Being an old ■■■■ I can remember when me old dad drove a left behind by the yanks, Dodge long (by todays English standards) wheel base tractor unit with a single axle trailer. It had a Perkins, probably P6 diesel and had a Ki Gas pump on the dashboard. It was my job to shove it in on cold mornings (where’s dipper dave 
) to help it start. After trawling around, I haven’t found out what the stuff actually was. Some say it was diesel, but it wasn’t. Any other old ■■■■■ remember it and know what was in it ?
was it ethyl ether, as used in the product Quick start (or maybe Easystart)? You don’t see it around these days. Drivers were adamant that engines got addicted to it.
the old yank stuff were mostly converted to p6 perkins with the Kigas system . we had gmc 6x6 spreaders when in was an apprentice , and the first bedford i drove had a p6 in it . hold the heater button in while pumping the gas , then press the starter button . never worked for me , by the time i pressed the starter button , the heater had flattened the battery . tight gaffer wouldn’t pay for a new battery .dave
Well Euro, it’s still around out here, it’s called ‘start ya ■■■■■■■■ 
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t that though.
Rigsby, I can’t believe a gaffer in those days wouldn’t buy a new set of batteries 
On the other hand, I remember not only my old man’s motor, but plenty of others with a bloody great rope wrapped around the front for a ■■■■■■. Those were the days.
There ya go Pete, is this what you were looking for.
Ki Gas, or Ki-Gass, was the name of the patented starting device, rather than the substance in the tank. The system was used on indirect injection diesel engines (such as Perkins R6 and P6) and high performance petrol engines (racing car engines and Rolls Royce Merlins used in Spitfire) for easier starting. The Ki Gas pump sprayed neat fuel, for example diesel, onto a heated glow plug in the intake manifold, similarly petrol in a petrol engine. When a historic Merlin fires up from cold, the flames coming from the exhaust stubs is a result of the Ki Gas system.
Ford Transcontinentals had an ether bottle fitted at the back of the cab , with a pump button on the gear stick for cold starting. Don’t know if this was on all TC’s or just the one I had.
I had a diesel engine that had to be started with petrol then swap over to the diesel system, it were a swine to get running 
mushroomman:
There ya go Pete, is this what you were looking for.
That’s the one.
gingerfold:
Ki Gas, or Ki-Gass, was the name of the patented starting device, rather than the substance in the tank. The system was used on indirect injection diesel engines (such as Perkins R6 and P6) and high performance petrol engines (racing car engines and Rolls Royce Merlins used in Spitfire) for easier starting. The Ki Gas pump sprayed neat fuel, for example diesel, onto a heated glow plug in the intake manifold, similarly petrol in a petrol engine. When a historic Merlin fires up from cold, the flames coming from the exhaust stubs is a result of the Ki Gas system.
Looks like I stand corrected. So it was whatever fuel the engine ran on. That Ezy Start or Start ya ■■■■■■■ is bloody vicious stuff though. I reckon it’s start an engine with no cylinder head.
When I was a lad I rode about in a Bedford S-Type with a Perkins R6 that had Ki-Gas, but we preferred to squirt neat ether down the air intake (me stood on the front bumper with the front flap opened). When it eventually fired up it did so with a bang, rattle, and clouds of grey exhaust smoke. Easystart is ether based, but in those days you could buy ether from the local pharmacy, no questions asked.
the r6 seemed to be a particularly bad starter . the one i drove had a hole drilled in the manifold , open the engine cover and squirt easy start in , one man operation .it had a lovely whistle to it as the air was sucked in through the hole when it was running . once warmed up it would start first touch all day . dave