Running on everything but "Gas"

G

Greg out west

Senior Member



Hi Guy's,,


The other day there was a question about what kind of "Fuel" to use in the old "A"...As a young "Kid" back about 40+ year's ago I hear all these story's about the Model A wound run on about any kid of Gas,,,fuel is you will ?


I remember one old guy telling me that durning WW2 when gas was rationed he do this Kerosene / gas mixture..Start the car up on gas then when hot then switch over ?..Maybe he had extra "Tank"..


I tried running the A on "Coal Oil" as the old guy called it...It ran ,,,but not that great Once warmed up as long as you kept a steady speed it was OK...Like many have said let up on the throttle & the "blue" haze would come..Hell,, here in Calif doing that now they throw you in Jail & crush the car for being a Gross polluter ???



Also tried Lacquer thinner,Rubbing alcohol, Coleman lantern fuel,..One day cleaning out the medicine cabinet..I see all this old after shave,,,Old spice,King's men,Canuoe, & a few other long forgotten brand's..


Dumped them all in a can & had about a qt.total...What to do ?..I just dumped this mixture in the tank...The exhaust smelled like "after shave" & ran pretty good..



So in a emergency the A will run on about anything that will burn..Try that on a modern car & you'll probably mess something up in the fuel system !!!!! Good thing the old A had a spark lever as these other fuel's would knock pretty good



No Model A was harmed during these "experiments"


Greg out West,,,
 
Really, no harm? In any case, I got a good chuckle out of this. :) Thanks for sharing! I am now curious what makes the knock sound when running on poor fuels...
 
Yeah, the A will run just about as well on aftershave as it does on what we call "gas" nowadays. :rolleyes:
 
As long as its hot it'll run on most anything if its got enough alky-rub in it. Be carefull with the lacquer thinner, besides being dane-jus, it'll wash the oil out of the cylinders and compression will be lost.
 
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I don't know specifically about A's but my dad said he and my uncle used to run their T model on kerosene. The only problem he said they had is it wouldn't cut off until the fuel ran out.
 
I've always been kind of interested in the producer gas option such as was used during WWII. Someone put up a pix (or two) of a Model A with the conversion done quite professionally on the rear bumper. This in a European museum.

Of survivalist interest, I could see this as a last ditch option given a REAL petro-emergency. The Model A could get you to the empty grocery store to pick over the left-overs, or carry your home growns to the "farmers market" - or get you home after the hombres with uzis take it all away from you.

Mother Earth News in the 1970s (OPEC era) did a lot on conversion of a late model pickup to producer gas. Also powered a glider with bio-derived alcohol.

And at the old "Gengas" site someone in Australia actually powered their late model station wagon with producer gas - and reported issues with fouling of comparatively high compression engine after about 5000 miles. But success may be in the details.

Back in the Ahooga Board days and during one of the gasoline price hikes we discussed conversion of the Model A to propane. This is easily done with a forklift carburetor - and IIRC also a fuel preheater - which may be part of the exhaust system? I haven't followed up on that one as (then) the regulator alone starts at about $250.

And then there was someone who put a late model Opel diesel in a Model A? He reported up to 40 mpg. And the gearing worked out pretty well with that engine for highway speeds.

Joe K
 
I have used "contaminated" gas ---50-50 or more diesel, stale gas etc in my A, in the Benz diesel I have used drained trams oil---- and one time a gallon of pure antifreeze got poured in the fuel tank---- it was gone the next day when I realized what I did and drained the tank and filter, never noticed any difference in the way it ran.
Having the A and a older Benz diesel I can find something for fuel no matter what happens.
 
In the "Summer of 42", they ran the Packard on dry cleaning fluid (carbon tetra chloride?) with a quart of oil poured on top to keep the fluid from vaporizing away. It must have smelled like John Wayne's suit in "The Shootist".
 
Peter Garret ex President of the English Model A Ford Club ,has a fleet of Model A Cars that he uses for weddings they all run on Propane.

John Cochran
 
They will burn a multitude of fuels, don't forget Henry intended the 06 T to run on "Corn Fuel". In 1925 he proclaimed Ethanol was to be the future of fuel.
 

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... a older Benz diesel I can find something for fuel no matter what happens.
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Way lower taxes made the people refill the tanks of their diesel cars with salad-oil
out of the supermarkets, which lead to rised prices for salad-oil in germany :(

In the following they asked for used oil out of Friteuses of Mac-Donalds.
Guess, what the exhaust smells alike once you use that :eek:

A friend of mine (running a garage) is running used engine oil in his
elderly diesel car. He filters that once in advance, but still needs a new
"Fuel-filter" every 5000km

btw dont try that with new Diesel engines, as tollerances in the
fuel-pumps and valves make use of junk impossible.
 
During WW 2 if we got behind a stinkin smokin vehicle the old man would cuss somethin awful and Exclaim " Damn guy is burnin coal oil in that thing and it stinks like hell"
 
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