I have just recently moved to Janesville, Wi. and can't find a gas station without ethanol in their gas. I am concerned about damage to the gas tank bladder and other rubber parts in the fuel system. My car is a '77, so am I wrong in being concerned, and is anyone from this area and know of an ethanol free station. Also would like to know about any cruise nights around here. Thanks a lot for any help that you can give me.

 

E10 gas is nothing new. Some areas of the country have had it for over 30 years- where's all the cars that have had problems ?

 

Ethanol free gas, http://www.buyrealgas.com/

 

Mike is right. I live in the Dallas/Ft Worth area which is an EPA non-compliance area. I think that's the right term. It basically means we're a high pollution area and I don't think we've had ethanol-free gas since the 80's. I've had a number of classics over the years and while I don't think ethanol is great for them, as long as the car is tuned to prevent detonation, it'll be alright.

One thing you may want to consider since you live in the north, is that if you put your car up for the winter, treat the gas with Sta-Bil or something similar as ethanol does trap moisture a lot more than ethanol-free.

 

You don't have to look very hard to find ethanol related fuel system problems.
http://www.enertechlabs.com/ethanol_in_gasoline.htm

http://www.classicinlines.com/Ethanol.asp

http://www.mossmotors.com/SiteGraphi...s/ethanol.html

http://quadrajetparts.com/ethanol-fu...ines-a-21.html

There are hundreds of such articles and write-ups but still some people refuse to admit that ethanol is problamatic for our classic cars. Unfortunately ethanol is likely here to stay.
I try to get ethanol free fuel whenever I can to prevent problems. If that is not possible and you are storing your car in the winter then products such as this may help.

http://www.drivenracingoil.com/dro/c...case-of-6html/

Even my daily driver 2008 Mazda 3 drops from 37 mpg to 33 mpg if I use a 10% ethanol blend. That is a 11% drop in fuel economy. The E10 fuel is not 11% cheaper.
Your Corvette may need to be jetted richer to prevent lean running problems. My corvette mileage goes from 17 mpg to 19 mpg when running E10 vs pure gas and the throttle response is markedly better.

 

There are some metals that the Ethanol attacks in vintage car fuel systems that aren't used in new cars. But, it's not that big of a deal. Aluminum fuel lines/carb parts are likely the biggest concern; but stock C3 fuel lines are steel, so maybe not much to worry about.

I don't think the fuel tank should be an issue at all. Present condition of a 40 year-old fuel tank is likely a bigger concern than having Ethanol inside it.

Motor On!!

 

You got that right. Just bought a 70 coupe and replaced the old plastic inline fuel filter with a glass one. Little rust flakes everywhere. A new tank is next on the list.

 

Up in this part of the country we've been running on 10% corn for decades. Never caused me any issues with cars, boats, motorcycles, lawn mowers, etc...

A lot of the racers have changed over from hyper expensive race gas to 85% ethanol, E85.

Yes, mileage does drop as the percentage of ethanol increases. I don't believe we will see it go away anytime soon.

 

It's been repealed in Florida and Maine is working on it.
Governments are admitting it's a flawed business model.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/local/sc...o-law-1.151841

 

Completely wrong on the ethanol. We have only had it since around 2005-06. Before that we had MTBE to oxygenate our gas but then it was outlawed and we substituted ethanol.

 

The repealling of Ethanol use has nothing to do with internal problems with the vehicle; it has to do with the viability of substituting Ethanol for an equal quantity of gasoline. Farmers would rather sell their corn for the return on making Ethanol, instead of for food or feed. Their lobbyists succeeded, initially; but common sense may yet prevail!

 

http://pure-gas.org/

 

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.
Tom

 

Go to puregas.org for state by state list of e-free gas.

 

Every % point of ethanol in gasoline costs you the same % point or more in fuel economy, it's a double whammy, you pay more for the gasoline on account of .gov/green weenie stupidity, and then you get hit with lousy MPG.....ain't that a wonderful idea???

 

I'm always amazed how ethanol posts always brings out the people that don't recognize marketing hype when they see it and those that have no common sense whatsoever.

 

That's awsome! maybe there is hope after all. Time will tell.

Is this a form of self analysis/diagnosis?

 

My mistake, sorry. I guess it just seems like decades.

Although I'm not sure I'm completely wrong.

 

I forgot naive and gullible.

Doesn't it seem a little bit coincidental that almost all of the links out there- and all four that you posted- are from sites that just happen to sell a cure for the 'supposed' problem? Gee.

On the other hand, how do you explain that fact that people drove these cars on E10 for years or decades WITHOUT ISSUE and it was only when pump stickers became mandatory that all the sky-is-falling problems started?

Never mind getting rid of the ethanol, it's the stickers that are causing our cars to fail.

 

What people. Who? Where? How long precisely, and in what type engines?
Lars is a well known carb expert, I guess his precautions for ethanol use are false as well? He has NO experience in what a fuel does to components in a carburetor does he? Ethanol, specifically corn ethanol, is an excellent cleaning agent. It also happens to burn. It's so corrosive that it can't be put into the pipelines and has to be mixed at the pumping stations. It loves to collect water. Water doesn't burn.
It goes through phase separation once it collects enough water in your OPEN fuel system, in your classic car, tractor, skid loader, lawn mower, leaf blower, chain saw, snow blower, generator, etc etc. get the idea. None of these items are built to be compatible with Ethanol and it's water absorbing, phase separation attributes.
If Ethanol could be produced without stripping the land of nutrients by not ever rotating the crops, without becoming a commodity like oil, without becoming big government, and without being rammed down our throats I think more people would accept it.
What happened to $1.85 E-85 when pure gas was $3.00 per gallon? I'll tell you, it became law to use Ethanol and thereby profitable to charge as much as possible for it.
It went from saving the planet to big business. It became corrupt. And now is ingrained in the economy and vital to making money for all involved in the process of producing it, from the farmer to local government to refineries, to big government to the middle man. All have much to lose if Ethanol fails. So it cannot fail. There is too much at stake now and will be forced upon us, like it or not. Lobbyists of interest groups apply pressure and new laws are passed. So now here we are.
The argument is not really whether Ethanol is good or bad for an engine so much as why are we being forced to buy it. And why does it cost just as much as gasoline?
You want to motivate people to buy Ethanol? Do it through their pocketbooks, not by brute force. Make Ethanol a cheap alternative and most will buy it given that their car does not suffer from it.
For the rest of us let us have our pure gas at the reasonable market value price, and not some artificially inflated trying to force us to use Ethanol, price.