazine in gasoline.... in nitro, it
> -> breaks the chem. bonds and after 15 min in the sun, turns into a
> -> class A explosive. In Gas, it acts like a combustion catalyst...
> -> 10cc/gal is plenty and it works. just watch the tach.. broken rods
> -> are expensive..
> -> regards 


Low Fangled Auto Tech
---------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 09:27:26 -0700
From: "Robert Harris" 
Subject: Exotic Fuels.

In various parts of this country, the enviro-nazis have stopped the sale of
toluene and most other benzene ring aromatics like zylene to the public in
the name of fighting cancer, better air and because they worked - you know
how government bureaucrats like to get.

With that in mind, I started "research" on finding non-toxic replacements
for back yard performance enhancement.  I have scanned "Knocking
Characteristics of Pure Hydrocarbons - API Report #45 -1958" as a series of
GIFs.  Obtained the book ILL and was only allowed 5 days on the loan before
it had to go back.  Thinking about putting up on the web with at a password
protected site - It is copyrighted material.

Urban myth - mix 10 cc Hydrazine with one gallon gasoline for nicely
improved performance. This was recently posted on another list. If anyone
knows for sure if this works or is just myth, please let us know - there are
a couple of people thinking about it.  I have personal knowledge of the
power of hydrazine.  Nike missile used Red Fuming Nitric Acid RFNA and
Hydrazine as its propellant.  Hydrazine and Hydrogen Peroxide were used on
the ME-163 Komet - which had the delightful side effect that if the fuel
spilled on the pilot in a crash, the hapless crewmember was dissolved.
Hydrazine "loves" NOx in  particular NO2 radical like found in Nitromethane.
So much that after about 15 minutes polymerizes into an extremely powerful
and sensitive Class A explosive.  Part of its reputation for tossing parts
about.

For adding oxygen quantity to a mixture, the organic acids are intriguing
maybe - formic acid for example is almost 70% oxygen by weight, and has no
upper limit of flammability.  Its supposedly a mild acid - but its the sting
in a fire ants bite.  Mildly corrosive ( whatever that really means in
chemist terms ) to metals and not near as powerful as the inorganic acids.

Next Acetic Acid, "vinegar" and Citric Acid "orange juice" is over 50% by
weight oxygen.  Both of which are food additives, available very cheap in
bulk quantities and are a dry powder.  They blend very well with alcohol's
and completely with water.  They also do not "boil" but disassociate into
their component HC, CO and OH radicals at modest temperatures making these
components readily available for combustion.

Glassman and others report that a modest 1- 5% of formaldehyde - available
commercially as Formilin - 37% Formaldehyde, 12-15% methanol, balance
water - asks as an ignition enhancer, shortening the induction time and
reducing the advance needed for slow burning exotic fuels.

Boron also has some possibilities.  It has twice the caloric energy per mole
as carbon and there are a number of different boron fluids around.
Example - Boric Acid H3BO3 - 77.63 % oxygen by weight.  Water soluble.
Virtually non toxic and not corrosive to human flesh - death on roaches.
Trimethyl Borate  (CH3O)3B is also very interesting.  Highly flammable and
apparently no upper limit of flammability.

I am not a chemist.  The current octane etc. recipes on the Internet presume
the availability of benzene ring aromatics which are fast becoming
sequestered from public access.  Thus the recipes are bordering on useless.

What I'd like to see is an ongoing discussion of replacement fuel additives
that would be difficult for the Nazis to restrict or eliminate the
availability of.  If you think that it won't happen, the Nazis have already
done it to many formally available chemicals.

Remember, I am not saying these are all or would work.  What I am saying is
lets start looking at some other chemicals soon - preferably food additives
like the organic acids - that will be around after we are done.


Low Fangled Auto Tech
---------------------

Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 09:02:20 -0700
From: "Robert Harris" 
Subject: RE: Exotic Fuel

Toluene - unobtainium in growing parts of the country.  Easier to drive to
the pump and fill up on 100 octane leaded gasoline in California.  All you
have to do is convince them its for your airplane.  Pulled from printers,
painters, hardware stores etc.  The smog nazis hate it - its gone, any thing
about benzene and benzene ring compounds such as zylene and toluene is a
history lesson.  Ask Dave about getting it in Arkansas or go down to your
hardware store and see if it is still on the shelf. If so, enjoy it while
you can.

Stoichemetic:  The point where all available oxygen is combined optimally
with all available fuel and the combustion is complete.  Usually done in a
sealed bomb. Products of combustion are CO2 and H20.  Net and Gross energy
is also determined at this mixture.  Net energy is the available energy
without re-condensing the water, gross is with water recondensed.


Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 16:00:44 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Damn am I stupid.
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams)

With my Dark Side view I find many references to support my theories - in
every thing from Taylor onward.

Example - remember my fixation with the amount of hydrogen and trying to
explain why ping knock and power tracked closely to hydrogen?   Seems,
according to Heywood, that during spark ignition, the highest energy particle
is the H radical which will has a diffusivitie of 5 times that of any other
breakdown product.  The speed and depth of the enlarging flame front is
primarily dependent ( during the ignition phase ) on how much free hydrogen is
in play.

Thus a small amount of hydrazine - just hydrogen and nitrogen - no frigging
oxygen - that breaks down rapidly and violently - releasing largish amounts of
hydrogen - in the spark kernel - greatly aids ignition and power.

And why gasoline is easier to ignite that alcohol or nitromethane, neither of
which have hydrogen that can be readily freed.

Side item, the duration of the spark is more important (Heywood) than the
current of the spark in extending the lean misfire limit.

So I guess its time to start updating the web page.  I told you I could not
only hoist them on their on petard, but ram their gods up their ass.  I am
becoming the new prophet basing my beliefs on their old testament which they
no longer understand or bother to read.   Fuck em all - nobody listens even
when you tell them its based on their very own holy script.


Date: Mon, 05 Apr 1999 15:31:08 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Re: Mystery Substance - part II
To: "Bauer, Mark" ,

Thanks for the response.  2 R and 2 M for 7 cents a gallon is too cheap a
bargain to pass easily - specially since it probably is not detectable by
normal gas tests for competition.

Dave has been pestering me to make joy juice for a while.   I am not a chemist
- just a mad sky un tist (Kelly Bundy) who has taken some interest into this.

Being a much smaller molecule than the lead's it should also blend more
uniformly with the fuel.  A major lead fuel problem not remembered much
anymore was getting even distribution of the lead from the carb to the
cylinder.

Does Merck say how well it blends with alcohol and acetone?

The reason for the concern for hydrazine is that relatively small amounts of
hydrazine - ~ 20 ml pure per gallon - are reported to make about 10% more
power.   Uncontrolled hydrazine is available as a boiler compound called
Scav-Ox  from Olin relatively cheap.   Its "non-flamable" because its 35%
H2N-N2H and the rest water.  Also, at this mix - its use common sense to
handle fluid.

Glassman as well as Bortok ( Fossil Fuel Combustion : A Source Book - out of
print - would kill to own a copy instead of Inter Library Loaning) mention
that by spiking a fuel with early combustion products - such as formaldehyde
or formic acid, the combustion can be fooled into thinking it is further along
than it is an greatly reduce the induction period.   Something to do with
greatly expanding the early free radical pool.   Don't take that much
additional in the mix to do a lot of good here.

Formaldehyde is available as formalin and ??? for Formic Acid.

Formic Acid is intriguing as it breaks down early into water and carbon
monoxide.  CO essentially drops out of combustion until most of the hydrogen
combines with oxygen and then releases its heat late in the cycle.  But - both
reactions effectively raise the octane.   The injection of pure formic acid in
a matter similar to water should result in a largish increase in HP - simply
by the release of large amounts of molar products - H2O and CO plus its
effects on the remaining combustion.

No I won't go into heat / thermodynamics / ideal gas stuff.  Will be laying
that out on home page.   Simply put say with ideal gas.  I learned the book
learning and the caveats - and if you fully follow it thru - including the
assumptions - it works.  The dweebs spout the law - applying it without regard
for the caveats and assumptions. Finger them in and it makes a lot more sense.

Acetic Acid was used as an extender for the effect of lead as an anti-knock
agent.  We have been talking about adding either acetic or citric acid to
water injection and getting a nice increase in free simple molecules to both
raise the molar product and get a modest increase in potential heat rather
than just water product in the mixture.


Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 13:53:42 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Cruis-o-crap -the Project - an afterthought.
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams),

Water sequestered within a fuel molecule that does not state change does not
enter into the combustion equation until much later in the process.

Fuel droplets burn from the outside in at local stoic.  Such burning continues
I had a few thoughts regarding the acetone substitute. What about:

acetaldehyde or formaldehyde? Still have water interaction, but don't know
if it's cheaper than acetone.

acetonitrile - CH3CN - inexpensive, N throws a new (f)angle on things

glyoxal - cheap but dangerous. Potentially explosive in air, although this
is relatively easy to work around. Polymerizes in water, but depolymerizes
rapidly when heated.

glyoxalic acid - not explosive, but extremely corrosive to metal.

fusel oil/amyl alcohol - cheap

oxalic acid - (COOH)2 O=COH-HOC=O - cheap

also, regarding hydrazine combustion, I would think O2 in some form would
have to be present for combustion, if not catalytic effects. It won't burn
w/o oxygen, dammit.

Or not, YMMV, caveat emptor, yotta yotta...


Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 16:39:14 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Acetic Acid
To: "Bauer, Mark" ,

Found a number of vague references to the use of acetic acid as an octane
extender in conjunction with lead.

The molecule looks like acetone CH3-CO-CH3 with an OH subsituted for the right
CH3  i.e.  CH3-CO-OH.

CH3 is slower to burn than CHx - and in fact, a moderate percentage (depending
on temp ) go to CH4 rather than breakdown.

CO drops out of combustion until the final phase.

OH radical is very active in early stages and turns to water.  Glassman
reports that from 20 to 80% of the OH radicals in methanal turn immediately to
H2O and is the primary reason for the very cool combustion of low weight
alcohols.  Early combustion yields two H2O and one CO from a single O2.  The
heat absorbing capability of the 2 H2O's really suck up the heat - but they
expand vera nicely and make incredible pressure - so temperature goes down and
pressure goes up - and last time I checked, pressure moves the piston.

These three radicals generally aid octane ratings of most substances.

Melting Point is 63F 17C  and is miscible with water in all proportions.
Auto-ignition temperature is 550 to 599 depending on which study.  Methyl
Alcohol is 464 -470.

Dave and I have talked about the use of acetic and citric acid as molar
product extenders.  Because of their greater density, significant additional
lesser quality fuel could be burned for a given amount of air.

Merck questions.   Is there an on-line access to a Merck?  My library doesn't
carry it and I suspect a personal copy is in the same range as a good used car
or more.

Next - is acetic acid soluble in petrol  or alcohol ( probably also with
acetone )?

Interactions with Hydrazine?  Nitromethane?  Benzene rings with a nitrogen
substitute ( another source of water soluble high octane stuff)

Next - effect on freezing point of water?   Will it salt out at some
temperature normal to arkansas.   Does adding a lower freezing point substance
to water and acetic acid affect the salting out temperature of the glacial
acetic acid?

Why worry about hydrazine?  Several sources ( some so-so ) report 20
milliliters pure per gallon results in 10% power increase.  Side note - NO2 in
any form will cause spontaneous ignition at relatively low concentrations.  Do
not blend the Nitro O2 such as Nitro Methane or Nitro Benzene or you will
regret it.

Flame speeds are laminar speeds of the Gibbs and Calcote compliation from Chem
Eng and presented in an appendix of Combustion - third edition Irvin Glassman

Flame speed of Benzene is 47.6 at 1.0 equivalence fuel
Flame speed of Hydrogen is 325 at 1.8 equivalence fuel
Flame speed of Hydrazine is 94.4 at .98 equivalence fuel
Flame speed of Acetone is 44.4 at .93 equivalence fuel
Flame speed of Propylene Oxide (Poopie) 97.9 at 1.09 equivalence fuel
Flame speed of Methanal is 72.2 at 1.08 equivalence ratio
Flame speed of Carbon Monoxide 28.5 at 1.1,   ----  52 at 2.05

Most of the hydrocarbons flame speed is from 40 to 50.  Everyone knows what
poopie does for nitromethane.  Hydrazine does the same for gasoline.  If its
burned before it can self ignite, it can't detonate.  Notice also the flame
speed for hydrogen. At .8 it's only 120.

A bumines pub references the flame speed of diborane at over 500 cm per
second.  Shame its a gas at room temperature.  Trying to run done via ILL
several reports about boron fuel components.  High temperature high energy
stuff - higher energy than carbon based stuff.  But every is BS until I can
read and understand some source literature.


Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 04:15:43 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Re: Acetic Acid
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams)

100 CM = 1M.

Laminar flame speed @ 1 atmosphere and 25 C.

Velocity goes up with turbulence, temperature.  Down with a pressure increase.

On Sun, 11 Apr 1999 22:03:00 -0500, you wrote:

Major source of data is for explosion / fire hazards from BuMines pub ( which
I have scanned and waiting to put up for you )
1.41 times inner diameter.  Result combined double volume.

Shape the bottom of the outer runner at the port as a venturii into the valve
pocket.   Use a nice increasing diameter design.

Shape the inner runner as a nozzle just about the entry into the head.  We now
have an ejector that can easily draw from the outer area anywhere up to 100%
of the inner flow or more.   Lets expect 25%  - does 125% of original VE sound
attractive?

The greater the mass and velocity of the inner gas, the greater the flow thru
the ejector - with the air being drawn thru the outer tube.

So where does the air come from - I didn't mention a second throttle.  From
the communications port.

So now we have two co-axial runners with the inner runners drawing from the
throttles and the outer runners drawing from the opposing cylinder and its
draw is enhanced by the ejector effect.

Four times the volume - twice the hits.  Think about how much closer this can
be to a practical helmholz tune now.


Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 13:29:47 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Cruis-o-crap -the Project - a summary
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams),

Cruise-o-crap a.k.a.  Gas-o-crap is an ongoing Dave Williams project to on the
cheap develop inexpensive and doable methodology to extend the range of
operation of vehicles like Thunder or others.

Mechanically, we have discussed and have some working plans based on massive
EGR, extending the lean limit of operation and just plain heating the cruise
air and fuel temperatures.  Many of these ideas were discussed in the now dead
Simple EFI thread posted elsewhere.

The fuel part of the project involves substituting a less expensive fuel for
part or all of the thermal energy at part throttle.   Examples would be on an
RV for example, of converting the engine to full time propane and then on a
part time basis running gasoline as a partial replacement.  The common example
is to use a simple fuel injection to add supplement cruising fuel and let the
computer remove prime fuel to bring everything back to normal.

Cheap also means available.  The most reasonably priced fuel is probably
diesel/home heating/kerosine.   Features high density per gallon, lots of
btu's and is reasonably available from ~gasoline price all the way down to
ridiculous depending on which variant is available to you.

Water has held historical fascination and is currently under investigation by
Gutterman(?)/Catapillar as a fuel extender.

Two basic theories of usage.  The classic Ricardo based theory is to replace
part of the fuel with water and extend the upper reaches of total performance.
This replacement of part of the fuel with water is the basis for the
Caterpillar fuel water project.

The other, more intriguing usage, is the Glassman and followed up by Bartok
reportage of the use of water to enhance combustion.  This essentially is to
plant water molecules within the fuel droplets such that as the whole droplet
heats - prior to combustion the water "gut grenade" explodes ( changes state )
and shatters the largish fuel droplet into much finer droplets - the goal to
be molecular sized so the fuel starts as droplet combustion and ends as a
homogeneous gas combustion.

Plan  A can live with a normal emulsion of tiny droplets of oil uniformly
dispersed in water.  All the water appears to be doing is extending the fuel
usage.

Plan B requires to water to get inside the oil droplet.

I have found "A Chemical" which accomplishes this nicely, but it does not meet
the cheap requirement.  Acetone.

Acetone's CO dickie forms a weak affinity for an H2O OH leg and loosely binds
the two together.   This bound H2O and acetone on a mole to mole basis will
carry this water nicely into a non phase separating blend with petrol.  Thus
depending solely on the amount of acetone we chose to use, we can carry water
directly within the fuel droplet in any quantity.

Two major concerns arise immediately - both related to the gas-o-crap.   First
the "freezing" point of the CO to CO2 reaction in combustion is ~700c.  The
water/acetone will lower the temperature of the reaction and if this is too
quick result in increases of CO meaning that we have not completely burned the
fuel ( Fully two thirds of the heat release of the combustion of carbon occurs
in the CO to CO2 reaction ).

Next is that the flame speed is greatly reduced by the presence of water in
the combustion process ( not to be confused with the water generated by the
combustion process ).

Hydrazine H2N-N2H is available commercially as Scav-ox 35% in water.  It is
soluble in both petrol and water.  A smallish amount of say 20 milli liters
pure hydrazine per gallon is reported to nicely improve combustion.  It
release's early energy in the first stage of combustion (aka induction period)
nicely increases the free hydrogen radicals, and has a flame speed thru a wide
range of conditions that is over double that of gasoline under optimum
conditions.  The result will be nicely improved combustion and by keeping the
amount of hydrazine reasonable and conservative, we should be able to counter
most of the combustion slowdown that part throttle and water induce.

Notice that the "extender" portion of the fuel is also not a bad high
performance additive.  Water, acetone ( octane about 115) and hydrazine - nice
little rocket monopropellent that has no upper limit of flammability and in
fact does not need oxygen to function - although will take advantage of any
present.

Unlike the normal emulsion, this mixture will not phase separate out unless
the water mole to acetone mole ratio is significantly increased.   Nor should
it look like mayo.

Now you know where this has evolved to.  We have a baseline - the remaining
problem is to converge to cost affordable.

Alcohol based solvents are cheaper but they have a limit on how much water
they will carry into petrol and are subject to phase separation themselves.

Surfactant's could significantly increase the amount of water carried into
combustion but such water would only be a molar product enhanced and probably
would not create the desired droplet shattering effect.

Clues and hints and thoughts about where to go from here would be appreciated.


Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 15:34:05 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Why learn fuels
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams),

Glassman explains hydrocarbon combustion as occurring in three stages.

Stage one - "induction" is where after ignition there is incredible activity
forming radicals and early molecule decomposition.  It causes virtually no
heat release as all the available energy is used to strip more molecules.
Hydrogen bearing radicals either survive or go to H2O.  Interesting note - up
to 20% or more CH3 radicals go to CH4 before being reduced.  To a lesser
extent CH3 goes to 3HC-CH3 prior to reduction.   Any stray carbon that finds
an oxygen goes to CO - not CO2.


Notice that the "extender" portion of the fuel is also not a bad high
performance additive.  Water, acetone ( octane about 115) and hydrazine - nice
little rocket monopropellent that has no upper limit of flammability and in
fact does not need oxygen to function - although will take advantage of any
present.

Unlike the normal emulsion, this mixture will not phase separate out unless
the water mole to acetone mole ratio is significantly increased.   Nor should
it look like mayo.

Now you know where this has evolved to.  We have a baseline - the remaining
problem is to converge to cost affordable.

Alcohol based solvents are cheaper but they have a limit on how much water
they will carry into petrol and are subject to phase separation themselves.

Surfactant's could significantly increase the amount of water carried into
combustion but such water would only be a molar product enhanced and probably
would not create the desired droplet shattering effect.

Clues and hints and thoughts about where to go from here would be appreciated.

nicely increases the free hydrogen radicals, and has a flame speed thru a wide
range of conditions that is over double that of gasoline under optimum
conditions.  The result will be nicely improved combustion and by keeping the
amount of hydrazine reasonable and conservative, we should be able to counter
most of the combustion slowdown that part throttle and water induce.

Notice that the "extender" portion of the fuel is also not a bad high
performance additive.  Water, acetone ( octane about 115) and hydrazine - nice
little rocket monopropellent that has no upper limit of flammability and in
fact does not need oxygen to function - although will take advantage of any
present.

Unlike the normal emulsion, this mixture will not phase separate out unless
the water mole to acetone mole ratio is significantly increased.   Nor should
it look like mayo.

Now you know where this has evolved to.  We have a baseline - the remaining
problem is to converge to cost affordable.

Alcohol based solvents are cheaper but they have a limit on how much water
they will carry into petrol and are subject to phase separation themselves.

Surfactant's could significantly increase the amount of water carried into
hard chrome plated or you can play with chemistry.

Alcohol fuels for example, by burning cooler, never recover as much of the CO
-> CO2 energy as gasoline does.

If the alternative fuel contains LESS carbon and more hydrogen or other, then
less partially burned product remains.  Two extreme examples are pure hydrogen
and hydrazine.  Pure H has about 3 times the energy of gasoline per pound.
The more of the hydrogen bound to the fuel in % mass, the higher the energy
the fuel is.  Also the product of combustion of hydrogen is water - formed in
the first and second "fast" stages of combustion.  Additional hydrogen will
make final molar product much earlier in the combustion.

Why Dave and I are interested in modest quanties of hydrazine (Scav-Ox) is
that first - its a rocket monopropellent - meaning that once lit, it does its
thing without oxygen.  Next, it releases tremendous energy in the first stage
of combustion and lastly, since it contains no carbon, not effected by stage 3
slow fire.  Quantities of as little as 20 milli liters per gallon have been
reported to make significant improvements in response and power.

Scav-Ox 35% H2N-NH2 in water - is considered non flammable and is much safer
to deal with using normal precautions than pure forms.  Boiler scavenging
compound.
less partially burned product remains.  Two extreme examples are pure hydrogen
and hydrazine.  Pure H has about 3 times the energy of gasoline per pound.
The more of the hydrogen bound to the fuel in % mass, the higher the energy
the fuel is.  Also the product of combustion of hydrogen is water - formed in
the first and second "fast" stages of combustion.  Additional hydrogen will
make final molar product much earlier in the combustion.

Why Dave and I are interested in modest quanties of hydrazine (Scav-Ox) is
that first - its a rocket monopropellent - meaning that once lit, it does its
thing without oxygen.  Next, it releases tremendous energy in the first stage
of combustion and lastly, since it contains no carbon, not effected by stage 3
slow fire.  Quantities of as little as 20 milli liters per gallon have been
reported to make significant improvements in response and power.

Scav-Ox 35% H2N-NH2 in water - is considered non flammable and is much safer
to deal with using normal precautions than pure forms.  Boiler scavenging
compound.

Metering small quantities of hydrazine is not likely to be effective.  There
is sufficient energy in it to render an engine into its corporate atoms long
before hydro lock.  What we are looking for is a "cut" that blends well with
water and is inexpensive.

slow fire.  Quantities of as little as 20 milli liters per gallon have been
reported to make significant improvements in response and power.

Scav-Ox 35% H2N-NH2 in water - is considered non flammable and is much safer
to deal with using normal precautions than pure forms.  Boiler scavenging
compound.

Metering small quantities of hydrazine is not likely to be effective.  There
is sufficient energy in it to render an engine into its corporate atoms long
before hydro lock.  What we are looking for is a "cut" that blends well with
water and is inexpensive.

Secret ingredient in gas-o-crap might be hydrazine in small quanties.  It
don't take much to make power, and since the power demand is constant, more
power in the fuel means less fuel consumed.

Please note - I am not talking magic.  hydrazine effects combustion in ways
that can be beneficial if tweaked for them.   It doesn't pull power from the
air or the nth dimension and its unaffected by the fuel maximizer magnets.


Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 08:09:57 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Re: nitrogen
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams)

Touched lightly on it.  Nitrogen-oxygen reactions are higher temperature -
both of reaction and "freezing" than carbon oxygen and almost twice as slow.

BUT - Nitrogen Hydrogen reactions are QUICK.  In fact C H N reactions take
place in early combustion.  Hydrazine, ammonia, ammonium nitrate are all N H
molecules.

Urea H2N C=O N2H is an interesting hygroscopic chemical.  Remember - rich CO
goes away - leaving us 2 NH2's - the same as hydrazine.   Probably a little
later in the combustion cycle - but right there.

Its soluble in water.  Mostly considered non flammable - but look at what it
brings to the combustion table.  Maybe a hit of this might be whacky.  Pure
molar product.  But we have been done this before I think.


On Tue, 20 Apr 1999 22:47:00 -0500, you wrote:

>
> You've been concentrating mostly on oxygen reactions.  I just realized
>all the *really* high energy stuff depends on nitrogen - all gunpowders
>and most low-brisance explosives, for example.  And air is 80% nitrogen.



Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 06:50:29 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Re: Water as "fuel"
To: "Spence, Steven" ,

McDiesel is intriguing.

The base source for cruis-o-junque under consideration is used motor oil.
McDiesel can substitute nicely - and may not need much processing.


http://www.americanlb.com/ferrocene.html

is a link to ferrocene.  Presents some very intriguing additions to a fuel.

http://www.plasma.kth.se/~olsson/fc.html

is where I got the idea from.  Uses it in high performance model diesel fuel
and we go from there.

And for the truly insane, consider adding a very small ( on the order of 5 ml
per liter of hydrazine H2N-N2H to the base fuel.  This is good for about 10%
plus hp increase when blended with gasoline - should be the about the same
with diesel.

Note that Olin manufactures a "safe" form called scav-ox - boiler compound

http://www.hydrazine.com/Hydrates/Products.asp

This stuff really aids combustion and overcomes many evils such as slow
burning when used in modest quantities.  Moderation is the operative concept.

Excess will launch engine parts into orbit as it is a rocket mono propellant
and has no upper limit of combustion.

Note that nitro - hydrogen compounds decompose early in combustion and greatly
aid the early combustive process where as nitro - oxygen compounds decompose
late in the process and at much higher temperatures.

Hydrazine may not be politically correct - but in moderation can really light
off a fuel.   Been a "secret" ingredient in many winning racers fuel.


Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 15:42:27 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Re: Water in Vegetable Oil Microemulsions  "The Book"
To: "Bauer, Mark" ,

oxide to the mix.   We can freely trade consumable chemicals in place of
mechanical devices and have any power up to the destruction limit of the
mechanicals.

Using nitro methane for example, a small amount can go a long way particularly
under boost.  Then again, the latent heat of vaporization of nitro is about
250% of that of gasoline or about half of methanal - so even as we are adding
oxygen and HC's we are dropping the charge temperature.

Using hydrazine, we not only get a lot molar product, but we get fast burning
hydrogen ==> water product - not slower burning carbon ==> CO2.   But unless
they are separately tanked and injected must never mix prior to the instant of
combustion.

Strange vibes rolling around.  Argon is mentioned in combustion as part of the
process.   Got to grok how supposedly inert argon can participate in
combustion.

In summary, grok a 12.5 to 1 385 with a 6v71 running about 10 - 12 pounds with
below ambient charge temperature and some high end joy juice.  Picture a 1000
foot pounds of torque from off idle to destruction.    And not a turbo whine
anywhere.


Date: Tue, 06 Jul 1999 14:51:19 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Another Harris Heresey - bugger your mind
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams)

It takes work to compress air.  Much of the work used to compress air on a
less than 100% efficient compressor shows up as excess heat.  This excess heat
and some of the heat of compression is rejected to an external heat sink with
conventional aftercooling.

For chemical aftercooling - all of the excess work is recovered as heat and
added to the combustion process - thus we have very high compression
efficiency of the SYSTEM.   Don't let the dweebshit hang you up on the spot
efficiency of just the compressor.

Now back to the combustion effect of some alcohol.  The problem of long chain
hydrocarbons is that they isomerize - make longer chain molecules than they
start with and this leads to runaway temperatures and pressures.  Quote
Glassman

"It has been suggested that the greater tendency for long chain molecules to
knock as compared to smaller and branched chain molecules may be a result of
this internal, isomerization branching mechanism."

Now the addition of methanal simply adds two hydrogen hungry radicals early in
combustion that speed the destruction of the fuel molecule.   CH3 and OH.   It
may well be worth considering adding some alcohol - either methanal or iso
propanol to gasocrap - not to raise octane - but to enhance combustion by more
completely consuming the long chain kerosine / diesel fuel molecules.

It is critical for the radical pool to form that the ignition phase provide
free hydrogen.  This H radical then develops a radical pool of OH, H and O.

Hydrazine is trick shit.  It not only decomposes into H radicals very easily
but the N bond splitting releases large amounts of energy so small amounts of
H2N-NH2 seed the radical formation process and jump start it with lots of
energy.  And its virtually undetectable in small quantities.

Acetone - CH3-CO-CH3  is good.  Note the hydrogen hungry CH3 attack radicals
that will probably evolve into Ethane ==> Acetylene.  Note the drop out CO
molecule for instant molar product.    Nice stuff.

Boron - some premium gasoline had boron additives into the sixties.  Rumored
to have been added to joy juice blends - anytime you see green tips in flame,
almost certain to have been boronated.  Wad da puck?   Boron has almost twice
the energy of carbon.  Replacing some carbon in fuel with Boron could raise
the energy density - read power - significantly without increasing the amount
of fuel and oxygen consumed.  Very little literature except as relating to
rocket engines.   Kelly Johnson used it as lighter fluid for the fuel in the
SR-71.  Wonder how to get some boron into joy juice.

Chain branching reaction ends with wall impact.  Runaway chain branching leads
to knock.   Lead works at mid temperatures apparently by providing large
"cool" molecules to function effectively as walls and terminate chain
branching.  Surface area effect.  Maybe - but seems to be consensus.

Enter Ferrocene.   Same mechanism.  Same effect - but requires more metal.
Down side - iron particles after combustion.  Solution - bring it on under
boost only.   Use a magnet in the oil pan to scavenge oil borne particles -
count on the water to steam clean the cylinders anyhow so all particles exit.

The dampening of the end reactions means that we can crank up the early
reactions without runaway chain branching in the middle stage - read more
hydrazine - more better power.

And this alcohol thing - its the reason Hamilton simply calls it preburned
fuel and lets it go.  Can you see the wild anally extracted horse puckey that
would flow on REC.AUTO.TECH if he tried to explain what really happens?

The absolute venom that would flow from those who don't know?  Would make Gar
Puss positively pleasant to be around.


Date: Sun, 25 Jul 1999 10:25:48 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Nitro - a book - sorry
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams)

One of the characteristics of NitroMethane as a fuel is the peculiar odor of
combustion - composed of various nitro oxides and nitric acid HNO3.
Apparently much of the additional oxygen carried into combustion is not fully
consumed and becomes simply molar production.  Thus, the "normal" combustion
of Nitrous is oxygen rich in the product.

Both in the ignition spark and in early combustion, everything depends on the
availability of free nitrogen - to form the deep penetrating ions in the
plasma collapse and to form the beginnings of the free radical pool to start
combustion.  Nitro Methane and to a lesser extent, Methanal have a dearth of
loosely bound hydrogen whereas gasoline has an abundant amount.   Thus the
ease of ignition of gasoline compared to either of the two.

Methanal as we discussed earlier, in small quantities simply disappears in the
cool flame into the free radical pool - CH3 and OH.  Nitro initially will

Which explains why Vizard likes leak down lifters in SOME applications.  The
concept of the Rhodes and others is simple - but highly dweeb shitable.
First, the opening profile of a Rhodes vs standard is virtually identical - at
all rpm.  The mechanism does not impair opening - it simply loses oil faster -
thus leaking down faster.  This removes degrees of opening off the tailing end
of the lobe without affecting the leading end.

Use a Rhodes on a cam which retains the opening timing of a baseline cam, but
increasing the duration of the exhaust lobe.  Assume the lifter will be past
leakdown rpm by the time pw tuned runner rpm is reached.  The additional
timing will come strictly in the form of increased higher rpm overlap that
will allow scavenging to occur at a higher rpm with a fixed tuned runner.

But to fully take advantage of this extra overlap, the fixed tuned runner
should be re-adjusted downward in rpm by increasing its length.  The greater
overlap - and in the right direction allows a longer runner to get the same
scavenge at the peak rpm desired.

This broadening of the range of scavenging makes a more tractable engine and
significantly harder accelerating vehicle - even if the peak power is actually
somewhat less.


Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 06:39:44 +0000 (GMT)
From: bob@bobthecomputerguy.com (Robert Harris)
Subject: Cruise-o-junque revisited
To: dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us (Dave Williams)

Forward to the usual suspect chemists and others.

Extensive thought on the subject of cruise enhancement keeps coming back to
chemically changing the combustion process to nicely enhance the part throttle
combustion.

The crux of the problem lies in combustion itself.  By necessity, less than a
full air charge is ingested.  This results in two major problems.  First is
the loss of compression and charge which leads to SLOW combustion  and LOW
temperatures.

First, deal with the temperature aspect.  As I mentioned earlier, fully 2/3's
of the heat released from the combustion of carbon takes place as the
initially formed CO ==> CO2 late in the combustion process and usably only
over about 700c.   Any of the usual diluents - water, EGR and lean mixtures
lead to lower combustion temperatures under light cruising load.

Next - slow combustion.  Diluents  - water, EGR, and lean mixtures all result
in significantly slowing the combustion process.  Couple this with very low
compression and partial charge and the flame speed crawls.

With slow, low temperature combustion the thermal efficiency falls rapidly
with ridiculous spark advance etc.   Mechanical changes to enhance these
conditions such as heat, compression etc quickly become counter productive at
higher loads.

Now however, if cruise-o-junque is simply a combustion accelerator chemical in
an energy bearing solution, then we can meter the amount of "accelerant"
needed to correct combustion back to "optimal" and continue to use standard
fuel at all times.

Of course, the first accelerant to consider is hydrazine.  This however may
not be the best or the most readily available.  So now let us put on our
diesel hat.  Many - if not all combustion enhancers for diesel "Centane
Improver" are worth considering for cruise-o-jungue.  Others are very viable
such as ethers etc.

What we want to do is to reduce the interval from spark to peak power - i.e.
raise the effective flame speed.  The less the advance the better.   And if
the flame can burn quickly, then most of the heat will be released near TDC
and the pressure sweet spot.

With the fuel enhancer approach, we need to identify readily available
combustion enhancers such as hydrazine, amyl and butyl nitrate etc, and then
separate them into suitability with two different carrier fluids.

First carrier fluid is obviously diesel fuel as a number of enhancers blend
nicely with it.  The second less obvious carrier is water.  Either is abundant
and serves well.   It simply comes down to which is soluble in what.

A side note of water is that it is a useable dilutent in and of itself, and if
it is the carrier and sufficient additional heat can be released it can work
out nicer.

Mechanically, after being diluted with the carrier fluid, we can go to a
simple pulsed  system that meters the amount of "cruise-o-junque" based on how
much milage is demanded - anti-performance so to speak.

Remember - no magic - all it has to do return combustion to about normal.

Think on it for a while - I've got a bunch of diesel reading to do