Mother's Alcohol Preheater

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Wrap the soft copper line tightly around the pipe and solder a continuous bead at the ends (clean both copper surfaces thoroughly to assure a solid joint)...Here are all the components you 71 need to complete the job...Splice the preheater into your upper radiator hose, and join the fuel line to the coil as shown...The flow meter installed in MOTHER's alcohol-powered truck (which registers either gallons per hour, miles per gallon, or miles per hour depending on its setting) indicates that fuel consumption is about 4.8 gallons per hour-or 11.4 miles per gallon?at 55 MPH. STAFF PHOTOS

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The gadget is merely a preheater that uses the engine's cooling system to warm the fuel just before it flows Into your vehicle's carburetor. Although such a warmup isn't really necessary in MOTHER's relatively temperate climate, there are folks in other parts of the United State—sand especially Canada—who will appreciate the benefits that our easy-to-make preheater can provide.

HOW IT WORKS

Cold alcohol from the fuel pump is —rather than being routed directly to the carburetor—"detoured" through a length of copper tubing that's coiled around a short section of copper pipe. This piece of conduit, in turn, is spliced into the upper radiator hose of your automobile.

Naturally, as the fluid within the engine's cooling system reaches normal temperature (which may be—depending on your vehicle— anywhere from 160° to 195°F), the warm liquid transfers a good deal of its heat to the copper-pipe—and—tubing assembly ... where, of course, the alcohol fuel can pick up the warmth while on its way to the carburetor.

Because ethanol doesn't vaporize as well as does gasoline (and such poor vaporization is, of course, aggravated by low temperatures), the preheating device actually serves two purposes: [1] It allows warm fuel to enter the carburetor, which makes that "atomizer's" task easier and prevents cold weather carb problems ... and [2] the more efficient "mixer", in turn, provides increased fuel vaporization within the intake manifold, which improves engine economy. (The powerplant's inlet piping will, of course, become warm itself soon after the vehicle starts running, but the fuel preheating process does provide another helpful "boost".)

BUILD IT YOURSELF

The copper ethanol—warmer takes less than an hour to make and install. Start by cutting a piece of 1-3/4" O.D. (outside diameter) copper pipe to about 5" in length. (The external diameter of this conduit section will, of course, be dependent on the inside diameter of your upper radiator hose, since the hose must fit snugly around the ends of the pipe.) Try to use conduit with an approximately 1/8"-thick wall ... to prevent the pipe from collapsing when you begin to force the softer tubing around it.

Next check the diameter of the fuel line, and cut yourself a 42" length of copper tubing with the same diameter (most automobiles use 5/16" or 3/8" line). Clean the metal tube off with steel wool, then wrap it tightly around the 5" length of conduit that you cut previously. (Be sure this pipe's surface is also thoroughly cleaned.) Six full coils should be sufficient, but remember to leave a 1-1/2" "tail" at each end of the copper "spring" to affix a fuel line inlet and outlet. (By the same token, allow some room at both ends of the large pipe ... to use when you splice your preheater into your cooling line.)

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