The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Fuel with ETHANOL!

Hi guys/gals. This is my first post. I have read a lot in the past year on my 52 Chev 1/2 ton and have had great answers. I need to know what is the answer to my fuel question? I live in Minnesota and almost all gas staion have a 10-15% ethanol (Corn) added to the blend. I do add lead to my fuel at each fill and 4 oz of Marvels Mystery Oil also. I don't know if I can find "non oxygenated fuel" anymore. Is it safe to burn the ethanol? I have the 216 engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Racer Bolter 14354

The ethanol shouldn't hurt your engine. Potentially, ethanol can cause problems with some rubber pieces. If your fuel lines are all metal there shouldn't be a problem.

Comment subject to correction by more experienced ethanol users.

By the way, welcome to the 'Bolt.

I wouldn't put ethanol in your 'bolt. Your fuel pump and any other rubber in the fuel system would pay the price. FYI, unless you're working your engine hard for extended periods you don't need to add lead (or MMO) to your gas. Unleaded is just fine.

Thanks guys. I just didn't want to hurt anything. I read that the ethanol can clean out a gas tank but I had already cleaned it out. It has been running fine since I got it running in March and no problems so far. I would think it would have done something by now. Ethanol is in all our gas in Minnesota so everyone here must be running it.

Most parts being made now as replacement have the ethanol safe rubber in them, and hoses can be easily replaced with ethanol safe materials. I'm in Illinois, we have the same issue, all of our gas is 10% ethanol, too. I've been running it in mine without any issues. I have heard of issues with the aluminum in the carbs, as it is corrosive to aluminum, and some issues with corrosion in the feul tanks, but at 10%, I don't think it would be an issue.

I have also read from sevral sources in years past that 10% ethanol shouldn't be a problem. It's the 85% ethanol blend that will kill the rubber parts quickly, assuming you can even adjust the timing to run on it. All I've ever read says that anyhting under 15% ethanol shouldn't cause problems.

Thanks, I also just found a site with ALL of the gas stations in Minnesota with Non-Oxygenated fuel. Maybe your states will have a list slso. My list comes from the Minnesota Street Rods Association and the web site is www.msra.com then go to FEATURES, Non-Oxygenated fuels.
I think it will be a good list to carry along just in case. I also plan on running some of the good stuff through this fall yet. Thanks a lot.Racer

Here is some information:

http://www.hagerty.com/ethanol/

Avoid the deathanol if you can.

Jon.

Ethanol in this quanity will do well nothing really except support your local agriculture economy. In states where farming is a good chunk of there economy ethonal has become a standard. In modern builds they should do fine espicially if you have rebuilt the fuel system. In older cars everything is metal and at the 10% concentration won't corrode it any faster then gasoline. So basically fill it up and forget about. The concentratio is so small that it at least in my experience I didn't even half to ajust the carb. So please don't call it deathanol. I believe your website when I see certified studies and ends in something other then .com .
And yes I have farming in me blood so I am slightly bias

Delux - with all due respect, deathanol is increasing our business (carburetor repair kits and carburetors) by some 40 percent annually. And headaches by a much larger percentage.

Why do I call it deathanol??? Do some independent research on the byproducts of the burning of alcohol AND its water solubility! There are other harmful pollutants other than the 3 currently controlled by the Federal Clean Air Act; however, since they are not formed by the burning of gasoline, they are not currently controlled as they have not previously been a problem!

And yes, I also have farming in my blood (grew up on a farm, and many in the family still farm). My farming background does not mean that I have to ignore facts. Deathanol, like MTBE, is a very bad idea; and like MTBE, time will be the proof.

Jon.

I will say this E-85 is the deathonal. I recoginize that much Carb King. But E-10 in its limited concentration the effects really can't be know. You say that its harmful. Independent studies say so to and yet I have found studies that say the opposite. It is matter how the experiment is set up it is a matter of alot stuff actually. Perhaps ethanol does wear done carbs quicker but if think about all the stuff that is added to the modern gasoline it simply could be alot of things or a combination.

On a side note. I was reading an article awhile back and I believe it was in south dakota a guy was using ethanol and water as a fuel. I can't remember how it works. But that to me seems more likely to cause more problems then the blends that are out there now.

The methanol/Hydrogen Peroxide blend we used in the family race car back in the early 1950's was the real killer. The peroxide was the stuff that caused most of the problems, though. Medicinal peroxide (first aid for cuts) is 2% by volume. (98% water) Hair-bleaching peroxide is the strong stuff, a whopping 4% mix. now, the stuff my father used to mix racing fuel was technical-grade, at 20% concentration. The proportions went like this:

Methanol: 75%
Peroxide: 20%
Amyl Acetyate: 5%

Amyl acetate is a mixing agent, a surface tension reducer to promote good blending of the other ingredients. Because of its pungent banana-like odor, it got dubbed "banana oil". A few drops in a cup of coffee would get anybody's attention!

The above fuel was corrosive beyond belief. We had to run an 8-gallon stainless steel pony keg for a fuel tank, stainless steel fuel lines all the way to the carburetor, and run the carb dry every time the engine got shut off to prevent the fuel from eating holes in the aluminum float bowl. The carb (a big Zenith 2-BBL with a removable venturi from a WW II truck engine) got rebuilt once a week. With that single big carburetor, our 300 cubic inch bored and stroked flathead ford V-8 outran everybody else, multi-carb Fords, Chevvies, and GMC's, too! The entire inside of the carb turned a chocolate brown from the corrosive effect of the fuel. Boy, did it run, though!

We kept the exotic chemicals in stock, and sold the additives to other racers, who had their own supplies of alcohol. At one time, a competitor forgot to add the alky after Dad had poured the other ingredients into a 5-gallon steel GI fuel can, and the stuff ate the bottom out of the can in less than an hour!
Jerry