it's not the mileage, it's the age

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

Slightly old, but gives you an idea -

http://www.fcai.com.au/publications/all/all/all/3/capability-of-vehicles-to-satisfactorily-operate-on-ethanol-blend-petrol

It really is a pointless argument, as the people who want to use E10 will come up with any reason they can to use it,

Personally, I won't touch it. The risks vs the savings aren't worth it for me.

Sounds like it is all theoretical arguments (which may have some validity) but doesn't sound like anyone has done any quantitative measurements and collected data. The only concrete thing to go by is the manufacturers’ list and those that say yes and no to ethanol fuel in their vehicles. In the same vain as the 'no-data' argument a 30+ year old Mini should be staying away from E10 unless otherwise proven - which is unlikely to happen.

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

I would only ever put E10 in my car if she was running on the scent of an oily rag and there were no other servos for miles. I run 98 octane and Cherry loves it.

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^-- what she said, except I carry spare fuel in the event of running dry.. I won't use E10 even then

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

I am sending off some emails to different companies asking them if their parts are compatible with E10.
Actually with one company I have asked them if their parts are compatible with petrol of any kind! (They made the hose that split on my car! )

its hard to blame the fuel on a 40 year old car, it could fail in any number of ways from any number of old worn out parts

also it probably says not to run old vehicles on E10 on the bowser.

.. except in cases where the car's run fine on unleaded for 15 years, then after one tank of E10 the rubber dissolves. Not just leaks, dissolves.

Ethanol is a powerful solvent, and is incompatible with certain types of rubber, many of which are found on older cars. Hence the warning on the bowser.

So it's actually pretty easy to blame the fuel...

Don't get me started on the "environmental benefits" of E10 -- it takes more energy to produce ethanol than the fuel contains, so every litre you burn consumes more fossil fuels than pure petrol.

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Simon

The adventures of an owner builder in the Tallarook Ranges

What he said... ^^^
And the only reason E10 is cheaper than unleaded is the Government subsidy enjoyed by the ethanol producer.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Umm, the hose that failed was only fitted recently. All the replaceable parts in the fuel system have been changed in the past five years.

Our cars were all designed to run on leaded petrol. We have not been able to buy the correct fuel for a number of years. All the fuel that we use these days is NOT the correct fuel for our cars.



The Bowser that I filled from did not actually have any warnings about E10. It would not have mattered. I had to get petrol to get home. There was no other option. I would have run out of petrol between towns on a country highway. I did not fill with E10 out of choice. Some servos only have E10 or Premium, they do not have regular unleaded.

How long till all our petrol is E10? I can see it coming soon.

Well I guess when that happens we build the car to suit it. Toss the SUs, fuel hoses and lines, fuel pump, etc etc. We'll all get Paul Gulson to make us a plastic HDPE LH tank as well as his RH one.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I've accidently ran NAV on shell V Power 100 octane once . No problems with the fuel system after a full tank of that stuff. Also noted no change in performance either for my extra $$
The only drama I have had with fuel was when I started running NAV on unleaded from LRP. I had the engine built to suit unleaded when it died so I switched. I had crud in the lines that 98 unleaded cleaned out of the lines and I haven't had a problem since.
Some of you will have a heart attack but there is no fuel filter on NAV. I look into the fuel bowl every now and then and there is no sediment or contaminants. But when he was on LRP I got some crap out of there though.

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Interesting story in todays news ,

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24 ... 42,00.html

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we're not going to give up our cars by 2011, so we'd better do something about it.... writing to RAVC/NRMA/RACQ etc. and AOMC might help

I'm tempted to buy some E10 and do some materials testing with it - so to 'convert' our cars, the whole fuel system needs to be tested for compatability, and anything upgraded

the fuel tank itself
the seal around the fuel float
fuel pump diaphragm
rubber fuel lines from the tank to the solid line
the O ring for the hose to the jet
the hose to the jet itself

and??

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

re the fuel tank, you could line it with the POR15 or Redline kit.
But be aware that ethanol and fibreglass tanks don't mix. Ducati owners will have a problem. So say Ducati in an article I have.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.