Do A's tolerate Ethanol in fuel, or...

kartknut36

kartknut36

Member
...do they like fuel additives added (Stabil Marine, for example)?

Any lost performance?

My motorcycles don't like it, and I've increased carb jet sizes, as exhaust pipes tend to "blue" more since ethanol additive....

What is your experience with ethanol in today's fuel?

Thanks.
 
It sucks! :mad:

Yes,you will see a drop in performance and mileage. It also has very short shelf life, so some additive is probably good. I'm lucky to have a station 10 miles away that sells the good gas WITHOUT ethanol.:D
 
The adjustable GAV makes it easy to compensate for the ethanol. I remember that about 40 or more years ago, someone drove a model A from out west to the nation's capitol on pure ethanol. When he got to the capitol, and the papers were there with cameras, he poured a bottle of vodka in the tank with the car running. He said he had to preheat the carb with an electric heater before it would start in the morning, but after that it worked fine, with the GAV opened up quite a bit.
 
Hagerty's last magazine (for those who buy insurance from him) had a tech tip that T Models were set up to run on pure booze if necessary. Research seems to show that gasoline wasn't SET as the standard for liquid motor fuel early on, so running on our much higher octane brew today, even with booze, should provide better performance than 30's era octane.

Boats however are another matter....
 
I took a 1600 mile trip to Vicksburg MS from Illinois last year. I was on the lookout for ethanol problems.I live on a farm and I use straight gas in my bulk tank ,so I wanted to check how it did on 10%. The temps were 100 on a couple of days.
I had no vapor lock or lack of power. My fuel line was not insulated. There were a lot of hills in Kentucky and Mississippi and the Tudor did real well. I came to the conclusion that 10% ethanol is probably better than the gas used in 1930. I also do not use a gas additive .

I know Tom doesn't like it,but I found it ran ok. It does evaporate quick when stored. Just my experience,John
 
Coming back from Texas in 2008 we had vapor lock in Colorado. Street rod guy stopped and tipped us off on the ethanol and suggested going to higher octane fuel we did that and had no additional problems. Seems they don't add ethanol to the premium grade.

Regarding the E-85 we did an article in the Model A Times after consulting the association for ethanol and they said not to use it in Model As.
 
I went by a gas staion near the Wisconsin / Illinois border today that was selling regular 10% for $3.70 and E-85 for $3.60. For the big drop in power and mileage with E-85 to save a dime, that would sure be a step backwards and cost much more in the end.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
I went by a gas staion near the Wisconsin / Illinois border today that was selling regular 10% for $3.70 and E-85 for $3.60. For the big drop in power and mileage with E-85 to save a dime, that would sure be a step backwards and cost much more in the end.
Click to expand...

We dont get the choice here. We get enough pollution blown in from the states to the west of us that our pollution laws are probably worse than yours.
 
Recently read a recommendation from a local Model A club to use Stabil Marine to combat the tendency of ethanol to break down.
 
What I have found in the last few years of use--

Dirt in the system that was happy to stay in place comes loose.

Jets that were a little big for regular gas are now just right --on my car with the old gas I could run with GAV closed, now I need 1/4-3/4 turn to run properly.

The emissions are lower, I have tests on my car from the 80s, 90s, and recent, now I can close the GAV and make the car very lean, can get CO under 1%, HC under 100ppm under load. in the 80s the best I could do was 5%CO, 400ppm HC.--no changes to car.

Leaving the gas valve "on" can keep a high level of fuel at the main jet causing crud to collect in the tip of the jet ---I learned to shut off the fuel before backing into the garage.
 
Most of the stations in this area sell 2 grades with ethanol (pump says up to 10%), one grade marked "recreational" with no ethanol and E-85. Price goes up as ethanol goes down but take your pick.

The Model A is pretty forgiving to fuel but many of the added parts like fuel filters and plastic hoses dissolve in ethanol.
 
I second the fact that the ethanol is killing the cork floats on the gas gauge. You have to switch to the neoprene float.
 
We have no ethanol free gas available in N.H. There are places that sell it,BUT,it is considered off-road use,so certain taxes have not been paid on it,and they won't pump it in a vehicle.You CAN go over with your boat and pump it in,then take it out when you get home if you like.You can fill cans,(for your boat of course)The only thing I have noticed with the alcohol gas as far as running is I have to open the GAV a little more.The fuel mileage may be off a little bit.As for sitting around,it goes bad in a couple of weeks and won't run in certain things.Chain saws and old Sportsters are fussy about it.The local Irving station manager said when it was first mandated for here,they couldn't get enough ethanol,so they were blending METHanol.They had a lot of problems with that attacking brass.They paid quite a lot out for repairs before they got the meth out and the eth in.The ethanol gas evaporates when sitting in the A tank,(open vent system)Three of my cars were parked with about 3/4 of a tank and all are down to about a half.I did buy some of the boat gas that I can get without alcohol in it,it is around 80 cents more and is still junk gas,just without the alcohol.The plus to that stuff is it does not attract water,and does not evaporate like the alcohol.I put some in my 54 Studebaker and I have the same amount as when I parked it in the fall.It does smell bad though,like the old gas used to when it got old.The alcohol junk seems to lose it's gas smell,it just gets dead.
 
FL&WVMIKE said:
HoarseWhisperer had posted this earlier, on where to buy NON-ETHONAL gas, for each state.
Perhaps, it's closer to you, than you thought !

http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp


MIKE :)
Click to expand...
I have often wondered how these stations get their gas that does not have ethanol already in the mix. Logic would tell you that they get their gas from the same distributors that everybody else does, that is already "mixed". But then again, logic and the govt can't really be used in the same sentence, now can they? :D
 
CarlG ......................
You are right. Common sense has nothing to do with government.
Gasoline with 10% Ethanol gives you 10% less miles-per-gallon, so where are we saving oil ?
Using all that corn to make ethanol has caused all food prices to raise.
When will they learn ?
MIKE :confused:
 
The New Hampshire State Legislature is debating a bill that will make it illegal for a farmer in that State to sell corn of other ethanol crop for use as a gasoline additive.

John
 
John/Ct ....................
Maybe, someone, in Government, does have some common sense after all. Go New Hampshire !
MIKE :)
 
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