[Healeys] Ethanol

[Mirek Sharp]

Simon, we have been subjected to ethanol for some years here in Canada and
confess I did absolutely nothing to my '59 BT7 to adjust to it.  I rebuilt
the carbs 3 years ago, but prior to that, they had whatever parts I fitted
when I previously serviced them, probably 15-20 years ago.  I don't thrash
the car, and driving normally I noticed no difference in power, and since it
is not my regular driver for work etc., I have never bothered much about
fuel consumption (would it influence how much  drive it?- No!).  I can't
even recall when I last serviced the fuel pump, it must be at least 25 -30
years ago, perhaps not since I put a new one in around 1975, just after I
bought the car.  I expect it would affect timing but I always fine-adjust
this with the Vernier on the distributor after static setting per usual
practice and I get no pinging.  Being in Canada, the car is not driven
during the salt season from around late November to late March(-ish). I
don't top up or drain the tank, or add any fuel stabilizers, and it starts
up and runs just fine in the spring (except for needing a boost some years).

 

My advice is just drive it, and if something breaks, THEN fix it.

 

To be clear, I not saying the ethanol has no effect, it plays havoc with the
carburation on my vintage motorcycles, which are air-cooled and much less
forgiving when burn-rate and combustion temperature are changed with the
ethanol.  I just think the Healeys, the 3000s at least, can cope with the
changes more easily.  The only other big effect I noticed is that it is
attacking the lining I put in one of my BSA fuel tanks, and I will have to
clean that out soon before completely breaks down (the solvent is
methyl-ethyl ketone - I can't wait!).

Good luck with it, 

Mirek

 

From: Healeys [mailto:healeys-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Simon
Lachlan
Sent: January-26-17 12:04 PM
To: 'Healey List'
Subject: [Healeys] Ethanol

 

It seems that the UK is to be blessed with this stuff. I've been asked for
my thoughts on the topic and, as I know nothing about it, I'm looking for
advice.

See attached.

What are your experiences? And what are the "dos and don'ts"? 

Thanks,

Simon

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20170126/ef4e8b21/attachment.html>