E-85 & Vintage Cars

[Don]

By KEN GROSS: AutoWeek Jan 17th

" With all the hype about E85, as in "Think Green, Drive Yellow," you'd think America's addiction to petroleum-based fuels-not to mention the challenges of dealing with unpredictable Middle East suppliers--was about to change.

Think again, especially if you own a vintage car.

Despite what those cheery General Motors ads infer, there are still relatively few pumps nationwide offering E85 (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline). Vehicles that can run on ethanol are flex-fuel-compatible, so they will perform just fine with pump gasoline. Some states, including Virginia and Maryland, mandate E10 ethanol, with up to 10 percent ethanol blended in all grades of pump fuel, to help conserve fossil fuels.

Here's the bad news: Ethanol acts as a solvent that can loosen the sludge, varnish and dirt that accumulate in a fuel tank. Ethanol also absorbs water, and the ethanol-water mixture may separate from blended gasoline and sink to the bottom of a fuel tank, where the fuel pickup is located. This mixture can clog fuel lines and block carburetor jets and may be incompatible with older rubber compounds and some metals.

There are already unsubstantiated but seemingly sincere tales about ethanol-laced fuel's corrosive effect on gaskets, fuel lines, carburetors and pumps. Several leading old-car restorers already recommend 115/145-octane AvGas or 102-octane CAM2 racing fuel to customers with collector cars.

Rumors abound (reminiscent of the Y2K madness) that old cars and vintage boats will be adversely affected by ethanol-blend fuels, whether they are used frequently or sparingly. Thanks to seasonal additives that vary from state to state, pump-fuel blends are already not as stable as in the past. Add up to 10 percent ethanol to that mix, and there could be problems.

Hagerty Insurance Agency in Traverse City, Michigan, insures more than 600,000 collector cars and a large number of vintage boats. It has just initiated a $50,000 study, in conjunction with the Kettering University Advanced Engine Research Laboratory (AERL) in Flint, Michigan, to find out what happens over time when an ethanol-gasoline blend is used in old cars.

"There's been massive spec-ulation within the old-car hobby about the effects of ethanol," says Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty. "As of now, there are no definitive answers. We serve the hobby in many ways. So we felt it was important to ascertain the impact of ethanol-blended fuels on collector cars and boats." The study is expected to take one year, though preliminary findings may be announced this summer.

Greg Davis, director of the Kettering AERL, says, "We know from our earlier work with E85 that there are potential issues with corrosion. But we haven't yet looked at the possible effect on vintage cars."

In the interim, the experts suggest that you drain and clean your old car's fuel tank, use a fuel-tank sealer that's impervious to ethanol, replace fuel filters, keep all screens clear and use a fuel stabilizer (added to a full fuel tank) if your vintage car is to be stored for any length of time."