[Mgs] E10 or ethanol at 10%

[Barney Gaylord]

Paul (and others), -- Alcohol has about 40% lower energy content than 
gasoline, so the fuel economy will be lower by about 1-MPG.  Needing 
to burn 4% more fuel, you may need to re-adjust the fuel mixture 
slightly, about one flat down on the adjusting nut.  Most people will 
never notice the difference, and you can easily switch back and forth 
between E10 and zero-alcohol fuel on the fly with no problem.

But there is one problem that does pop up to bite you sometimes, 
especially in hot weather.  Gasoline boils at 190dF.   Alcohol boils 
af 160dF.  This is a mixture of liquids, not a chemical compound.  If 
you warm it up to 160dF the alcohol will boil, and you can separate 
the alcohol out of the mixture by distillation while the gasoline 
content is not boiling.

The problem is that fuel containing any amount of alcohol will boil 
at 160dF rather than 190dF.  This can be a big problem in warm 
weather with stop and go slow driving or standing still idling, or 
when you switch off for five minutes and then try to re-start.  When 
the alcohol boils it will result in bubbles in the fuel as it wants 
to flow through the main fuel jet past the metering needle.  Not much 
energy in the bubbles compared to liquid fuel, so the mixture goes 
extremely lean causing bad running or no-start.  The immediate fix is 
to pull the choke out to give it more fuel flow, which can get  the 
engine started or can get you through the bad running condition until 
you get moving and cool the carburetors down again.

A longer term fix for this problem is to install a Bilge Blower fan 
in the MGA air intake duct to blow air to keep the carburetors cool 
enough to prevent boiling the alcohol.  There are several successive 
pages on this information, Start additional reading here: 
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/carbs/cb207.htm
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/carbs/cb208b.htm

Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://MGAguru.com


At 03:50 AM 4/19/2021, PaulHunt73 wrote:
>I'm looking for people with experience of using this in cars like 
>the MGA and MGB in terms of what if any carb needle and timing 
>changes have been found necessary, and any other problems.
>
>Thanks,
>PaulH.
>....
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