Tams50 Posted June 7, 2020 Report Share Posted June 7, 2020 Any opinions on running non eth in a flathead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desoto1939 Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 sure you can run pure straight gas in your car. This is what they did back when these cars were first produced and evenyou car might really like you and will probably run and start better and get better gas mileage. Rich Hartung Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Ethanol in gasoline is a relatively new thing. Your engine will likely run better on gas without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harmony Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 I only run 94 octane ethenol free gas in my 48 Chrysler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bbdakota Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 I would run the 10% 87 octane all summer when I was driving the car about every weekend but start running ethanol free gas at the end of summer going into the months when the car would sit for weeks at a time. Worked well for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Buchanan Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Our cars should be less prone to vapor lock with non-contaminated gas since ethanol has a lower vapor pressure than pure gas. However.....when I tried using non-ethanol gas to reduce carb percolation I really couldn't tell a difference. The car still has to crank longer than usual to clear the fuel puddling in the intake manifold. Any of the fuels we have today are superior to what was available at the country store in the 40's. Octane ratings of 60-70 were common in the 40's, hence the low compression engines in our cars. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 only time the 10% is not used at my place is for the small engines that may sit a bit between uses....pressure washer, garden tiller chainsaws and weed eater and leaf blower. Rotten (aged) ethanol blends are no good and cause lots of valve problems if using from long stored fuel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Hiebert Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 There are tertiary issues associated with ethanol in fuel that have been touched on in this thread already. The main issue with ethanol in fuel is that ethanol destroys rubber fuel system components that are not engineered for it. Where I am, there is no non-ethanol fuel available, except for 104 octane aviation gas at the airport. I have not "upgraded" the fuel system in our D24, but other than a leaky fuel pump, I have not had any issues with how the car runs. But - I definitely use additives to counter the adverse affects of ethanol in fuel that center around the gas sitting for a while. So, that made a short story long - our cars were engineered to run on what was available at the time, so straight gas will not hurt it in the slightest, and it may indeed run a bit better. Ethanol is intended to reduce emissions, nothing more. Modern gas has more stuff in it, that simply won't help an old car run better - but it won't hurt it, either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plymouthcranbrook Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Ethanol use is also there to provide income for farmers. A political decision that sprang from emission controls original purpose. I wish I could run straight gas but the closest station to me would likely take half a tank to get to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Keep it full, keep it fresh. Do an Arnold Palmer, when you get to a quarter tank, put in 6 gallons of non ethanol, 6 gallons of ethanol 87 octane.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Skinner Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 (edited) I use QT Non Ethanol 87, with some Marvel Mystery Oil in the Gas. Never Vapor Lock. Its usually 90 -95 here all summer. Runs like a champ Edited June 9, 2020 by Tom Skinner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desoto1939 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Use the attached link to get some history on the productions and use of ethanol fuel in the USA. You might be surprised at when enthanol was being used and it was not just in the last 10 years. refer to the hictorivehile.org/ ethanol time line and history below. You just might be surprised. https://www.historicvehicle.org/ethanol-timeline/ Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 I remember when gasahol hit the pump and messed up cars every where, got my old man's car. there is a reason they stopped using the term gasahol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Hiebert Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 Yep, in use much longer than 10 years. We were living in El Paso, TX in the 90's when gasohol was introduced during the winter months (I think that was the time, because of the inversion layers we'd get in colder weather) to reduce air pollution. Although most of it came from Cd. Juarez, MX, the EPA required El Paso to do something to reduce it - enter gasohol. It reduced MPGs and ruined fuel systems. Although they figured it out pretty quick, no-one understood at the time what ethanol did to rubber that wasn't designed for it. We moved to SE New Mexico in '97, where they weren't using ethanol in fuel, not even until we left (2003). Just after we moved to MI in 2003 they started coming out with that E85 stuff, but autos still were not universally capable of using it, you had to buy a car that specified it could use it, and not every station stocked it. After we moved to NY in 2008 is when the ethanol craze came out and legislation was passed that mandated it - supposedly to reduce pollutants, but also as plymouthcranbrook noted, to support corn farmers. Interesting spin on pollution control though, I have a friend here that is an engineer who designed ethanol plants out west. He had to plan for 7,000 gallons of waste for every gallon of ethanol produced. At least one of the plants he built was never opened, it was a Govt. subsidized build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kencombs Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 41 minutes ago, Dan Hiebert said: Yep, in use much longer than 10 years. We were living in El Paso, TX in the 90's when gasohol was introduced during the winter months (I think that was the time, because of the inversion layers we'd get in colder weather) to reduce air pollution. Although most of it came from Cd. Juarez, MX, the EPA required El Paso to do something to reduce it - enter gasohol. It reduced MPGs and ruined fuel systems. Although they figured it out pretty quick, no-one understood at the time what ethanol did to rubber that wasn't designed for it. We moved to SE New Mexico in '97, where they weren't using ethanol in fuel, not even until we left (2003). Just after we moved to MI in 2003 they started coming out with that E85 stuff, but autos still were not universally capable of using it, you had to buy a car that specified it could use it, and not every station stocked it. After we moved to NY in 2008 is when the ethanol craze came out and legislation was passed that mandated it - supposedly to reduce pollutants, but also as plymouthcranbrook noted, to support corn farmers. Interesting spin on pollution control though, I have a friend here that is an engineer who designed ethanol plants out west. He had to plan for 7,000 gallons of waste for every gallon of ethanol produced. At least one of the plants he built was never opened, it was a Govt. subsidized build. But most of that 'waste' is recycled as cattle feed. What is left of the corn after ethanol is still excellent feed. So the engine exhaust is cleaner but gets replaced with bovine 'exhaust', methane farts. Kidding, I've never believed that was a real problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 they don't usually measure grain in gallons so I don't think he was talking about brewer's grain, which is what the processed corn is after the ethanol is taken out. 1 bushel of corn makes 2.5 gallons of ethanol so I doubt he was talking about the feed stock. the emissions from ethanol when burned has components not found in non-ethanol fuels, such as formaldehyde. https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/flexible_fuel_emissions.html It's main claim to fame is reducing CO2 out the tailpipe, which is a benefit if you think CO2 is a "pollutant". But it adds to smog production, which almost everyone doesn't like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lepic56 Posted June 9, 2020 Report Share Posted June 9, 2020 On 6/8/2020 at 9:38 AM, Dan Hiebert said: There are tertiary issues associated with ethanol in fuel that have been touched on in this thread already. The main issue with ethanol in fuel is that ethanol destroys rubber fuel system components that are not engineered for it. Where I am, there is no non-ethanol fuel available, except for 104 octane aviation gas at the airport. I have not "upgraded" the fuel system in our D24, but other than a leaky fuel pump, I have not had any issues with how the car runs. But - I definitely use additives to counter the adverse affects of ethanol in fuel that center around the gas sitting for a while. So, that made a short story long - our cars were engineered to run on what was available at the time, so straight gas will not hurt it in the slightest, and it may indeed run a bit better. Ethanol is intended to reduce emissions, nothing more. Modern gas has more stuff in it, that simply won't help an old car run better - but it won't hurt it, either. WOW!! something else, no non-ethanol fuel in Ludlow or Houlton and there is one gas station in Jackman , ME, (small village realy) right in the middle of no-where , by the border with Québec,, where moose watch you went you play golf!!lol ,, any way here a link for all ethanol free station across north-america https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=ME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Hiebert Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 Yeah, no-one seems to know for sure why. Ludlow is just a township, and doesn't have any store-front businesses of any kind. Houlton vacillates in and out of being uber eco-friendly and may not permit straight gas in town. I'm quite familiar with Jackman and many of the other outlying towns (especially in the border counties, I was Chief of the Border Patrol for Maine until I retired a couple years ago). A lot of those smaller towns are where the ATV and snowmobilers gas up before heading into the willy wags, two-stroke engines don't run so well on ethanol laced gasoline. Those outlying parts of Maine depend quite a bit on the off-roaders. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Neon Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 On 6/7/2020 at 8:11 PM, desoto1939 said: sure you can run pure straight gas in your car. This is what they did back when these cars were first produced and evenyou car might really like you and will probably run and start better and get better gas mileage. Rich Hartung What is "pure straight gas"? I've never heard of such a thing. Gasoline has always been a mixture of various organic compounds. Please define "pure straight gas." Is it 100% heptane? Who carries it? Do you mean ethanol-free gasoline? If you do, why not just call it ethanol-free? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desoto1939 Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Captain Neon said: What is "pure straight gas"? I've never heard of such a thing. Gasoline has always been a mixture of various organic compounds. Please define "pure straight gas." Is it 100% heptane? Who carries it? Do you mean ethanol-free gasoline? If you do, why not just call it ethanol-free? Pure gas is referred to as ethanol free gas. Yes ethanol free gas does have other additives to help keep the fuel injectors clean so theatrically there is no such things as 100% gas. Even in the winter blend there are additives to help with cold starting here in the east coast and where there is a lot of snow. This is why sometimes you will see the price of gas drop down around the spring time when they are starting to shift over to summer blends. They are trying to get rid of the winter blended gas in the storage tanks. Or sometimes you can get racing fuel at some gas stations here on the east coast not sure if they are 100 gas or not but also higher octane. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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