urban myth???
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 2,508
Likes: 0
From: Wisconsin
There is a station that is selling E85 near me. A flex fuel vehicle is the only thing I know of that can run E85 safely. Long term use of E85 in a fuel not set up for it will probably damage it. You may end up with worse performance as well. Alcohol is corrosive so it probably cannot come in contact with anything rubber, that means you'll have to have all metal lines and no gaskets below the fuel levels in the carb. Probably also cannot use a bladder in the gas tank. Ethanol contains more oxygen then gasoline so you'll have to tune accordingly to get the optimal ratio.
I'm going to feel really sorry for anyone that ever gets in the situation where they are out of gas but happen to have a bottle of strong booze and they try to fuel their vehicle with it. If out in the middle of nowhere I'd probably just get smashed with it, it'd make the time go faster.
I'm going to feel really sorry for anyone that ever gets in the situation where they are out of gas but happen to have a bottle of strong booze and they try to fuel their vehicle with it. If out in the middle of nowhere I'd probably just get smashed with it, it'd make the time go faster.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,161
Likes: 0
From: pr, frederick md.
youll have to take my word on it but i know for a fact that home brewed hooch will and can run a 74'-75' chevy pickup! saw the stepdad pour it in and go to work. scouts honor 
even had custom brushed on paint job!
even had custom brushed on paint job!
Pro
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 511
Likes: 4
From: Phoenix AZ
It's pretty common for people to add high levels of Ethanol to the gas on older cars to try to get them though emmissions (Phoenix, AZ requires emmissions starting with 1967 cars). Once running it'll stay running, but I'ts probably not good for it. Now having the other part water and disolved sugars is probably going to gum up the engine.
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 40,408
Likes: 792
From: Redondo Beach, California
Originally Posted by BB wowbagger
Sugar doesnt desolve in gas...All it does is clog up filters etc 
Here in Europe theres E85 at the gasstations,85% Ethanol and 15% gasoline. Works on all cars (that what the gasstation says anyway
)
Here in Europe theres E85 at the gasstations,85% Ethanol and 15% gasoline. Works on all cars (that what the gasstation says anyway
)If you want to use 85% ethanol, I think you should up your compression ratio to 12:1 or maybe even 14:1. With these higher compression ratios the ethanol will start to give good performance. With lower compresson ratios ethanol will give very poor performance. Also ethanol will always have bad km/liter or miles/gallon numbers. Its just doesn't have that many BTU's per liter (BTU - British Thermal Units - sorry I don't know the metric equivalent - joules/??) Ethanol has a higher heat content that methanol. Athough ethanol has a lower heat content than gasoline; an ethanol designed engine will produce power equivalent to a gasoline engine. The Indianapolic cars in the US are powered only by alcohol and are not supercharged.
Luftwaffe WWII aircraft engines pioneered the use of nitrous oxide as a gasoline additive. Here in the USA, the AA fuel dragsters use superchargers and the engines are powered by nitromethane.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,038
Likes: 0
From: Grants Pass Oregon
Alternate fuels
I'm from Tenessee and when I was young I saw a few of the cars the moonshiners used to run grain alchohole during the prohibition days. I'm pretty sure they just drilled out the jets and left a trail of black smoke. They could install a 30 gallon gas tank and deliver a 20 gallon load over a hundred miles. The country boys didn't care what damage was done to the engines they were making enough money to buy a new car every load. But they didn't, just tooled the engine up. 
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,529
Likes: 1
From: Sherwood Park Alberta
Hey, I've heard of Diesel cars and motorhomes running on vegetable oil. $900 converts the car. You need to start the car with the Diesel fuel and then you can switch over to the V oil. Do you want fries with that?
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Drifting
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,638
Likes: 3
Well your boss tells a great story - but I'm betting he is embellishing. Course the Saab could have been the 2 stroke - But just how concentrated was this window cleaner - did he distill it himself -
why would anyone risk ruining an engine or fuel system to save a walk of a few miles -
I guess what I am saying is that I have a very healthy skepticim about this story!
why would anyone risk ruining an engine or fuel system to save a walk of a few miles -
Originally Posted by zwede
Guy I worked with managed to run his 70's era Saab on concentrated windshield washer fluid after he ran out of gas. The Saab was carbed. Don't know what EFI would make of alcohol/methanol. He also said the engine ran like crap and used his one gallon jug of washer fluid in just a few miles. It got him home though.