Has anyone tried this yet? In your MINI or otherwise?
Interestingly, I have been reading on a website where small amounts of acetone can be used to improve gas mileage. We're talking one to three ounces per ten gallons of gas. The claim is that it reduces the surface tension on droplets which enable them to atomize better. Less emissions too?

http://www.lubedev.com/smartgas/additive.htm

 

There are a couple of threads about this over at mini2.com

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...hlight=Acetone

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...hlight=Acetone

Personally I think the results are inconclusive, and that website source is pretty shady at best.

 

this has been a old fuel trick for many years, not new snake oil. i have been involved in motorcycle racing for 25 years. i am not a chemist, but i have mixed acetone with fuel and have seen better throttle response using my trusty dyno. (change things without telling my rider then ask how does it run,HA) i have always got the answer, dad my bike runs awesome. now the bad news, acetone is hard on many rubber products. i had issues with carb o rings and fuel lines, petcock problems. my advice is DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO EXCEPT THE PROBLEMS!!!! if you want to play with fuel, buy race gas. it is formulated by chemists to make power and not attack the fuel system. one more thing, the race fuel you buy at the gas pump is better, but if you want good fuel check with a race team and buy the real deal. remember most people drive these cars every day, the engine is made to run on pump gas, if you want that last little advantage get your wallet out and pay for good stuff. if you want to play with fuel, do it on your weedeater or lawnmower.

 

Great comments Willie. I would not "mix" my own fuel for any of my own cars, especially one that is still under warranty. However, My 1990 E-350 van with a 460 big block is another story. I average 10mpg on a good day in that beast and it is worth a try I am thinking.

One more thing. Having run av-gas, VP and ERC as well as other racing fuels in our race cars over the last ten years, I would be careful what you put into your MINI.

 

Oxygenated molecules like acetone liberate less energy on burning than hydrocarbons, because, well, there're already partially "burned" (i.e., some of the carbons are already bonded to oxygen). So, I would guess that acetone would function something like another oxygenated molecule added to increase octane levels: MTBE. Note that as octane level of gasoline increases, the amount of energy released on complete combustion of the fuel decreases. The slower energy release actually helps engines extract more power, since the fuel/air mix tends not to explode. Acetone, however, is very volatile, and adding too much might cause vapor lock in the fuel line or vaporization in the cylinders, which could increase the combustion rate.

However, the other issue is the rubber in the fuel line, injector seals, and other places that could seriously swell and split in a polar solvent like acetone.

 

I do know you can increase octane with toluene and/or xylene

search for homebrew race gas. . .

 

i see someone knows about race fuel, mtbe is the way to go if you want to play with fuel, we are running up to 22% o2 in our race bikes. we do this for starts only as 2.7% is legal for our sanction. since our bikes are carb and not injected this causes a lean mixture and would require jetting to run for a complete race. one thing to remember, too much octane is counter productive. and octane boosters are witches brew. you can mix high octane fuel with lower octane fuel and this is perfectly fine. 112 +93=102.5

 

I decided to try it out on my Ford 2004 4x4 F150 which has been averaging 13.5 mpg.
I added 2 oz of pure acetone to 20 gals and reset my mpg readout on the truck.
I have run about 12 gals of gas part city and part hwy.
When doing city the readout is 16.5 and on the hwy doing 75mph the readout is 17.8 mpg.
That's using regular unleaded.
I have never seen my mpg readout that high.
So skeptics aside I can see improvement in mpg, better takeoff speed, instant start-up.

Anyone else tried it?
Here's another link.
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/new...00069_Acetone/ Flying out to Cleveland Monday to pick up my 06 mini from Classic Mini.

 

this must be a second thread started on the same topic!!

 

If you are referring to this thread
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...hlight=acetone
I think this thread on the subject of acetone as a fuel additive was started first if you look at the start dates.
No big deal though.