Ethanol fuel

DanTheDIYGuy

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I am wondering how impractical a two-stroke engine conversion to ethanol fuel would be, just in case I decide it would be wise to make my own fuel for any reason. I am the type who would like to be able to sustain myself in case of a huge collapse of society (a.k.a. Fallout for the gamers out there). Any info would be nice. Not serious about attempting at the moment, rather curious how difficult this would be :)

Also, would the same conversion work for four-stroke?
 
just grow a heap of castor plants cause thats the only oil that dissolves in alcohol easily AND lubricates 2 strokes well.

other than jetting, no issues... just remember, methanol fuelled engines need FOUR times the fuel! but...that allows for TWICE the power!

(each unit of methanol has half the "power" of petrol...)

ever considered wood gas? used to be quite popular during WWII when fuel was rationed...
 
Also alcohols have bad effects on gaskets, aluminum and zinc.
When society collapses, you will need very little gas.
Just keep watching Mad Max for tips on where to find it and how to lay claim to it.

Steve
 
just grow a heap of castor plants cause thats the only oil that dissolves in alcohol easily AND lubricates 2 strokes well.

other than jetting, no issues... just remember, methanol fuelled engines need FOUR times the fuel! but...that allows for TWICE the power!

(each unit of methanol has half the "power" of petrol...)

ever considered wood gas? used to be quite popular during WWII when fuel was rationed...

I have thought of wood gas actually, though the gasifier would be huge and bulky. Better for larger vehicles I think. Cool idea though.
 
If petroleum products become rare and expensive then all the well known cheap alternatives like bio-ethanol will immediately become expensive too. Supply and demand..

I have seen ethanol fuel corrosion on my aluminium camping cooking set. I would think you need everything steel/titanium/brass/lined to use ethanol long term.
 
I'd take aluminum corrosion over steel and brass corrosion. steel corrosion is rust, and that nasty green stuff on corroded brass gets everywhere. I don't know enough about titanium to comment anything other than that it's way too expensive for this application.
 
But does alcohol corrode steel and brass? Is the corrosion caused by attracted moisture or by the alcohol itself? My "Trangia" alcohol stove burner is made from brass and holds up fine (with not daily use) but the pans needed replacing, hard scab like areas of corrosion where I had packed the wet burner inside the pans made them impossible to keep hygenically clean. There are titanium burners for weight weenies, at up to £40 each I would hope they don't corrode at all.
I am not sure the pans were anodised. Perhaps if all the aluminium parts that get fuel on them were anodised that could be okay.
 
I'd take aluminum corrosion over steel and brass corrosion. steel corrosion is rust, and that nasty green stuff on corroded brass gets everywhere. I don't know enough about titanium to comment anything other than that it's way too expensive for this application.
Since I used to play saxophone:)
Brass, basically as soon as your hands get sweaty will take all the varnish off it. As soon as the varnish comes off it will slowly turn green (whenever I played it I never had extremely corrosive materials with me so idk how fast this happens.)
 
If society collapses, first thing I would want to make sure of is being well armed. As for alcohol, it is a bad idea. I have had a lot of motorcycle fuel system parts damaged by E10. It rusts iron and steel, it corrodes brass and aluminum, and it melts plastic and rubber. This is what happened to a carburetor after sitting for a few months with E10 in it.

 
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