Ethanol?

[Vince Lupo]

I was reading the LA Times yesterday and there was an article on the Ethanol additive in gasoline and the damage it's causing to boaters (fiberglas gas tanks, carb fouling, hoses, seals etc), and was wondering if there is anything that we as vintage motorcycle enthusiasts have to be concerned about?

[kustommusic]

Vince, My son and I run pure methanol in our drag car. I don't know if using a little additive would be the same but It does take some special parts for straight fuel. All our flexible hoses are silicone.All our fittings are stainless steel,where we can use them. The fuel filter and the crank driven fuel pump is rated for fuel. The tank is plastic. We origionally used a carburator that had to be flushed after every race day,we used gasoline and then washed out with wd-40. We have since switched to a fuel injection system that is all set for fuel. Its a bit of messing around to change over but your just talking a little bit, so I think the only worry you might have is the rubber hoses,I'd change 'em. And be aware of how much you have in the bike so you don't let it set with alot of alky in it. Also, (i just thought of this) If you have a pour in tank liner the alky could melt the liner. I also had a situation on a car one winter, it had a frozen gas line so I added a couple of bottles of Heet(alky) it took care of the problem but melted the glue that holds the paper element in the gas filter and pluged up the whole mess again! Steve Greer

[Hahnda]

I try to steer clear of any gas that has ethanol in it. Here in WI that is a bit hard as regular and super unleaded usually have a 10% blend. Normally premium does not so that's what I run. But if I do run into a station that has regular without the ethanol I'm not opposed to running that either.