Ethanol

[Bill Campbell]

Greetings from Oz. I have heard that the powers who be are going to legislate to put 10% ethanol in our petrol. I believe ethanol is a no no for fibreglass tanks. Will we have to worry about the 10% mix. Would appreciate some input as I think you guys have a fair amount of ethanol mix with your gas. Cheers Bill

[hrbay]

Bill, it will probably be fine while running an event, just drain the tank if the machine is going to sit for a while.

GC

[OUCWBOY]

California has had ethanol in their fuel for at least 10 years and I did not have any problems with any of my glass tanks.

Donny Smith
Paragould, AR

[Dwight Rudder]

Although I don't think you need it for the octane, you could blend 50/50 with AvGas to reduce the amount of ethanol in your mix.
Dwight

Dwight Rudder
7 time ISDT / E medalist
8 time National Enduro Class Champion.

[tomale]

Just to add a bit to the discussion, with a fiderglass tank, it is important to drain the tank after each use regardless of whether it has ethanol in it or not. there are some other additives in our gasoline that will eat our beloved vintage fiberglass tanks. I am currently not running such a tank but when I was I did have a problem with my stock tank on my 76' MC5,that stopped when I started draining the tank at the end of the days racing. I have heard that there are coatings that can solve the problem but I don't have any experience with that....

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (finished project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)

[Bill Campbell]

Thanks for the advice. In the past with good old leaded 98 octane i didn't have much of a problem with petrol gumming things up and didn't worry about draining tanks etc. Our unleaded here now leaves a residue if left for long enough so I guess I had better get in the habit of draining my tank. Cheers Bill