Paul,
  I thought this would be of interest to the Rotary Engine people.
  Herb

  I learned some interesting information from a Colonial Pipeline quality
  control supervisor this weekend.  He works at a distribution terminal near
  Greenville, S.C.  I was bemoaning the fact that I had trouble finding 93
  octane gasoline that doesn't contain ethanol.  He told me that all of the
  93
  octane gasoline in our area is ethanol free.  So I tested the 93 octane at
  a
  local gas station this morning and sure enough, it contained no ethanol
  even
  though the pump was placarded with a sticker with "may contain up to 10%
  ethanol".

  He explained that Colonial's pipelines are made of black iron and therefore
  were not suitable for transporting gasoline with ethanol.  Colonial
  receives
  ethanol in stainless steel rail cars; and the ethanol is mixed with the 87
  octane fuel at the terminal--not so with the 93 octane.

  Dan

  what we need is a quick way to check for alcohol.

  Paul Lamarin Reno



Paul,

You can buy fuel test kits.  Briggs & Stratton sells the one I purchased.
  You should be able to get it from your local mower repair shop.

Mark S.

That could be a break through for the composite guys.
Have you tested local 93 octane auto fuel for alcohol?
How long does it take?

Paul Lamar


I suspect that we have even more to worry about when purchasing MoGas
than ethanol content.

Where I live in extreme N Wisconsin, gas stations have the option of not
selling any gasoline containing ethanol; one of the stations nearest to
my home sells only ethanol-free gasoline.  And although the owner
charges a few cents/gallon more than his competition, the increased
mileage one obtains more than makes up for the price differential.

However, I have discovered that all gasoline in our region apparently
contains less energy than that sold in other parts of the country.  All
of our local gasoline comes from a small refinery near here, and I
suspect that this local brand of "hootch" is not top-shelf stuff.
I've made two trips recently down to Purdue University in central
Indiana, and was pleasantly surprised to find that on both trips, as
soon as I got about 300 miles from home, my wife's Subaru started making
30 mpg.  The gas consumption was consistently high whenever I gassed up
in Illinois, Indiana, or southern Wisconsin.  On the return trip the
first fill back in central Wisconsin caused the mileage to drop back a
few mpg.

Our local refinery caters to a lot of industrial customers and the iron
mining industry of Minnesota, so I suspect that the local process is
optimized for heavy-fuels.  We are probably getting the low-energy
light-stuff at the pumps. If that is the case, perhaps it is also a
contributing factor in many of the fuel-system problems I've had with
many of the older engines in my possession.  I have a lot of problems
with vapor lock on my air-cooled equipment too.

So maybe one should think twice about using MoGas in an aircraft flying
at altitude too (in some areas at least).

Robin

Vapor lock is a large function of the fuel system design.
EFI systems are less prone than aircraft carbs and old mechanical
fuel pumps. If your high pressure pump is either in the tank
or close to it you should be OK

Paul Lamar