Timing by Vacuum

[NVSmith]

-drmiller100;
-Ah, yes, the old latent heat of vaporization trick... Frankly, I remember the term and vaguely what it means, but by your analogy that probably explains why alky is/was used as an injection to cool gasoline cylinders and prevent detonation.
-Other than plans for the (very) short lived race engines which, are virtually rebuilt after every use, can you suggest a source of information for what an engine specifically designed to run on alky would look like? Setting aside the problem of starting in cold weather, I have to go back to my previous post and add another item of interest: method of ignition. If by spark plug, what type at what voltage? One plug or two?
-It sounds as if alky is both more AND less efficient by manner of usage.
-Just to confuse the issue, we had a tractor that started on gas but ran on kerosene. And it was lousy gas for a 1930s era tractor.

[NVSmith]

Mech, re: #17, other than the fact that we're talking about things that go "boom" I agree that reloading can lead to stretched analogies.
-Many, MANY, years ago I had an acquaintance who bought a new Navy Arms rolling block in .45/70 and proceeded to reload for it. He was, as you will see, a "newbie" to reloading. He touched off round #1 and that was all she wrote. Thank goodness for Navy Arms quality control, use of modern steels and the inherent strength of the rolling block action. For whatever reason, and he had one, he had used either Bullseye or Unique in the .45/70. I'm sure you can imagine the result. The action was ruined; we learned later that the barrel was ruined as well. Unbelieveably, he sent the rifle back to Navy Arms with a nasty note & they sent him a new one... I don't know what he put in his letter but Val & pals HAD to know what happened.

[smokey442]

To the question of best torque ignition timing really needs to be done on a dyno. If you have the ability to adjust it the is a lot to had. That having been said most manufacturers recomendations are on the conservative side for reasons of warrantee considerations. It appears that the ethanol discussion fails to mention the MON octane rating.