Where the heck are you getting figures of any engine - gas or diesel - with 80% efficiency? That's a dream. Some of the most fuel efficient gas engines are reaching 35% and the best diesels around 45%.
If a farm tractor company today was offering a gas engine, I don't know what the price difference would be (as compared to diesel. During the 70s and 80s, many auto companies were using converted gas engines for diesels and the price difference was lower. That includes the Isuzu 1.8 and 2.2, Ford-IH 7.3, VW 1.6, GM 350, etc. Tractor companies in the 60s and 70s were also making "same engine formats" in gas or diesel. If done now- I don't know what would be used? I suspect rather then retool, the engines today would be totally different.
I suspect that if the best technology was used on a gas tractor today and used here in New York where gas is $3.75 and diesel is $4.35 - fuel cost versus work done would be near the same with diesel winning a bit.
The Oliver 1800 gas tractor made in 1960 held the world's record for fuel efficiency in a gas tractor. Made 74 horsepower at 13.2 horsepower- hours-per-gallon. Mainly due to using high compression that was usually taboo in a farm tractor. That 1800 gasser had the same or better efficiency rating at max power then many diesels at that time including the Farmall 706, Allis Chalmers D19, Ford 6000, Deere 3020, etc.
Diesel fuel has more energy per pound as a fuel But diesel compression-ignition is less efficient then spark ignition in a gas engine IF compression ratios are the same. So far, there are no working gas engines with CR ratios like 18-1 like many diesels are using. So, we'll see.
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Today's Featured Article - Timing Your Magneto Ignition Tractor - by Chris Pratt. If you have done major engine work or restored your tractor, chances are you removed the magneto and spark plug wires and eventually reached the point where you had to put it all back together and make it run. On our first cosmetic restoration, not having a manual, we carefully marked the wires, taped the magneto in the position it came off, and were careful not to turn the engine over while we had these components off. We thought we could get by with this since the engine ran perfectly and would not need any internal work. After the cleanup and painting was done, we began reassembly and finally came to t
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