Vintage Sears Garden Tractors
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HIGH TEST FUEL

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Post  ss12 October 14th 2015, 8:19 am

has anyone tried running any race fuels in there tractors i have heard that while using race fuels like VP fuels or sunoko the tractor runs better runs cleaner due to low compression im sure you will not see any performance ganes. a buddy of mine just gave me a gallon of VP 112 ocetane leaded racing fuel will this hurt my 60s and early 70s sears or be good for them i dont use them alot 2 gallons last a few months in each machine i thing this could be a benifit for me any input from anyone
ss12
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Post  Georgia SS October 14th 2015, 11:33 pm

Hi
You could probably get dozens of opinions about fuel if ever one wakes up. Just my experience, back in the 1980 + time I built a 300 hp 350 chevy W/ small chamber heads and 194 intake valves, flat top pistons, vette cam, about 10.5 comp. for my ever day elcamino, blue printed, dialed in the cam, ran very strong but unleaded fuel was coming around so to keep the spark knock down and the ign. timing up I learned after some expermenting with several mixtures I used half unleaded premium (no etanol at that time) and half leaded regular, worked great, so idea would be mix equal parts of the fuel you have with equal parts of unleaded regular if you can find some ethanol free fuel. I feel like at that time the unleaded fuel had some very high octane, for I could run some good timing without pre ignition.
Have A Good One
Jimmy

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Post  seattle smitty October 15th 2015, 1:00 am

Very high octane is only needed to avert detonation in high compression or supercharged engines. I can't imagine that your low-compression garden tractors are anywhere near detonation. The race gas probably won't hurt anything, but it won't help either. Period. Of course there are lots of guys who will tell you how much better their ordinary street cars ran when they put race gas or airplane gas in it one time. You can't talk sense to these guys, and men who know anything about gasoline stand by, saying nothing, rolling their eyes. Save that can of race-gas for a high-performance engine like a hopped-up and really fast motorcycle. Don't waste it on a lawn mower.

Most gas engines in most applications are designed for 87 octane.  If you keep the spark timing where it's supposed to be, and if you don't let the engine get all carboned-up (from running way too rich or from worn valve guides or rings) 87 octane is what you want.

To make octane requirements more clear, your car that was engineered to take 87 octane really doesn't need that much, a lot of the time. When you are driving down a level freeway with a light load at cruising speed, your engine might only be putting out about 30 horsepower, and it could probably do just fine on 67 octane. But the engineers assume that someday you will be accelerating up a hill with your foot on the floor and with your car fully loaded and pulling a trailer on a hot day, so they have set up your engine to be able to do that with 87 octane. In other words, for the worst expected case, 87 octane is just enough for your car to stay out of detonation.

In some cases it can be worthwhile to use mid-grade (89) gasoline in lawn equipment, especially 2-strokes like chainsaws and weedeaters, that don't get used a lot, because when the gasoline sits in the tank for months, it can lose a little of its effective octane.

BTW, with 2-strokes that take pre-mixed gas and oil, be sure you shake the machine whenever you use it, to re-mix the pre-mix.

Even in a 4-stroke, mixing a tiny amount of 2-stroke oil in the fuel can help keep a steel fuel tank from rusting, and it gives the valve-guides a little extra lubrication, especially on start-up and especially if the engine sits for long periods. But again, shake it to re-mix the oil.

Many sources will tell you that Chevron gas has the best additive/cleaner package in the business. Chevron's Delo 400 and Shell Rotella are very good oils.

It is good to be fuel-conscious. Mechanics in mower-and-saw shops (I was one, long ago) will tell you that about 3/4 of small engine problems are fuel-system-related. This is because dumb owners leave their various machines sitting month after month with the same gas in it. First thing a mechanic does is remove the gas cap and sniff at the fuel. When it smells like a drunken skunk died and rotted inside the tank, the mechanic knows what kind of owner he's dealing with, and where to look first for problems. Think about it; these are small engines, with small carburetors that have very small passages metering very small fuel flows. So if the system isn't maintained, if the gas isn't reasonably fresh, if the filters and hoses aren't in good shape, those tiny carburetor passages crud up and plug up easily. This is especially true of little 2-stroke equipment like chainsaws and weedeaters and those little bitty rototillers; these are very small engines with very fine screens inside their pumper carburetors. Guys will tell you how unreliable 2-strokes are.  What they are really telling you is that they are no good at maintenance.

There's a lot of howling about gasohol, and how it supposedly absorbs quantities of water right out of the air, yadda, yadda. This is considerably exaggerated, though possibly a problem in very humid or marine environments. You might have to rebuild an old carb with a kit with upgraded, ethanol-resistant parts. And you definitely should replace rubber fuel lines in every piece of equipment that has them, maybe every 6-8 years. If your machine pre-dates the widespread use of gasohol, you need to get the fuel tank cleaned.  The ethanol slowly dissolves any crud that built up in the bottom of the tank in the pre-gasohol days, and some of this dissolved glop can even get past a new fuel filter. So it's best to get the tank cleaned; after that, the gasohol will keep it clean. If you're worried about it absorbing water out of the air, keep the tank either completely full or completely empty when not using the machine.

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Post  ss12 October 15th 2015, 8:27 am

i figured i had the fuel so id try it i drained the gas that was in it and put 112 leaded vp race gas back in it. the first thing you notice is how pure it looks in the fuel filter its a blue color. second thing i notice is ease of starting this particular machine can never be started cold with out choke, it started with out choke. and of coarse the sweet smell it puts out the pipe. of coarse i didnt notice any power increase which i didnt expect to being low compression but throttle response is 10 times better no bogging, and the ocasional miss the little engines have is gone the only tip i have is after running a bit pull the plug and it will show you have a little tolean mix adjut the carb to the fuel and no problem. for me i have a good connection with race gas so i dont have to pay very much for it so its not too bad for me but as for long term results its too soon to tell i only did it last night after this tank im going to go up to our local airport and pick up agallon of 100ll av gas and experiment with that. i know some of you guys say 87 is just fine but for me its just not working these tractors just sit i start them ocasionaly just to hear them run pull a wood cart sometimes and push snow in the winter and just for riding my daughter around (she loves to ride on mowers) and im just so tired of haveing lines eat up and pumping bad gas out my tanks and rebuilding carbs on tractors that do run long enough to justifie needing it really depends on availabilty, and cost (honestly its almost worth it just for the smell)
ss12
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Post  ss12 October 15th 2015, 8:39 am

im really only looking for relibility, ease of use and not having to service my fuel systems on a regular basis the only thing im not sure of is the leaded. i know in the 60s leaded fuel was stil being used i can also get unleaded race fuel what are the pros and cons of leaded and unleaded will the leaded hurt anything
ss12
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Post  TKW October 15th 2015, 9:33 am

12 , nothing wrong with the leaded fuel it will give some upper engine lubrication. you may notice engine running a little hotter though keep an eye on that. i use a lead additive in my chainsaw gas for the lubrication benefit. my son raced mx and tt atv's for 12 years built both two and four stroke motors we run VP fuel leaded both straight and oxide its good stuff

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Post  ss12 October 15th 2015, 9:42 am

thats prolly why altot of the old h120s and such have valve problems cause they were ment for leaded fuel and no one runs leaded any more. i listened tomyold tractor idle for bout 30 mins last night with the race fuel it seems to run much smoother and it didnt even blow puffs of smoke every no and then like it usually does
ss12
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Post  TKW October 15th 2015, 10:23 am

12 , VP's web page should give you more information on their product , may check that out. good luck > tim

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Post  Georgia SS October 15th 2015, 10:13 pm

Hey Guys
Got a good subject rolling, I repaired, rebuilt engines for many years, the lubrication back then was not as good as todays oils, in the good old days you could not keep rings and valve guides in the old motors, but the lead in gasoline helped some to make the rings and guides live a while by coating pistons and rings , valves and guides with a layer of carbon for the wear agent, talk to the machine shop guys about unleaded gas cutting the guides out of older engines, propane will destroy engine valves and guides also. Wheather the premium gas makes more horsepower or not, the better starting and running is worth it. propane conversions on onan gensets wont live a very long life in the upper cylinder.
My Two Cents Worth
Jimmy

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Post  TKW October 16th 2015, 11:01 am

jimmy, seen some non-detergent oil on the shelf at wally world the other day , got me to wondering if using that in engines without oil filters would get a little more life out of them. was always told that it allowed the contaminates to settle out of it compared to detergent oil held contaminates suspended that were then caught by the filter. is my thinking right or am i misinformed about that. or does it not amount to a ant hill of beans. thoughts , comments anyone > tim

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Post  Georgia SS October 16th 2015, 10:31 pm

Hey Guys
Tim brought a new wrinkle into this discussion, Still just my opinion, yes auto manufactures and engine builders say non det. oil lets debris settle to the pan and stay till drained and hi det. oil keeps debris mixed in oil to be filtered out. In the old days we would drain oil, pour in a gal. of kerosine run the engine a few minutes and drain to get out some of the gunk, but also with leaded gas and non det. oil an engine would get really nasty all over the insides, even clogging oil passages.Remember kendall oil was the first to recomend a 2000 mile oil change, can't you just see folks changing oil every 1000 miles and points and plugs ever 10,000, manufactures said if you did't tune up ever 10,000, the next 10,000 would cost you more in fuel than the price of a tune up. Now my story on oils, tore down a 1966 chevy 366 truck motor with 300,000 miles and could still read the factory inspection white paint pencil marking inside the block, never had a drop of any oil but cities service kool motor oil also back in the 1950 & 1960 area of time I dirt track racing in Georgia & Florida, for years we ran 261 chevy. 6 cyl. and didn't run in the back either,& progressed up to the small block chevy, most all the guys we ran with thought you had to have the most advertised engine oil to keep your engin together, all my racing career and race motor building i used cities service non det. oil, in about 15 years of racing never blew an engine, also can be verified by a few old timers around south Georgia, oh and my oil got called fish grease and other names. Non det oil lubricates as good or better than hi det. oil, both have their own purpose.
Have A Good One
Jimmy

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