New Gas Coming

[SARGE]

Been reading about this for a year. Tow trucks should be good investment.

Study: New E15 gas can ruin auto engines | WashingtonExaminer.com

[David M]

[Force Flow]

Originally Posted by David M

Indeed.

If E15 is rolled out, what happens with pre-2001 vehicles that can't handle the ethanol period? Is E10 still going to be available?

[edit]: More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_...l_mixtures#E15

[Tin]

I run 1/4 tank of E85 to 3/4 tank E10 once every couple of months through my car (1994 model), and have never had any trouble. Its actually a good thing to do, as the alcohol cleans out the fuel system. Been doing this for 3 years now with no ill effects. I only do this in the warmer months, never in the winter.

[jessho]

All I can think of is how much a steak is going to cost.

[MaxRat]

Originally Posted by Tin I run 1/4 tank of E85 to 3/4 tank E10 once every couple of months through my car (1994 model), and have never had any trouble. Its actually a good thing to do, as the alcohol cleans out the fuel system. Been doing this for 3 years now with no ill effects. I only do this in the warmer months, never in the winter.

the only ill effect is what the alcohol does to the seals and lines and the pump itself...

in a low mileage vehicle it will turn all the rubber seals and pump rotor to goo... it softens and eats the plastic lines... in a high mileage car where the gas has already hardened the parts it is less likely to do the harmful effects....

It's actually NO different that constantly running bottles of Heat in your tank... too much can be bad but in moderation it's not so bad...

I've done the same thing Tin with no side effects I can tell without physically tearing it down to look.... everything still fine and my truck seems to like it.

seems older more worn engines are way more tolerant to the stuff than newer engines... you dont seem to take the mileage hit near like newer engines and sometime see the same or better on the alky....

once they get the production down to were it isnt so wasteful and is actually beneficial I'd switch to full alcohol....

[Tin]

My car has close to 170k on the clock, '94 Caprice with the LT1. The only drawbacks Ive read about, other than the ones youve mentioned, is the alcohol dislodging any crud and giving the fuel pump fits. Like I said, Ive been doing this for a few years now on the same vehicle. If something bad were to happen, it wouldve happened by now.

[David M]

The other consideration is how much ethanol production has driven up the cost of food. In this country, more corn is used to produce ethanol than is consumed by farm animals and the entire US population.

[MaxRat]

I'd rather have corn fuel than to have so much of it in everything we eat.....

the benefits are far superior...cleaner air and we might live longer...lol

@ Tin... I am really not sure what would be in the pump or tank to dislodge to harm the pump.... every tank I've ever dropped has been as clean as a whistle save maybe a tiny bit of sediment on the bottom. I've never found anything in a pump thats been in service for a long period of time? Thoughts?

[SARGE]

Lawnmowers and weedeaters should be happy. Glad I gave away my '70 Bug. I can imagine what it will do.

[MaxRat]

LOL I run racing gas (100-108) in my weedeater and lawn mower...it's way harder on parts than the E85 is

[Tin]

Originally Posted by MaxRat @ Tin... I am really not sure what would be in the pump or tank to dislodge to harm the pump.... every tank I've ever dropped has been as clean as a whistle save maybe a tiny bit of sediment on the bottom. I've never found anything in a pump thats been in service for a long period of time? Thoughts?

Back in the day I had an '89 Escort that one day died on me on the freeway. Had my brother tow it back home, dropped the tank, and there was tons of rust in there. The only thing I think that could have caused it was the previous owner got water in the fuel tank somehow.

[MaxRat]

does make you wonder....

[Tin]

Originally Posted by MaxRat LOL I run racing gas (100-108) in my weedeater and lawn mower...it's way harder on parts than the E85 is

Plus it smells good to boot Ive always said they should make womens perfume that smells like Turbo Blue.

[David M]

I like the smell of alcohol racing fuel as well. I guess I am not so weird.

[MaxRat]

nope it's a guy thing and some girls too...

Nothing gets you going more than the smell of racing fuel and a big smokey burnout....love that smell....

[BigRed CC Dually]

Originally Posted by MaxRat nope it's a guy thing and some girls too... Nothing gets you going more than the smell of racing fuel and a big smokey burnout....love that smell....

I remember the castor oil and racing fuel smells of the 50's and 60's race cars.....loved it!!

[SARGE]

Originally Posted by MaxRat nope it's a guy thing and some girls too... Nothing gets you going more than the smell of racing fuel and a big smokey burnout....love that smell....

Ever put bleach on the tires?

[MaxRat]

yes many times... and I had Nylon tires on my 57 bel air and would just roast the hides.

Nothing is more fun than winding a small block chevy 8,500rpm while doing a hellacious burnot.... long live the powerglide lol

[SARGE]

I had a '68 SS 396, 375 hp Camaro. Put slicks on it and had fun. And then it rained one day and it would barely roll.

[MaxRat]

my 57 bel air has a warmed over 283 stock bore with an old Cam Dynamics cam with .230 duration and .495 lift... they don't even make a cam like that any more from any vendor.. it's a hot little cam...

add that to a torquer II intake and a 800CFM carb and a 4,800 stall converter and 3.73 rear gears it make for a nice 12 second car.....

pulls the front wheels 4-6 inches on launch... and its not a wild engine... I built it for myself in high school in the late 80s....

that engine has seen more 8500rpm shots then it has been idle...

I'm honestly thinking of pulling the old camel back heads and putting some closed chamber 58cc heads and putting it on E85....

[SARGE]

And put 15% corn gas into her??

[glc]

E85 is 85% ethanol. Super high octane but the carb will need very rich jets.

[David M]

No problem, I will be okay with paying $12.95 for a box of Corn Flakes, $15 per pound for a good steak and $12 for a whole chicken when on the other hand natural gas is hovering around all time historical lows and is about half the price of an equivalent thermal unit of gasoline.

As heard during a closed session on the Senate floor by Senator B. Hole, Chairman of the Joint Shaft the Citizens Committee.....
I have an even less efficient idea that would make even less sense, but makes perfect sense for us. Let's take the the entire peach crop and turn that into fuel. Peaches are more expensive to produce per thermal unit and would make the peach farmers and peach lobby happy which in turn would provide more money for us politicians to get re-elected. The citizens would not complain about peach prices like they do not complain about corn prices. I think it is a great idea that would make a small special interest and us politicians happy. Never mind that it screws the citizens by driving up their cost of living. Who cares about the citizens as long as they are paying their taxes and re-electing us. Gawd I sure hope the citizens in general never get their own lobbyists. Here-here!, said his peers on the floor.

[SARGE]

They say the corn used is not the edible type. Too bad we can't grow sugar cane in the states.

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by SARGE They say the corn used is not the edible type. Too bad we can't grow sugar cane in the states.

Problem with that is that they are planting more and more ethanol corn and we only have a set amount of farm land. That means less land used for edible corn, which in turn means much higher food prices.

[David M]

Originally Posted by SARGE They say the corn used is not the edible type. Too bad we can't grow sugar cane in the states.

They plant whatever variety of corn the crop is intended to be used for. It's not that farmers could not stop growing corn for ethanol production and go back to using the same land for edible corn production. They can but won't because the money for ethanol production is better.

What are we doing growing plants whose end product costs more than gasoline when natural gas costs about half what gasoline does?

Never mind that a bi-product of methanol combustion is acetaldehyde, which is damaging to DNA and is a probable carcinogen.

[MaxRat]

Originally Posted by glc E85 is 85% ethanol. Super high octane but the carb will need very rich jets.

Yes with Alcohol conversion.... runs about 8:1 fuel table instead of a 12:1 like gas...but I'd gain almost a 100hp between the head swap and fuel switch and it wont ever overheat either...

For us it's been cheaper. We have an Ethanol plant here within 20 minutes where they employ all the farmers who normally cant sell their corn to market... the plant buys it up so the farmers dont take the loss... for several years supply has been much higher then demand....

[David M]

I'm having a hard time understanding how that can be since the production of ethanol has driven the commodity price of corn through the roof.....maybe this is a local phenomena?

Please read Economic impact of corn ethanol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_ethanol