[Healeys] gas/alcohol

[Bob Spidell]

Living in California, I have been running 'gasahol' in all my cars 
longer than some. Best we can usually get is 91-octane; I was able to 
buy higher-octane--93 and 100--fuel at times but, guess what: the octane 
was boosted with ethanol (added water to some and measured before and 
after; don't recall the exact mix but IIRC I figured it was 10% ethanol; 
standard from the pump seems to be about 8%).

I have about 140K miles on my BJ8 running mostly 91-octane gasahol, and 
there have been no negative effects save some 'vapor lock*' on starting 
when hot. I replaced the hard line to carburettor flex line that had 
been on the car for a couple decades and, except for it being a little 
stiff there was no visible degradation. About 8 years ago I put a new 
carb jet in pure/denatured ethanol and there is also no visible 
degradation. Rubber components sold since the introduction of gasahol 
are impervious to the stuff. Theoretically, due to its oxygen content 
gasahol could cause an engine to run a little lean, and at least one 
knowledgeable person recommends changing to rich carb needles, but both 
my cars have long since been tuned to run on it with std. needles. The 
BJ8 was rebuilt to standard 9.1:1 compression ratio, the BN2 is a 100M 
and has the 'high compression' 8.7:1 pistons. I've been told Healeys 
will run fine on 91 up to about 11:1 compression, depending on the cam 
and timing.

Good luck trying to 'steal' from an airport--when I owned airplanes I 
would occasionally get some--but the fuel providers aren't likely to be 
enthusiastic about selling it to you. Technically, you would owe 'road 
tax,' and the stuff is full of TEL and highly toxic (don't breathe any 
of it and don't let it get on your skin).

* not technically 'vapor lock,' but the alcohol vaporizes and cavitates 
the fuel next to the exhaust manifold, causing some stumbling for a mile 
or so.

Bob

On 9/2/2024 7:45 AM, carl and gerry rubino via Healeys wrote:
> A message from Canada. For the last 30 years I have been running my 
> 100/6 on 93 gas with no alcohol.
> In its infinite wisdom our government is going to legislate alcohol in 
> all grades of gas.
> Other than stealing gas from an airport any recommendations to deal 
> with this?
>
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