This thread on ether vs. gasoline brought me back to my high school auto shop class. (many many years ago) Our shop teacher was a wise old bird (insert your personal vision of HRL here) and he would use acetylene to start fresh rebuilt motors. He would stick the torch in the carburetor and crack the acetylene valve while we were cranking. I remember those motors lighting off right off the bat. I guess he figured that he didn't want a bunch of rookies sloshing gas around the shop. I'm not even sure that aerosol ether was invented back then. I have never tried acetylene since but I'm of the squeeze bottle of gas down the carb vent school of thought.
SimS
