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[ric]

So how many petrol stations dispense fuel in a vacuum

I've found nothing better than the topical application of WinterDirt as one of the best proactive products available and totally free at the point of use. I'm going out shortly to get some more

WinterDirt, its better than CowBells

[Phil Ashbrook]

Not sure I understand this post , leaded fuel goes off in about a year and stinks real bad , E10 fuel has much more in it than ethonal ( additives ) , straight non leaded fuel goes off in about 4 to 5 months and it has Additives too , I spent a lot of money converting my bike to run on pure Methonal or Ethonal like speedway bikes , the fuel over time will suck in water vapour unless kept in a sealed can of drum , lucky for me Australia has introduced E85 which is the fuel used for racing V8 super cars at Caltex service stations , nice clean fresh fuel which will keep your combustion chamber just a flat grey like the spark plug . Comp ratios of 10:1 minimum are needed and synthetic race oil like speedway bikes . I dont understand the glug you found in the fuel filters . To convert my carb needed a few special parts and the jets were 100% bigger so fuel consumption will be 100% more but hey my engine is now pretty much a full race 612 but when the mid east war gets really big my fuel supply is never ending as it comes from sugar cane .

[Leon Novello]

Where is the oil going to come from? It will have to be Synthetic, made from margarine?

[Scalyback]

"Made from margarine"?



well I guess, 'Buttering up your bike' can't do ay harm?

[nigelphoto]

Lots of reports show E10 'goes off' after as little as 4-6 weeks (as PeteF says, its hygroscopic so sucks in water and as a consequence lowers Octane rating - more likely to cause 'pinking'). If you buy Esso Supreme 97RON anywhere except SW & Wales (supplied by Fawley Refinery) it does not contain ethanol and Esso have no plans to put it in unless forced to by future EU legislation (Good reason to vote 'Leave'??!). Ethanol is so corrosive that its kept in separate storage and only added after the tanker has been filled with the petrol as the last op at the refinery before trundling up the Motorway to your local Shell, BP, Total, Morrisons forecourt . . . but not with Esso Supreme!

[Phil Ashbrook]

I find it strange that the die hards think Methonal and Ethonal is bad as it is used in racing so much and I have not heard that alcohol is corrosive to metal before but it is hydroscopic , special tanks are needed at fuel pumps for E85 , in Brazil they have been using alcohol for decades . It's clean and good for the enviroment and does not need Arabs to get it . In an engine one should use synthetic oil so as to not cross contaminate .
Nearly all racing engines now use it including F1 cars and Indy cars , it can take very high temps and will not varnish and last a long time in domestic use , I can tell you they do not use melted margarine in their engines .
Non leaded fuel is terrible stuff as my exhaust ports after only a thousand miles were full of sticky soot thats hard to get off and the state of the valves was shocking and thats with brand new rings and valve guides .
Using E85 or pure Ethonal or Methonal would leave the head just light grey . I had to read up on settings for ignition and jetting from speedway manuals to understand how to get it right and our hosts sold me the parts to do it . Good luck getting your old fuel when the Mid East war begins , I speak as a man converted to new ideas and yes E10 is crap because the tanks at the fuel pumps are wrong for the fuel , I did try the fuel and got blocked jets because of the crud in the tanks from the unleaded fuel with it , Alcohol fuel does not need that kind of fuel with it's anti knock additives .

[Thack]

Phil writes: "I find it strange that the die hards think Methonal and Ethonal is bad as it is used in racing so much"



To be honest, that fact that a fuel is used in racing doesn't say much about whether it is "bad" or "good". As with most things, "bad" and "good" are subjective terms that need to be defined. In reality, methanol and ethanol as fuels have advantages and disadvantages.



Racing is very different from road use, not least because they get through their fuel quickly and don't have to worry about long term storage (i.e. weeks or months). So they probably never experience things like water absorption and tank corrosion.



"....in Brazil they have been using alcohol for decades . It's clean and good for the enviroment and does not need Arabs to get it ."



Totally agree. So long as the components in your fuel system are designed to handle alcohol, there is no reason why it should be problematical. Importantly, it is pretty well carbon neutral, which is great if you care about such things.

[Adrian]

Alcohol fuels may burn more cleanly, but the massive increase in their use means farmland which should be growing crops to feed people is used for growing fuel-only raw materials. In the US, where there is a strong bio-ethanol producers' lobby, more and more land is being taken for and degraded by intensive maize farming for industrial ethanol production. I don't know to what extent the Brazilians' use of sugar cane for fuel has affected their food production, but I'd bet much of their cleared rain forest land is used for this.



And I can't even spell sustainability...




A.

[PeteF]

"one should use synthetic oil so as to not cross contaminate"
Can you explain/expand on that Phil?

[nigelphoto]

Phil, just a couple of points - its Ethanol and Methanol not Ethonal and Methonal but never mind that, the main thing is that Methanol is an alcohol derived from Oil whereas Bioethanol comes from crops (93%) and 'animal sources' (7%). The 'crops' bit is worrying as its mostly maize that is grown to service the requirements of the various Western Democracies to include ever increasing proportions of Bioethanol in petrol forced on them by the Green lobby who blatantly have not done the environmental science - viz, maize cultivation strips the land of all nutrients and reduces it in less than 5 years to a desert. Just ask the farmers of Norfolk who thought they were on to a 'good thing' by growing maize for the petrochemical industry and now their fields are bare expenses of fine dust blowing away over the horizon. The + points of Bioethanol is that it increases the Octane rating (Henry Ford pioneered an engine to run on 100% Bioethanol in the 1920's as petrol in those days was around 65 Octane) and therefore reduces the risk of pre-ignition (pinking or knocking) which can quickly destroy an engine. However it 'goes off' fairly quickly and starts to loose RON in 4-6 weeks and rusts metal tanks, melts fibreglass ones, corrodes zinc alloys in carbs and petcocks, degrades the rubber in fuel lines and melts brass in the needles, jets, floats etc. I'd rather not have it in my engine and fill up with Esso Supreme which currently doesn't have any Bioethanol as long as you live away from the South West and South Wales (supplied by Fawley refinery which does contain E05 in Esso Supreme). ALL other petrol companies are putting E05 in >95RON supplies and E10 in