# Gas in Diesel Engines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 21, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341 "2004-09-21T16:23:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/41 "2005-02-28T23:28:57Z")
Definitely crossing over into spam, now. Note the bottom of the newspaper article: > [@](#): > > The above article was edited by the Sonex inventor, Dr. Andrew Pouring. The writer, James Bauernschmidt, is a minor shareholder of Sonex (\<1% of outstanding shares). He can be reached at [bauernschmidt@usa.net](mailto:bauernschmidt@usa.net). The patent number for the Sonex piston is US 5,862,788, issued January 26, 1999. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/42 "2005-02-28T23:45:43Z")
> [@JamesB](#): > > Interesting discussion. Do you know that a gas engine can be built to accomodate diesel fuel, or for that matter just about any kind of fuel? Here’s an article explaining a new technology. :smack: > > [http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/toast/gasEngineUseDiesel.htm](http://www.washingtonfreepress.org/toast/gasEngineUseDiesel.htm) **JamesB** , please stop riding your commercial solicitations on top of comments on my article. You’re not getting any new sales from this place; the marketing and sales specialist who advised you to try this needs to be out on the street selling rats at three farthings a squeak. If that’s you, well… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JamesB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90ced4/32.png) [@JamesB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamesB)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/43 "2005-03-01T13:53:55Z")
The intent of my article is to inform that a gas engine can be easily modified to accommodate diesel fuel. If you feel insulted that this solution undermines your article, then so be it. However, the truth is that engines can be built which can use just about any kind of fuel simultaneously. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/44 "2005-03-01T14:02:11Z")
> [@chique](#): > > Because they were the same damn size and on the same damn island, that’s why. :mad: No, the diesel nozzle is bigger than the hole in the car for the gas nozzle. I went and checked it after I had the car back on the road. And **Una** , what’s the conversion rate for farthings/squeak to dollars/pound? I’m looking for a new rat supplier. I think I can convert them to cats. I’ll link a website after our marketing guys get it finished. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/45 "2005-03-01T14:11:40Z")
Perhaps you forgot the other thread you posted on this topic. I’ll link it here: [LINK DISABLED BY MODERATOR – CKDH] This place has a small problem with people trying to attach commercial adverts onto Staff Reports, Cecil’s Columns, and general threads on the Board. Your manner of approach is that of one doing commercial advertisement. We expect that a person interested in the research and technology aspects would be trying to establish a dialogue moreso than linking to their project, product, invention, or conceptual idea. This place welcomes scientists and engineers and inventors who wish to talk about their ideas and, with logic and facts, espouse why their idea has merits. However, it’s also very sensitive to commercial proposals or items which appear to be commercial proposals at first blush, often generating a hostile reaction - and there are specific and general Rules about the scope of commercial ties between Board postings and off-Board items. Therefore, if your purpose is to come here to discuss your ideas and the merits thereof, you will likely have to change your tack before you get much discussion back and open a technical dialogue and exchange of ideas and viewpoints - which, I might add, this place is very good at doing. Your initial presence on this Board appears to be commercial; if that’s not the case then perhaps a different approach by yourself is needed. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/46 "2005-03-01T14:28:30Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > And **Una** , what’s the conversion rate for farthings/squeak to dollars/pound? I’m looking for a new rat supplier. I think I can convert them to cats. I’ll link a website after our marketing guys get it finished. 😉 Farthings/squeak into dollars/pound? OK…let’s assume “1 squeak” is slang for “1 rat”. OK, not just assume, since I wrote it I knew what I meant. And then assume an 18-month old rat is approximately 500g to 800g - say 700g, since we want to sell nice, fat, premium rats. But not the absolute best - you know, like Emporio Armani versus Armani. OK, 700g is about 1.54 lbm, so that’s how much a squeak weighs. But what’s a farthing worth? Well, a farthing was worth 1/4 of a British penny, and ignoring any of the decimalization mess, let’s say that makes 400 farthings per modern UK Pound. Looking at my HSBC bank statement online, a UK pound is about $1.918, so a farthing is worth 0.4795 cents, and 3 farthings thus equal to $0.0144. So on a per-pound basis, that’s 1.54 lbm \* $0.0144/lbm = $0.022 per squeak. Now, if it’s sold as a commercial product, we can use fractional dollars and cents - since we’re dealing with bulk quantities of rats. But if you’re selling them on the streetcorner, you most likely have to take hard currency or a cheque. Therefore, we round up to the nearest cent, and say 3 cents per squeak, or maybe 2 squeaks a nickel if we want to be more fair…note as well I’m ignoring the numismatic value of the farthing…but it’s my marketplace, so there. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/47 "2005-03-01T15:12:10Z")
Are you spamming rats now? Or ratting Spam? Do you have a piece without so much rat in it? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/48 "2005-03-01T16:40:46Z")
JamesB, speaking as one of the board moderators, I am going to ask that you stop posting links to a certain website from a company in Annapolis, MD advertising solutions to combustion and ignition engineering problems. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/49 "2005-03-01T19:27:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sean Factotum] No, the diesel nozzle is bigger than the hole in the car for the gas nozzle. I went and checked it after I had the car back on the road. [QUOTE] No, they were the same damn size on the same damn island. _I_ went and checked, along with my grandfather, after I had the car back on the road. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/50 "2005-03-01T19:59:56Z")
[QUOTE=chique] [QUOTE=Sean Factotum] No, the diesel nozzle is bigger than the hole in the car for the gas nozzle. I went and checked it after I had the car back on the road. > [@](#): > > No, they were the same damn size on the same damn island. > > _I_ went and checked, along with my grandfather, after I had the car back on the road. Diesel refueling nozzles come in two different sizes. There are big ones on pumps frequented by 18 wheelers for fast fueling. There are smaller ones on other diesel pumps normally used by diesel cars and pickup trucks. (I’ve never compared however, whether the small ones are exactly the same as unleaded nozzles.) The large, fast nozzles can be difficult to use on some diesel pickups. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/51 "2005-03-01T22:56:50Z")
> [@Una Persson](#): > > Well, a farthing was worth 1/4 of a British penny, and ignoring any of the decimalization mess, let’s say that makes 400 farthings per modern UK Pound. There was never a decimalized farthing; the only farthing there ever was was 960 to a pound. (Yes, I know you _say_ you’re ignoring decimalization, but what you’re actually doing is enthroning it.) There was a decimal halfpenny, at 200 to the pound, but that was demonetized in 1984. Back when there _was_ a farthing (and there hasn’t been for about 50 years), it was worth about 1/2 of a then US cent, or about a nickel today. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/52 "2005-03-02T01:57:52Z")
Well, I didn’t want to convert between the old and new systems, since I’m not certain exactly what would be the most accurate way. If anyone sends me a real farthing, I’ll write “squeak” on a piece of paper and send it back to them. That’s as real as this thought experiement shall get. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/53 "2005-03-02T08:42:53Z")
> [@Una Persson](#): > > Well, I didn’t want to convert between the old and new systems, since I’m not certain exactly what would be the most accurate way. > > If anyone sends me a real farthing, I’ll write “squeak” on a piece of paper and send it back to them. That’s as real as this thought experiement shall get. 🙂 squeak squeak squeak squeak Maybe now someone will send _me_ two farthings and a ha’penny. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341/54 "2005-03-03T14:24:48Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > squeak squeak squeak squeak > Maybe now someone will send _me_ two farthings and a ha’penny. 😃 Or some grease. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gas-in-diesel-engines/265341.md?page=2)