hot125mod said:
The guys is John Denman and he said laquer thinner is a mix of Toluene, Methanol, Acetone and MEK. What the hell is MEK, Rich?
It sounds to me like he is huffing those chemicals.
MEK is Methyl Ethyl Ketone. It's chemical formula is CH3COCH2CH3.
It has an oxygen molecule, but it's my understanding that it can't be made to release in a form that can contribute to combustion. I've never seen anyone gain anything from using it, and believe me people (myself included, sadly) have tried. If Bruce Clapham sees this he can probably explain the combustion chemistry and why the oxygen doesn't release in a usable state.
Acetone is used by some ice racers to aid in starting on super cold mornings, but it has no value beyond it's low vaporization temps, despite what chemistry impaired dimwits will try and tell you.
MTBE in it's PURE FORM is an excellent additive and does add oxygen to the combustion process. Not enough to support the increases these lunkheads are claiming, but it has real value and is a part of every race fuel I use. BUT, it will cause very high Digatron readings (pure MTBE has a reading of 325) so using it may cause a problem based on the rules of the race series. MTBE is a racers friend, but at $40 per liter it doesn't come without a price.
Toluene has some value in raising the end point temperature of the fuel and providing some degree of piston cooling. In pure form it has excellent octane properties as well, but it will NOT make any extra power on it's own. The toluene that is in paint thinners is full of random crap and has no place in a race engine. Pure toluene is useful but expensive, Home Depot toluene is best left to painters and high school huffers.
The power gain claims this guy is attributing to laquer thinner and the above listed chemicals are false So he is either an idiot or a liar. Either way take what he says with a huge grain of salt. Don't forget, anyone with an internet account can post anything they want on a website. ;)
Firepower 537 which is also sold as Phillips P45 is specifically made for karting applications. It has the right octane, distillation curve and the correct Digitron numbers.
TT111 and C12 are good fuels but to make the engine live you'll have to tune it much more conservatively than you would with a fuel like FP 537.
hot125mod said:
Would I be better off using ...
You'd be better off having Eric help you design a complete package for the application rather than trying to piece it together. Shifter kart stuff is a lot different than MX, so working with someone who has done a lot of successful kart engines will save you a lot of grief and probably money in the long run.