hey, ive heard that an old drag racer trick was to put sterno into the inside of an air filter, and it has the same effect as nitrous, but harder to detect. I told a friend of mine about this, and we put some in the air filter of his ricer (hey, I wasnt gonna fuck MY shit up if it didnt work!) but it didnt seem to do any good. Is there any truth to this? If there is, were we doing it wrongly? Any help is appreciated..................Briggs
Don't get me wrong, I love danger and all, but that just sounds like a fire hazard to me... Don't see anyway that it could make any power... The sterno would displace air, which could potentially be mixed with gas for more power. As far as something flammable getting in the motor, just richen your mixture up! The ONLY way you'll make more power is to get more FUEL the motor AND the additional AIR necessary to burn that fuel... Get as much air in as you can and adjust the carb to supply the extra fuel.
I also heard once that there were little miracles one could perform with filling the windshield resivoir with moonshine and fitting a nozzle to the breather directly above the air horn of the carburetor....i couldnt get my hands on moonshine, so I improvised....Gem Clear oughta work, i thought..... didnt work on an 81 Ford Courier...perhaps something WOULD work if you did this on a vehicle that would make enough extra power that you could actually tell.... later I put transmission fluid in it to make smoke, yay. I've never had much luck with that kinda stuff, I'm too old and scared that I'm gonna tear somethin up these days...
... Ever lit a campfire with the stuff? Its amazing, set the can down a good 3 feet away from your fire... blob someon with a plastic spoon... it lights and then... somehow the lil cans on fire too! The stuff really burns. I'd find a racer that was there to see if anyone used it...
Sterno is essentially gelled alcohol. I do not see where it would give any serious benefit. I think the evap rate is so low that you would never detect it. It is like was mentioned, you have to get more air and fuel in to make more power.
This sounds like the same kinda shit you'd hear from the guy that is pouring rubbing alcohol on bread crusts and eating them to get high. Somebody's laughin' their ass off thinkin' that someone would actually try this...one fart through the carb and your hood blows off! I can see the write-up for the Darwin Award now...
You can't get more power by adding more fuel unless you can add more oxygen to burn it. Dumping in more fuel could be done many other ways easily--including just pulling out your choke knob. The reason NOS can be used to add powere is that it carries oxygen into the combustion chamber. Any other method of souping involves getting more air in there--adding the fuel isn't the problem.
They used to sell water injectors that was supposed to boost your power. Bought one and it didn't work, tried putting alcohal in it and that didn't work either. At least nuthin' you could proove by the seat of your pants. Thried putting mothballs in the gas. That didn't work either. MOROSO fuel additive helps a little, if octain is your problem. But if you mix it too stout it'll screw some stuff up. Not that that's a bad thing. If you screw some stuff it gives you a chance to upgrade. Best way I've ever found to get more zot is to build more zot. There will never be a substitute for built in ponies.
Sort of on topic but different...I heard from an old timer that putting moth balls in the gas tank kind of "supercharges" the fuel, poor mans nitromethane....Not sure if that one works or not,never tried it...Any chemists have an answer?
This trick was used by nascar guys back in the 60's from what I remember. I'm pretty sure that they didn't put it in the airfilter but they smeared it on the underside of the air cleaner lid. It was outlawed, so maybe it worked for them.
[ QUOTE ] Sort of on topic but different...I heard from an old timer that putting moth balls in the gas tank kind of "supercharges" the fuel, poor mans nitromethane....Not sure if that one works or not,never tried it...Any chemists have an answer? [/ QUOTE ] What an old guy told me was to get some pantyhose (actually he said nylons) and put some crushed up moth cakes in. Then take some gas in a can and stick the moth cakes down in the gas. Shake it around for awhile, and then mix that with the gas in your tank. Moth balls or cakes in you gas has a tendency to gum things up. But I guess putting the moth cakes in the hose ... then mixing the gas with yours keeps the ugly stuff outa your system. Unfortunaly I tried putting the mothballs in my gas before the old guy told me this method. I never tried it again. Note:That was 30+ years ago. I imagine that they have outlawed everything that was in mothballs back then. So who knows.
The way that water injection works to make power is by cooling the intake charge. Cooler air is more dense, and therefore has more oxygen to support combustion. It will also let you run a little more cylinder pressure without fear of detonation, also because of the cooling effects.
This is odd...I recieved an identical inquiry to the magazine and printed it. Sterno is flammable gelatin. There is no performance advantage from slathering this stuff anywhere. It was outlawed in racing not because it worked, but because it's a serious fire hazard. One small carb backfire and you're lit, and I shouldn't have to tell you how hard it'd be to put the fire out. This is stupid, ineffective, and dangerous. Don't be an idiot. Don't smear Sterno on your air filter or filter lid. If you want more horsepower, modify your engine to inhale and exhale air and fuel more effectively and efficiently. Use the same money you'd spend on Sterno to buy a new distributor cap/rotor or a fresh set of spark plugs or plug wires. You'll pick up more power, I guarantee it. Scotch~!
I once ran outta gas & had a gallon of acetone in my trunk (don't ask) - it got me home. Next day, had to rebuild my carb, replace my fuel pump and all the hoses
Nitromethane. Add a few gallons to your next tank of gass. It'll do wonders for your performance. At least it will until you blow something up or melt something important
I think you'd need a whole lot of pressure to push a charcoal briquet down the throat of a carb. Does it work better with square-bore carbs? Maybe the fish tank charcoal would work better.
I think all the stuff about mothballs is the naptha in them.But think about it ,a moth doesn't really fly that fast.
when i was in high school a buddy of mine ran methyl hydrate in his washer fluid reservoir and had it so it would spray into the carb at wide open throttle.this was on a 302 ford in a small ranger truck.he showed me what it did one day ,floored it hit the washer switch and it seemed like it made a difference nothing huge, but something did happen and the truck did seem to go a tiny bit faster.maybe the methyl hydrate has a similar effect as water injection does? i don't know but he stressed that it only worked at wide open throttle.well just my 2 cents!
Wow You guys Kill Me. And I thaught it was just for warmin up your lunch and smokin opium in the bush ---Feder
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