<VV> Gasahol

[Chris C, Warwick RI]

This won't adversly effect the cost of a good grain buzz.

Or should I stock up?



At 10:43 AM 6/17/2005, you wrote:

>>I understand the gas-alcohol blend can damage some
>>seals and rubber parts in fuel systems.
>
>Believe most kits and replacement units were upgraded to modern nitrile 
>rubbers sometime in the '70s. Of course if the parts are original or NOS 
>(I never use NOS rebuild kits for fuel related items) you may have a problem.
>
>Brazil converted some time ago to almost  a 50% blend. The following is from:
>http://www.ieiglobal.org/ESDVol1No1/brazilianalcohol.pdf
>
>* The second category is due to the corrosive behaviour
>of ethanol. Some ''typical'' solutions (ANFAVEA,
>1986) are listed below.
>-- Fuel tanks: tin coated (electrolytic) steel, 7um.
>-- Filling nozzle: tin coated (hot immersion), 100g/m2.
>-- Fuel lines: pump to tank, polyamide (nylon 11);
>pump to carburetor, nitrile rubber.
>-- Carburetor surface: Electroless nickel (Zamak, Cu-2um, Ni-5um).
>-- Fuel pump finish, steel, coating with Cd-Ni-dichromate (10um).
>-- Cylinder head gasket fire ring: stainless steel.
>-- Valve materials and seats: hardened.
>
>Now the good news is that alcohol is an octane enhancer however I would 
>expect gas companies to reduce the octane of the base stock (cheaper) and 
>use the alcohol to bring the octane rating back to the usual PON. The bad 
>news is that it take more gasohol (lower BTU/liter) to go a mile than 
>gasoline so MPG takes a hit. I vaguely remember 10% from the last time it 
>was used.
>
>The limiting factor without considerable modification (richer jets, etc) 
>is 8-10%. Brazil uses more because the government decreed it so and they 
>have a *lot* of sugarcane to turn into alcohol.
>
>So how big a deal depends on the blend: under 10%, not much. Remember that 
>Indy cars have run on "alky" (pure alcohol) for all time.
>
>Padgett
>
>
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