Ether Powered Festiva gets 12mpc

[sketchman]

Funny story. The o ring on my fuel pump slipped the other day. The car was in the middle of nowhere, so it was time for a little MacGuiver engineering. I duck-taped an old washing machine drain hose to the intake and ran it through the passenger side window. Clamped it to the mirror, shot in some starting fluid and the motor started and ran for a while.

Interesting. So, I put it in gear and off I went. I had to get it home, after all. It was quite a challenge to aim a spray can at a hose and steer and shift at the same time, but it was worth the story.

I had wasted half a can at least the day before trying to get the car to run, so on roughly 1/2 a can of fluid, I drove the car about 6 miles. Not too bad.

[ejp2fast]

very creative! sure beats pushing....

[sam.1956]

ROFL! Now that's some serious Down-home Engineering! Sounds like a Po Boy's NOS substitute to me. Hit the spray & shoot away. Or in this case it might be, "Bust the foam & limp it home."

[sketchman]

"Bust the foam & limp it home."

You'd be amazed how well a Festiva will run on Ether. Acceleration is difficult and jerky with a manual trans, but cruising at 50mph(yeah I got it up that fast) is just as smooth as normal running.

[sam.1956]

Man, how totally cool is that? I humbly bow in light of your creativity & inventiveness! So what happens with a normally running Festy engine if you shoot some ether into the intake? Does it boost-up kinda like a small shot of NOS?

[sketchman]

No. I tried that before. It kills the motor. Here's why it works if the fuel pump is not working. IMO

You push the gas pedal and gas and air should be sucked into the motor. There isn't any gas, so the motor is sucking air. Won't start. A shot of ether gives the motor some fuel to suck in with the air so it runs until the ether is gone.

The formula for ether power was, Put the car in gear, and shoot the tube, then mash the gas and let off the clutch. Then do the same for each gear until 5th. Then while cruising as you would normally, shoot a little every 10-15 seconds. The engine runs smoothly and just as powerfully as if it had nothing wrong with it.