Can I run 10% ethanol fuel in my 1972 454 safely without damage?

 

Yes, but you want to keep an eye on rubber fuel lines between the tank and the frame, and between the frame and the pump - the ethanol can make original rubber hard and brittle, and in some cases go the other way and make it soft to cause hoses to collapse. If you replace these rubber sections with fuel hose intended for modern fuel injection applications you'll be in good shape (it's high pressure fuel-line-specific hose designed for ethanol compatibility). You may also see the accel pump in your carb swell and seize, so watch for off-idle hesitation issues that could be caused by a failed accel pump. If you preemptively replace the accel pump with one of Cliff's pumps you'll have no issues.

Lars

 

I've used it in a '69 Firebird, a '75 Triumph, and a '76 C3, and have never had any kind of a problem. I left it in the tank of the Triumph for about 4 years while I was travelling, (mostly in the good old U.S. of A), and never had a problem. No corrosion issues, no moisture issues, nothing.
The only thing, I think, is that the Triumph doesn't pull quite the same, but it's pretty hard to tell when you've only got about 60 HP to begin with..............

 

Thanks. Will make the changes.

 

The 10% is the only pump gas you can buy here in the Metro Denver area. I run it in everything I own, including my '64 Vette, '71 Judge, '74 Formula 455 with no issues. I don't use any gas additives, and store the old cars through the winter months - no problem at all firing them up in the spring after sitting for 4 months, and no reliability issues.

 

I don’t dispute what Lars is saying but the OP needs to be aware of a few things.
1. Ethanol is hygroscopic. This means that it attracts water and pulls water into itself. This can cause havoc is a substantial amount of water collects someplace it shouldn’t (IE a fuel bowl on a carb).
2. Because ethanol is hygroscopic it can stale in a month. This depends greatly on how it’s stored and the humidity of the area.
3. The fuel as it sits and absorbs water will also separate the ethanol from the fuel as well. So now you could have an area of your fuel system fully immersed with 60-70 percent ethanol and that’s bad bad news. Ethanol is extremely corrosive.

Modern cars don’t have a lot of problems with the ethanol because they are driven quite a bit and the fuel systems are for the most part a sealed system. In these older cars that vent to the atmosphere all the time this can cause huge problems.

Personally I would never run ethanol based fuel in anything with carb on it, but like so many non ethanol is not available in my area so I do what I can. Here in the DC metro area I end up having to either refresh or replace the carb on something every year or two. This past fall my John Deere x570 lawn tractor that is only 2 years old decided that the latest tank of fuel wasn’t suitable for consumption and would not run on it. I have actually started buying the canned fuel for all my 2 stroke stroke stuff. I go through about 3-6 of the large cans (about a gallon) a year at $20 each. The ethanol just kills the carbs on my string trimmer and chain saw Yep it’s expensive but if it saves me from having to replace a carb it’s worth it.

If you have a non ethanol option I recommend you use it. If you don’t then bear in mind depending on your climate you need to drive it and keep fuel fresh.

 

If you live in a high humidity area like where I am part the year......pump gas has a life of about 10-12 weeks.......the water in the air just tears **** up....the alcohol in the gas acts like a sponge, then the base stock evaporates away and you are left with the additives and water mix.......stinky, terrible **** and very corrosive to old pot aluminum like vintage bike carbs.......

Ethanol has been in gasoline for over 40 years......run it. I remember as a little kid, Jimmy Cater talking about "gasohol"......nothing new here.

Jebby

 

It very much depends on where you live. Here, most fuel has 10% ethanol in it and I've never had issues with it. If you live where it's hot and humid though then you might want to avoid it, or at least don't leave it sitting in a vehicle that isn't driven on a regular basis.

 

Here in Virginia they sell regular old gasoline when you get away from the Northern Virginia area. I believe that you would have to drive about 50-60 miles in any direction to find real gasoline.

I used the Ethanol laden gasoline in my Cars and have had a fuel line rust shut internally at the low spot on the Fuel Supply Line after sitting a few months. I too live in a High Humidity area and I find water in the fuel bowls of my garden equipment occasionally.

The biggest place where I have issues with the Oxygenated gasoline is on my Motorcycle. It is a two-cylinder, two-stroke and the carburetors are mounted on rubber intake manifolds which keeps the carburetor from getting warm. The gasoline goes through the two filters and makes the little white ***** in the fuel bowls only. They eventually block the gas flow and the engine stops. I run only fuel through the fuel tank and use the auto-injection to keep it lubricated well. Anybody else have these issues with 2 stroke engines? I assume that more and more motorcycles and jet ski's are made with 4 stroke engines for emissions reasons. The Yamaha is a blast to ride as it likes to ride on a single tire if you are not careful. At 6500rpm the front wheel appears before you and it will wind to 10,000 rpm.

Thank goodness the vehicle manufacturers kept the Ethanol level at 10% as obama wanted to raise it to 15 or 20%. I think we should stop making corn into alcohol and use the corn for Food for our country and others. It costs a lot of money to have the ethanol stretch our gas supply. There are a lot of hungry people out there who could use that Corn.

 

A little off subject, but don't use it in lawn equipment or you'll be rebuilding carbs quite often. Car fuel systems are sealed, where lawn equipment systems aren't, and can better handle ethanol as ethanol is hygroscopic. Here is S FL you are not going to get long life from ethanol vs. non-ethanol, the latter of which is quite available. High humidity here in S FL to say the least.

For non-ethanol fuel in your area.
https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=FL

 

if you run she'll 93 it doesn't have any ethanol

 

Not necessarily true. All your gasoline regardless of brand comes from one or many distribution hubs in your area. Case in point in the DC area there is a large Kinder Morgan distribution terminal in Springfield VA that many of the gas stations regardless of vendor get their gas from. The difference is the additives that are added when the fuel is added to the fuel in the tanker when taken to the gas station.

So 93 octane Shell not having ethanol is not a for sure deal by any stretch. Depends, and if your area Shells sell 93 as ethanol free there is a chance the other stations do as well.

 

Keep in mind poster is from Canada.