Many report no Ethanol availability in their area while others say some or all. The use of Ethanol in a high compression engine build may, or not be a concern when the engine is tuned correctly. This poll is for people that have a high compression engine build with a CR of more than 10.0:1, any C.I. and have used any blend or Octane level of Ethanol. After answering the poll questions please give some additional info i,e.; (compression ratio, C.I., head work, etc and your results w/ ethanol).


Poll question:
With the many people across the country on this site and with the varying availability, how many use the Ethanol blend in a high compression motor of at least 10.0:1.CR?

 

A friend ran it in his Chevy Avalanche and the truck ran like crap. I cant even imagine what a high compression motor would run like.

 

people who bash ethanol arent educated enough to know how it works and how to correctly set it up. ethanol is a amzing fuel and works wonders in higher compression engines. you just have to add fuel and or fatten the bike up to accomidate. chad.

 

I find it amazing that when I burn non-ethanol gas from other states(I drive and travel some) that my economy can go up by as much as 20%. If you sit and do the math, when I am using ethanol gas I am using the same amount of gasoline I would have normally only now the engine is also using that much ethanol. Not worth having.

In Missouri, we cannot get ethanol free gas, it is a state requirement for "the farmers"; such drivel, it is only for those that cannot see beyond their own nose. My bike runs like crap on it, my cars get less than 3/4 their rated economy on it and the net result is a lot of damaged fuel systems and engines.

 

ethanol is similar to alcohol....ever seen a sprint car or top fuel drag car? It works in Hi comp engines just fine....just need more of it to burn, thats why fuel injected engines with computers work today. If you have a carb engine you have to jet it for it to run good.

 

10.1:1 comp on 95".

It runs fine with it. I haven't noted any deterioration of the rubber or plastic components.


Ethanol is alcohol with 5% gasoline added to it to keep you from drinking it.

It has an octane rating of 117.

If blended with 87 octane gasoline @ 10% the result is 89 octane.

In some areas of the country 85 octane gasoline is being manufactured to blend with ethanol and still sell 87 oct regular. In the southern states most everywhere the regular and midgrade ethanol blends are the exact same product.

Ethanol was tried back in the seventies and it was a scam back them, same as today.

It does lower fuel milage.

It is less efficient than gasoline.

It is made from food stocks.

In a world where people starve by the millions every year how much sense does it make to use land that could grow crops for human or animal consumption to produce a fuel that is less effective than gasoline, damages rubber and plastic, and decreases fuel economy?

Write your congressman and let them know you want to know why we have to repeat history to learn the same lesson over and over.

 

your exactly rite, ethanol burns nearly twice as fast as gasoline, so your mileage does go down, and ethanol is only hard on fuel systems that arent equipped to handle it, most every manufacturer has adjusted or accomidated for this, The plus side to ethanol is the ocatane rating, the more ethanol, the higher the ocatne, Your air cooled guys with big inch,high compression motors should be worshiping ethanol/gasonline mixes.....and if any harley guys/companes had a brain to work with, theyd make a e85 carb, and youd have 105 ocatne available at the pump! for 2.30 a gallon! we have a turbo big block chevy and guess what it runs....e85....and we knock down 15mpg and itll go in the 8s, and my busa. yea, it runs e100, 100 percent ethanol. guess what, no fuel problems, oh and i spray it with a 80 shot, so if you educate yourself and make the correct adjustments, nothing wrong with this fuel at all. chad.

 

Good replies but, I wonder if the new Harleys with EFI will experience any long term problems with injectors, o rings and any other parts in the fuel management system because of Ethanol use.

Maybe Dawg can ring in with any info from Harley about what the MOCO has done to protect our investments in these bikes. Does Harley NOT recommend Ethanol in their bikes?

It would also appear that the question of Ethanol in high compression engines is not a problem, it actually enhances the burn.

 

Last bike was 10.25 and it ran fine on the 10% ethanol we get during the winter.

 

So what's the verdict? My buddy is building a SB chevy to run on E85 and I just got a bagger so I'm going to build my sporty. I was thinking about the E85 with it's higher octane I could go with more Comp. I already am running a s&s carb.