regional refineries making the ethanol out of biomass. that's the key. otherwise "THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING"
Quote: ......... What I want to know is why the fuck did the Model T get 25+ MPG and Detroit has not figured out anything better in 90 years? GM did have the Saturn project in the early 80s that got 100+ per gallon, all the crash protection derailed the project. Unquote A major difference is the Model T was not an overbore engine (bore larger than stroke). Ive seen a couple engines that were 'destroked' and they got better mileage (with lower emissons) afterward. Effectively it gives more time for the flame travel across the piston face during the longer power stroke. More complete combustion -in the cylinders- not back in the catalytic converter. Altho rodders had been doing it for maybe 10 to 15 years before, if I remember right it was GM in 1955 that started the stroking craze with the 265 OHV. (????)
But thepipelines are used for gasoline for a considerable distance vs trucking the whole way. Around here the gas is brought in by barge from La.
kilroy-couldn't have said it better myself. it's the, ahem, inconvenient truth all honesty, doing some converting and tuning but keeping the technology more or less the same is a much better alternative than staying stubborn and watching our cars turn to dust when there's no more "real" gas to be had. i'm as convinced as anybody that this is all probably an oil company conspiracy, but what else is new? what they need to explore is other raw material for producing this stuff. corn is by far not the most efficient or effective source. it's going to take independent entrepreneurship to develop viable fuel from other plants, but that has the benefit of taking control away from big oil. unless they sell out that is...
Until the scientists start making the science decisions this shit will happen. Blame Iowa. Ethanol is a good fuel for cars that are built for it. Ethanol is not the solution to environmental concerns, or imported oil. If you want to make a REAL difference, get a phd and run for office. Anything less is jerking off.
Problem with bio fuels is economics. Gas is so cheap that the only way ethanol can come back if there was a national standard for it's usage or if gas got really expensive and stayed up there.
Like I said, SDSM&T along with private business is getting ready to go into large scale production of cellulosic ethanol.....as in forest waste etc.
If you could get more energy from E85 than it takes to make it, that would be sort of like perpetual motion, which is impossible. Real gas has more energy in it than is spent creating it only because of all energy spent by dead dinosaurs a million years ago.
Wrong context. With Supertankers, pipelines , ect less than 1 gallon of fuel is used to get 1 gallon of gas to your car, the difference is profit. With ethanol more than 1 gallon of fuel is used to get 1 gallon on ethanol to your car, the difference in value is subsidized by tax money.
Everything but solar energy is the energy bank account of the earth. An account that is being depleted, and that earns no interest. No economist who ever lived would say its a good idea to burn through your assets in such a way. As someone who works very hard every day so that tomorrow will be better than today, I would hope that all of you seek to understand the problem, in order to solve it, rather than delegate the understanding or simply entertain ideas that agree with your current state of mind.
So far the pump fuel around here has been OK and its E10. They are saying its death for weed eaters and other two strokes. I have an ancient Homelite ST-155 weed eater I've had since probably 1984. I just richened it up and put a little more oil in it. It runs at 16:1 oil/gas. It smokes a little, but it gets the job done and starts on the first pull. Pulling the tops off of both Edelbrock carbs, they seem to be OK as far as the accellerator pumps, they are the red buna rubber ones. I don't know about the 15% though it hasn't hit here yet. Maybe someone will come out with some green pump cups as replacements if the higher concentration causes trouble. If it was a Holley, I would get an alcohol kit for the soft parts and then jet for the mix. Fuel lines and tanks are going to be more of a problem because the ethanol loosens up corrosion. Maybe put an electric pump on thats compatable with ethanol and filter it good. My Holley Blue is going to have to be replaced at some point because it isn't.
Anyone had problems on 10% with a holley, mine has been giving me fits lately and i dont know what we are around here Just think 50 years ago when hot rodders would talk about running 10% or 15% it was nitro, this sucks
This ain't no bull! I went to the track with 10% and set the jets till it ran best 10 sizes up, the next week I bought strait gas went home and parked it. WHen I started it the next morning it would hardly run, was blowing black smoke and ran fine after I put the original jets back in it. What is the point Ethanol gas other than to raise the price of corn?
I want to thank everyone for checking out and adding input to the thread. I think it's very important issue. And I appreciate your time
They already have, switch grass, sugar cane, a bunch of other stuff besides corn has a far greater yield and is easier to process. Thank the politicians for the corn bias, and that's both sides of the isle people. There are also enzymes that make it easy enough to make it from just about any organic matter or bio mass. Grass clippings, bad crops, logging waste, etc. The technology is there. That is by far the most clueless post yet. You obviously have no clue about the many places that are using ethanol as a fuel succesfully. Maybe do a little research and quit listening to talk radio.
Yeah, like Brazil where they're clearing the Amazon at a record pace to plant sugar cane for ethanol? That's a great model. If you're growing plants to make ethanol, you're doing more harm than good for the environment. Using waste material is a different story, but that's a very very small percentage right now.
....so....I have a 350 sbc with 2 Carter AFB's that have not been run yet after being rebuilt about 4-5 years ago by who knows who. do I now take them apart and change out all the soft parts? And if so, what carb parts do you suggest I change in order to run the 15% ethonal shit? Or do I switch the fuel management over to fuel injection and not be a traditionalist? I mean if its gonna be real world and we gotta deal with it sooner or later, regardless of the politics, then I wanna be prepared to use it as I am planning on a couple of very long distance trips with my hot rod and there is a lotta different fuels across this vast land of ours...some good some bad. Your opinion is welcomed here..
You know - I have been using 10% Ethenol in my daily for over 25 years and have NEVER had one fuel related problem. NOT ONE ! I drive 40-50K miles per year in my profession and I get on avg 27 Mpg with 10% Ethenol and 28.5 to 29 MPG with 87 Octane Gas. Here Ethenol ( E -10 ) is 10 to 12 cents per gallon cheaper than 87 Octane. There have been 30-40 new Ethenol plants built here in the last 4-5 years with some making money and some having to go bankrupt and bought out. Some have the ability to convert to Corn Starch to the food industry if need be. Before Ethenol became available here - many farmers were going broke and that is no lie. suddenly some product that can be produced HERE had another value to it and now allows farmers to make a profit and share some of that pie that petrolium companies - Canadian - South American and Middle Eastern owners have had a monopoly on since dirt. I am going to take a completely different approach to this with authority that no one on here has touched and my authority is from a Governmental stand point and Military and I will leave it at that. Guys - flat out, The Ethenol Industry has had tax breaks and enviromental studies that help at least keep things in perspective - yes based on BTU Therms - it does burn faster. BUT - guys hear me on this - the reason a lot of this has moved forward and increased mandates / proposals is in case the GASOLINE gets cut off and a national crisis of no gasoline supply takes place especially in a time of war ! And that is comming from some higher government levels of authority. Most of our gasoline we get from Canada / Mexico / Brazil / South America. 15% comes from the middle east. Geo thermal Earth studies show - the largest supplies in the middle east. Canada has the shale sands but very expensive to extract from. So - Ethenol is a national security option if need be in a time of crisis. In the mean time - yes - it has increasingly become available and for the most part a wash as far as miles / cost / useage but I know that in fact we have strengthened our farm producers with some profit and that isn't a bad thing and we still have the cheapest food in the world. There is more to this than meets the eye and hopefully I have shed some additional light that there is some defensive things concerning this. Corn is $ 3.50 bushel today down from $ 6.00 - 15 months ago with some comodity speculators increasing the cost due to large blocks of investment funds manipulating the market with hedging. Ethenol actually woke up the oil companies that there are fuel options and gee the price of fuel came down after all the ethenol plants got built - how come ? Competition ! Fuel also is being manipulated by hedge fund companies but, that will change and increase the amount up front to gamble with. Right now my $ 10.00 can manipulate $ 100.00 in gasoline futures. That will rise to $ 50.00 - $60.00 here soon through senate banking oversite to increase up front costs to the amount of speculation risk. Corn on the other hand - good old mother nature is the risk. Last thing BTW - Switch grass and Bio Mass conversions are on the horizon and the Corn Ethenol plants can be converted on a minimal investment. So there are options down the road too. Cob
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