Riding in the rain?

[battery]

ethenol should not corrode alluminum at all.

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

We can safely say that pure ethenol has a higher octane than gasoline. but what about after it has sat stale in a storage tank with water? I do not think it helps any. besides alcohol has a lower flash point than 93 octane gasoline and burns slower. So does the 2 stroke no good in high rpm's.

So that lower flash point means it's easier to overheat your engine, cause detonation and ruin your bearings? That sounds terrible for the HTs!

ethenol should not corrode alluminum at all.

That's good to know, especially as I'm planning to switch to using ethanol in my camping stove- gives me more storage options.
but your other reply makes me want to never try putting it in a HT engine!

 

[battery]

my reply's at this hour are of that of a drunkard. I am retiring for the night. alcohol should not bother your engine in the least. if you hae a fancy carb that you plan to have for many years, could be taken into consideration. if you qare really concerned add water to your gas/.ethenol and siphon off the gas, let it settle first. whatever water is left wont hurt your engine.. however, you may dissolve some detergents out of the gas. honestly I dont think it matters. it all burns anyhow. I would like to know if anyone has tried marvel in thier mix?

 

[Fabian]

I'd love to read all about exactly what problems you've encountered with the shift kit.

Right hand side chain tension issues - now solved with the right hand side chain tensioner available from the SickBikeParts website.
Left hand side chain tension issues - now solved with the left hand side chain tensioner which also better stabilises the jackshaft - now available from the SickBikeParts website.

Improved jackshaft stabilisation technique - http://motorizedbikeforum.the-talk.net/t353-additional-stability-for-the-sick-bike-parts-shift-kit

 

[battery]

Happy drunkards day

 

[Fabian]

if you are looking for reliability, then do NOT go with the shift kit!

You are completely wrong

 

[Fabian]

however engines that run on alcohol soley, run very cool. so possibly it helps with the engine temps?

They run cooler because you are throwing significantly more fuel down the intake for the same amount of air volume. The extra evaporation rate from liquid to gas provides greater cooling of the intake charge and greater cooling of the crankcase area, which in part allows the crankcase to emulate a heat sink.

 

[Fabian]

Ethanol is pickier about proper jetting though,

You are also wrong on this advise as well.

 

[Fabian]

The real problem with ethanol is that it's corrosive and loses energy content.

Since when does a fuel "lose" energy content from it manufactured state?

The carbs that come with these HT engines are crap enough as it is,

I have had good success with the NT carburettor, and the only carburation system that's been an improvement over an NT is the Walbro style diaphragm carburettor.

If you want to gain back the lost power from using ethanol you need either forced induction or a carburetor that allows more air/fuel flow.

Bad information - you just need a carburettor that flows more fuel for the same amount of air - using a larger sized jet to compensate for the reduced energy content of ethanol will bring back the jetting to where it needs to be.

 

[Fabian]

I do beleive you are wrong fabian, please post a reliable source to inform us that ethanol has a lower octane rating than that of 93 octane gasoline.

I never said that ethanol has a lower octane rating. It does however have a lower energy content per unit amount compared to gasoline, which is why you use more of it compared to gasoline for a similar amount of power.

The big advantage of ethanol is the extra intake charge cooling afforded by the extra evaporation of increased fuel volume; which in turn gives a performance improvement over gasoline.
Having said that it becomes obvious why Methanol is such a good fuel for higher performance, and the reason why it is used in small R/C engines; giving amazing power to weight for a given engine capacity.


Stoichiometric air-fuel ratios for common fuels:

* Natural gas: 17.2
* Gasoline: 14.7
* Propane: 15.5
* Ethanol: 9
* Methanol: 6.4
* Hydrogen: 34
* Diesel: 14.6




Fuels energy density by mass and by volume: MJ/kg

anthracite coal: 32.5
diesel fuel/residential heating oil: 45.8
gasoline: 46.9
biodiesel oil (vegetable oil): 42.20
gasohol (10% ethanol 90% gasoline) 43.54
ethanol: 30
liquid hydrogen: 143
compressed natural gas at 200 bar: 53.6
wood: 6 - 17


It immediately becomes obvious that i am 'wrong' (in a previous post) regarding the energy content of Ethanol.
I confused myself between the energy content of Methanol vs Ethanol, in that Methanol has around half the energy content of Gasoline,where as Ethanol has approx 2/3 the energy content of Gasoline.