Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Using regular when mix is required

I have a question. Me and my friends are building a go cart, and we found a leaf blower engine, took off the fan, and hooked a gear up to the part that spins, and connected a chain. It looks like it will work. But there is only one problem. The fuel it needs is a mix. I have no clue what the ratio is. Will it hurt the engine if I run it on just gasoline?

Yes, you will quickly seize the engine and it will be junk. What make of leaf blower?

not sure. will it hurt the engine if i just use a half and half mix? even if thats wrong? All I know is that it requires two stroke oil for the mix.

That would be way too oily. Kind of a crap-shoot if you don't know. Could be anywhere from 16:1 to 50:1, so if you want to just experiment use a 16:1 (8 oz oil per gallon of gas) mix, but try to find out what make of engine it is and a small engine repair shop can probably tell you the proper mix. If it smokes excessively and oil-fouls the plug at 16:1 you can try something a little leaner. I think my blower is 32:1.

I'd suggest a 32:1 ratio. I believe that is 4oz of oil to 1 gallon of gasoline. Also, make sure you are using oil formulated for air cooled engines, not outboard or snowmobile engines (water cooled) Higher octane gas may be required to get that little leaf blower engine to move a go-kart, too.

What do you mean by 'air cooled'? Because when you say that, I think of a fan and radiator. Do you mean it's cooled by the air surrounding it? Where can I buy this type of oil?

Go to home depot and pick up you a can of lawnboy 2 cycle oil it comes in a 8oz cans and a 2 gallon plastic gas can and pour the whole can in the 2 gal. gas can and then fill it up with gas it will be 32:1 and you will be good to go.

Jerry

:) thanks Jerry. But unfortunantly, I don't have a home depot near me. Will an auto zone, or lows work?

Lowes, walmart, autozone and nearly every other store that sells oil should have 2-cycle oil. Many gas stations carry it. Mixing instructions are on the bottle.

Air cooled means and engine that is cooled by nothing but air. A water cooled engine is what you're thinking of with the radiator and fan.

I have no clue what the ratio is.

It should be possible to determine the engine's make and model, with this info you could easily google it and find the manual or at least what the proper ratio is. What brand of leafblower did it come from?

If it's of any help, all the small 2-stroke engines used on leaf blowers and weed whackers I have ever seen all used a high mix ratio between 40:1 and 50:1 gasoline/synthetic 2-cycle oil. Using more oil (within reason) probably won't damage the engine but it will produce more smoke than horsepower.