Can I burn kerosene in my ford 8n?

[phil tokish]

Can I burn kerosene in my ford 8n?
mixed with gas or by it self
to save gas and money
With gas being so high

Thanks
phil

 

[Soundguy]

Technically yes.. you could cut your gas with kerosene.. but with the normal carb.. you will get less than perfect results.

If you could find the rare 8nan vaporizing carb.. then you could run tvo/kerosene with just a small HP loss. I wouldn't hold my breath on finding one.

In any case.. starting on gas then switching to kero once warm would be the ticket.. Ever see a jd with 2 fuel tanks.. a 1g gas tank.. and then a large kero tank.

I guess you could rig up some creative valving and a small lawnmower fuel tank and do the same.

I'd love to see pictures if you do.. These old engines are tough.. you deffinately won't hurt anything.. just don't expect gasolene hp out of kero fuel..

lastly... are you paying less for kero than gas? I can't find kero for less.. etc..

Soundguy

 

[phil tokish]

(are you paying less for kero than gas? I can't find kero for less..)
a little less than gas im thinking about getting a small fuel tank
for gas and the big one for kerosene and u think I won't hurt anything
with running kerosene in the ford 8n

ok
Thanks for the help

phil

 

[California]

Phil, Soundguy -

Are you sure that will work? I think kero will run like gas that has unacceptably low octane. I think it would cause so much pre-ignition (dieseling) that the operator would give up before destroying the engine. I'm assuming the 8n engine is designed similar to an automotive engine, in contrast to the old dual-fuel engines that would run on anything volatile.

I've experimented with paint thinner and coleman fuel in old cars, just to get rid of waste material, and found I had to add more gasoline to get the octane back up to a usable level. Roughly, the practical limit was 20% adulterants.

 

[Soundguy]

cali...There -WERE- N's that ran on tvo.. I mentioned the part number.. 8NAN for instance. To do this properly you need the vaporizing carb that is not readilly available.

This is a low rpm, low compression engine... While I havn't looked at the timing, I'm 'guessing' a timing tweak will be needed.

Also.. I imagine it will want to be started on gas, then at the end of the work.. switched back over to gas to clear the lines and get the carb ready for another start... etc.

Check the manual. there is info in the I&T FO-4 listed for the "AN" tvo/kero version. AFAIK.. it is the same block, crank, pistons, valves, cam.. etc.. just a carb swap.. etc..

Heat range of the spark plugs may want to be adjusted.. or use oem recomendation..e tc..

Soundguy

 

[AMP762]

We've got a IH gas kero,but as said here kero is higher.

 

[simonmeridew]

K-1 Kero is about 30 cents higher per gallon around here. However off road diesel is about 7 cents less than gas. Honestly not enough to put up with carb hassles etc. My 8N has so much low end torque since I rebuilt the engine I wouldn't want to experiment and chance problems.
(Just don't try to go the other way and put gas in your diesel tractor. Can you spell chinese new year??)
simonmeridew

 

[xlr82v2]

Also, on most of the old kero burners, you have to drain the crankcase oil back down to normal levels every few hours... I guess the kero blow by goes down into the crankcase and causes the engine oil level to rise.

I think the kero engines were made more out of necessity during WW I and WW II rationing than because there was any benefit over gasoline. Kerosine in a spark ignition engine, from everything that I've seen, is a pretty big hassle if you ask me. But, I have no experience with them other than talking to the old timers with them at the tractor shows.

 

[Soundguy]

For sure they are more work... Many.. like the JD's.. started on gas, and then you switched over to tvo.. etc., and then back to gas at the end of the day to clean the carb bowl in prep for tomorrows start.. etc.

Add to that the fact that a vaporizing tvo carb for an 8n will likely be a very, very, hard to find part..

Soundguy

 

[WTA]

The old tractors almost all had low compression, low RPM engines and octane is an irrelevant term in them. They can burn any gas you put in them. The farmalls I've had actually ran best on low octane gasoline. In fact I think it was the super C owners manual called for a minimum of 60 octane. I don't think gas has ever been available that was near that low.

If you have an old one pinging on regular unleaded it's got problems. Probably someone tried to set the timing by ear instead of doing it right. That was the most common problem I ever fixed.

I had one old distillate tractor and it ran ok on it but gasoline ran better and was always cheaper so that's what I kept in both tanks.
You do have to drain down the oil level after each days use on them. That's why those old ones had two petcocks installed in the pan. You drain it down to the lower one according to the manual after a day of running kero. It actually fills up pretty fast. The owners manual called for changing the oil a lot more often too but I forget how much. It was a wartime necessity mostly just like most of the steel wheels back in the 40's and 50's but it goes back farther than that too. Many places, like here, didn't have too many gas stations back then. Almost all the tractors built from the 30's untill the early 70's or so in this area were propane. That was because the remote farms could have a propane service come out to them when the gasoline companies would not make the trip. I am still dealing with that on the gas and diesel tractors now. They won't talk to me unless I use a lot more than I do currently so I have to haul a big tank to town in my truck to fill up.