Ethanol and our T's

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: Ethanol and our T's
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Seelman on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 01:47 pm:

Sorry if this has been asked a hundred times...

Any effects of using modern Ethanol fuel in a stock T?

Are there any additives that you guys use or recommend?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By G.R.Cheshire on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 02:03 pm:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/80257/110967.html this should cover it


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Seelman on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 02:19 pm:

Thanks


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tyrone Thomas - Topeka KS on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 02:29 pm:

Don't mean to take away from your thread, I hope this adds to it. There is a fuel station where I live that sales Ethanol/Alcohol free gas. I ran a tank full in my A and I swear it ran the best I have ever felt it run.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Seth from NC on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 02:34 pm:

I get noticeably better gas mileage in both my '98 F-150 and my speedster T when I get Ethanol/Alcohol free gas.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Davis-SE Georgia on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 03:23 pm:

As long as you have a brass float in the carb and an otherwise stock T fuel system, the ethanol won't hurt anything. I don't know that I would let a tank full sit through the Winter, but if you are just running E-10 and run the T regularly, you will be fine. I ran E-85 for a year once, just to prove I could. No negative effects, other than hard starting in the Winter. Certainly no corrosion and other stuff you hear about in the horror stories. If you have aftermarket rubber or plastic components in the fuel system, then you had better make sure they are ethanol compatible. Ethanol will not hurt the steel/brass/bronze/iron components of the stock T fuel system. It will, however take the shellac off of a cork float and then the float will get 'water logged'. Had that happen in an antique outboard motor.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Davis-SE Georgia on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 03:34 pm:

Let me clarify. I said no negative effects. I meant as far as corrosion/rust/etc. were concerned. Gas mileage was significantly lower, as one might expect, and performance suffered a bit as well. However, there was no damage to the vehicle.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Donnie Brown on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 05:04 pm:

I used to work in refineries before I retired as a Boilermaker. What was explained to me about todays gas was: There are 2 problems with todays gas. Alcohol and Alkali. Their names sound alike so alcohol gets all the blame. They both create different problems. Years ago we had tetraethyl lead. It was added to gas to cushion the valves and raise the octane. This saved the crude a trip thru the cat cracker, which is part of the process of making gasoline. When they did away with tetraethyl lead they were forced to start running the crude thru the cat crackers twice, and that greatly raised the price of making gasoline. So the refineries started making "Alki-units" That is a refining system that uses Alkali as one of the steps to remove impurities from the crude. The alki-units save one trip thru the expensive cat crackers and gives a good octane gasoline. The problem is all the alkali does not come back out of the finished product. The remaining alkali is what causes gas to "spoil" quicker, rots rubber hoses, eats up our cork floats ect. Anything carbon based is attacked by the alkali. If you are old enough to remember the day of washing parts in gas with your bare hands. While the gas was evaporating on your hands they felt cold. Today if you get gas on your hands they feel "soapy" as the gas dries. That is your skin dissolving from the alkali, and causing the "slippery" feeling. I quit working in refineries when they started the alki-units, It was just to dangerious to work around pure alkali. So if Alkali is problem one. Alcohol is problem two. Alcohol will absorb water, either from getting it in the gas or from the air. Now you have water in suspension of the gasoline mixture and it is causing corrosion inside our fuel system. It is worse on aluminum parts than steel parts. The water usually will start electrolosis of the aluminum parts. That is the white corrosion (white rust) you see in old carbs. As long as you are driving and adding new gas regularly the alcohol usually causes no problems. Its when it sits any length of time that the corrosion starts. It does not need to sit long. A few weeks is enough for corrosion to start. The only good way to minimize the problems is to drive the car regulary, and drain the gas when stored. As to the problem of Alkali and cork, rubber, ect. Anything you can change to neoprene or brass will survive. There are also some synthetic gaskets that are OK. It looks like the problems are here to stay, and alcohol free gas is getting harder to find. :-(


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gary H. White - Sheridan, MI on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 06:11 pm:

Just when you thought every thing about alcohol in gas had been discussed to death. Thanks Donnie.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By A. Gustaf Bryngelson on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 07:03 pm:

Hey Donnie,
Great explanation on the reason why gas is so foul these days. I can remember when we used gas to wash nearly everything, but I don't anymore for the very reason you give. I have had great luck using a 2 cycle oil to preserve gas, now I wonder if the oil manages to isolate the alkali in the gas, as I have had modern non alcohol gas last for over 4 years in a small container.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Noel D. Chicoine, MD, Pierre, SD on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 07:30 pm:

I would bet that the alkali attaches to the oil like soap attaches to fat and they both stay in suspension. As the alkali is bound up with the oil, it cannot react with whatever. Likely the oil stabilizes the alkali so that the gas doesn't spoil. I'd be interested in knowing what the PH of gasoline is now compared to the old gasoline. I also use 2 stroke oil to stabilize gasoline in the lawnmower, snowblower, snowmobile, and the T in winter. They all start easily 6 months later when I want them to and the prior job of cleaning main jets out is now only done for friends or kids.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Donnie Brown on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 08:46 pm:

I only worked in the refineries. I was not a chemist or tech. I did work with lots of them thru the years. We were trained as to the dangers of the job place. I have been thru days of safety training, just to work around this stuff. Thru the training you are supposed to learn as much of the process as you can, and to apply it to keeping you alive. One bad spill of pure alkali will kill you or maim you for life. Pure alkali is nasty stuff, that's why I stopped working the refineries in the late 1980s. Our work was dangerous enough anyway. I have crawled into confined space vessels that had 1000s of gallons of gasoline in them in the morning and by afternoon I had a welding machine and cutting torch in there welding up a bad spot. !!! I know, not too many brain cells. But its what Boilermakers do. I would think that the 2 cycle oil is either diluting the Alkali by giving more carbon based products for it to attack and therefore dilute the alkali. , or it might also make the alcohol less able to absorb water. That's something a chemist would need to answer .... Gary, sorry if I beat it to death a little more.:-( But I have always believed the more you know about something, the better you can fix it or deal with it... :-) :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Gary H. White - Sheridan, MI on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 09:24 pm:

Donnie, Oh no. No criticism intended. I was just glad that someone could provide some new and interesting information on the topic.
Gary


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Donnie Brown on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 09:57 pm:

Thanks Gary, At least I was not talking about water pumps or e-timers .:-) :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By A. Gustaf Bryngelson on Friday, August 01, 2014 - 10:09 pm:

Hey Donnie, I have not had experience with 2 cycle oil and gasohol, as I have not tried it in anything by straight gasoline. My experience with it has been so remarkable that I add a gallon of Belray oil to every thousand gallons I have delivered, and my fuel related problems are almost zero. I haven't figured out yet how to avoid running out of gas:-)


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