Vapor Systems

      As was mentioned earlier, liquid fuel doesn't burn. Some of the most effective high mileage devices are designed to fully vaporize the fuel. They use heat, turbulence and allow sufficient time for the fuel and air to mix fully. These all operate on the same principle, and were designed to replace the existing carburetor.

      A few earlier systems involved drawing gas vapors from the fuel tank or float bowl. These have a major drawback in that the fuel composition gradually changes. Lighter fuel components evaporate more readily so the remaining liquid fuel in the tank becomes heavier and less volatile.

      More recent developments have simplified things greatly and are intended to supplement existing systems rather than replace them. The simplest system involves dripping fuel into the PCV hose. The hose is made longer than standard to give the fuel time to fully vaporize. This type of system offers the greatest mileage improvements for the least complication.
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The SuperCarb Process

      Gasoline is a blend of dozens of different components, all with differing boiling points. The smaller molecule components vaporize easily and generally have a higher octane rating. It is the large molecule components that cause the problems of pinging. These large components are also the ones that don't vaporize easily, instead boiling off after the initial combustion has taken place. 

      If the fuel could be produced comprising small molecules only, then our engines would run cleaner and more efficiently. This is exactly what LPG does.

      Thermal catalytic cracking refers to the process of cracking large molecule hydrocarbons into smaller molecules using heat and some sort of catalyst. It is how the oil refineries process crude oil into gasoline and other products. Catalysts are typically metals such as nickel or copper. Silica type desiccant is also a catalyst.

      The process involves heating the hydrocarbon and adding steam in the presence of a catalytic substance. Hydrogen from the water chemically combines with the hydrocarbon molecules which are broken into smaller more volatile components. The process is endothermic, meaning energy must be added to make it happen. The early high mileage carburetors often provided all the necessary conditions to enable this cracking process to proceed. They would occasionally get incredible mileage, and it didn't go unnoticed that mileage was better on humid days. Waste heat was being used constructively to increase the stored chemical energy in the fuel. The smaller molecule fuel has higher energy content because the carbon bonds were partially broken and because hydrogen has been added to the molecules. Then these lighter fuel components would combust more efficiently and yield better mileage. 

       But fuel also contains additives that would coat the metal components and thus block the catalytic process. Because the inventors of the past didn't know what was happening, they had difficulty achieving consistent results with their supercarb systems. Modern high mileage devices still have the problem of additives to overcome but at least we know what is going on and can design our systems for easy cleaning.

       If you drive a fuel injected vehicle it won't matter what system you use to improve gas vaporization, your mileage gain isn't going to be as great as it should, because your cars computer will compensate by adding extra fuel. That is unless you fool the computer by altering the signal from the oxygen sensor.