MikeJ
Member
I'm sure most of us have complained at least some about the 10% ethyl alcohol in otherwise perfectly good gasoline. If the alcohol was removed, would the purified gasoline prove to be any better for the engine? How about performance?
I made a batch of my own nearly-alcohol-free gasoline today. For those who like to tinker, here is what I did...
Got an empty 750 ml clear plastic bottle from the trash. It held vodka last night, so I knew it would not dissolve.
Poured about one-quarter (about 180 cc) of its volume with tap water and noted the water level.
Poured about three-quarter (about 565 cc) of its volume with mid-grade ethyl alcohol gasoline.
Capped it tight and shook it good and hard for about 15 seconds to mix it well.
Let it sit for a few minutes. Noted how much the water volume rose. The gasoline volume dropped by about 10 percent (expected).
The gasoline above the water line is nearly alcohol free. It appeared a little cloudy; maybe from additives that were affected by the water?
Very carefully poured off the gasoline (about 500 cc) into a clean container. The water got poured onto some weeds and evaporated.
I have not run the alcohol-free gasoline through my 160 cc Honda bike engine yet. I will run it through the 15-year old B&S lawnmower engine first.
I expect the engine to run just fine, just like engines of the pre-alcohol gasoline days.
Does anyone (especially the petro-chem and race guys) have any thoughts if more power will be produced at wide open throttle?
MikeJ
I made a batch of my own nearly-alcohol-free gasoline today. For those who like to tinker, here is what I did...
Got an empty 750 ml clear plastic bottle from the trash. It held vodka last night, so I knew it would not dissolve.
Poured about one-quarter (about 180 cc) of its volume with tap water and noted the water level.
Poured about three-quarter (about 565 cc) of its volume with mid-grade ethyl alcohol gasoline.
Capped it tight and shook it good and hard for about 15 seconds to mix it well.
Let it sit for a few minutes. Noted how much the water volume rose. The gasoline volume dropped by about 10 percent (expected).
The gasoline above the water line is nearly alcohol free. It appeared a little cloudy; maybe from additives that were affected by the water?
Very carefully poured off the gasoline (about 500 cc) into a clean container. The water got poured onto some weeds and evaporated.
I have not run the alcohol-free gasoline through my 160 cc Honda bike engine yet. I will run it through the 15-year old B&S lawnmower engine first.
I expect the engine to run just fine, just like engines of the pre-alcohol gasoline days.
Does anyone (especially the petro-chem and race guys) have any thoughts if more power will be produced at wide open throttle?
MikeJ
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