I have been a proponent of mechanized mayhem ever since as a child my mother told me to “go play in the street.” I now own old cars, newer cars and of course a motorcycle. My experience covers boats, farm machinery, and other gasoline powered engines. Modern electronics now solves many design limitations and makes engines start every time. I see a major fuel problem for we who drive old cars and bikes. I am also convinced the EPA hates me on a personal level. Now I believe the EPA will not let up until they get higher quantities of Ethanol (ruining the sippin’ liquor industry for many) to as many gas pumps as possible to pay off campaign donations from certain corn producers. To solve our fuel problems our modern manufacturing has added monitoring devices and fuel injection into all sorts of transportation. These corrections by computer allow us to operate at constant speeds, monitor emissions and troubleshoot failures making life simpler for almost everyone. But let us take a look at the combustion cycle for a second ad get an understanding of what is really going on. A carbureted engine uses a compromised device to mix air and fuel together to produce forward motion. Go back to the days of the early Winton, and gasoline was dripped onto a warmed metal plate and sucked into the engine. The 60’s saw things called the Holly 450 double-pumper to produce the same effect, while Constant Displacement carburation came from Europe and Japan to help with 70’s early emission control. Note, all these systems are all mechanical in nature and cannot compensate for changes in temperature, air density of fuel quality. These systems are also forgiving for many problems and us mechanics love foolin’ ‘round to make them operate better. One other thing about the older systems is there is no monitor or feedback system, so adding a small amount of ethanol to the fuel mix could make them burn cleaner, and not show measurable decreases in fuel economy. So who told the EPA we are only using carburetors on all our vehicles today? The modern engine is seriously into fuel injection. It monitors what is down the pipe because of catalyst converters, and for better fuel economy. This is the fuel /air ratio and is necessary for the Catalytic converter, too rich the get plugged, too lean, don’t get hot or burn out. But this is the rub. Ethanol is an oxygenator. It guarantees a cleaner burn in a system that is non-monitored, but has an opposite effect in a fuel injected vehicle. Sensors look for free Oxygen atoms to adjust the fuel mix. Open the Throttle makes more free O2, add more fuel to correct. Boost the air in, nitrous, superchargers, turbo chargers, more free O2, needs more fuel to correct the ratio. Add ethanol and you dump more fuel because of the monitor telling the computer to fix the mix. Newer cars have a special setup to note when the Ethanol level is elevated. The E-85 vehicles. It is this monitoring in the slightly older cars and injected bikes that cause the problem. They can’t tell when you dumped Ethanol in the tank. They check for free O2, extra Ethanol produces more O2, so they pump more fuel. E-10 is not cleaning up the environment. It is making it dirtier. I tested a cool V12 on a bunch of roads running on standard pump E-10 and achieved an average of about 20mpg for a 1000 mile baseline. I tried Boat Gas- (E-0), not supposed to be for cars and on the same loop for the same speeds achieved in excess of 25 mpg. There is a listing on the internet for station where clean gas can be purchased, and they seem to be close to boat recreation sites. It is time the motorcycle community gets together with those who drive classic cars and fix the situation properly. My understanding is nearly no one used mid-grade gas Performance cars want above 91 octane, economy / daily drivers are OK on 87. I ask we promote removing the blender pump, go to Premium, regular, and E-85. For certain communities the availability of E-85 will make the do-gooders feel like they have done the right thing, and the requirement for a real E-85 only pump at more locations across the country will increase the demand for Ethanol from those who supply it. For the rest of us in the real world, I can fill my pickup truck with E-85 today, top it off with regular tomorrow, and let the electronics do their thing. No problem. As for my vintage bike, it gets premium, my quad runner, mower, chain saw, and boat – regular gas no ethanol.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 16:35:41 +0000
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