(sigh...) you guys are lucky. Finding gas without alcohol is like finding a needle in a haystack here.

 

That really surprises me. You would think here in Iowa, where corn reigns king, it'd be harder to find ethanol free gas than in Michigan.... now 89 octane without ethanol is impossible to find (I think against state law too....), but 87 is still available for those who want an option.

 

We have a lot of corn here too. Corn and soybeans, soybeans and corn. I don't know if it's the availability of ethanol as much as what state law requires for environmental reasons. Which is funny, because Michigan has no emissions tests at all.

 

ha you would also think with all the windmills in our part of the state electricity would be almost free ya right all our windmill energy goes to chicago and we get our energy in this part of the state from a coal burning powerplant north of chicago tell me this makes sense

 

I guess I just don't get the big deal.... I've run ethanol blends since the 80's and never had an issue. I can get non ethanol everyday around here, but choose ethanol every time I can. Difference between non-E 87 octane and 10%E 89 octane is not noticeable to me always within 1mpg on every vehicle I run. None of mine are stock so maybe that is why...

I for one would much rather give my $$$ to an American farmer (ethanol) than a foreigner that would be happy to see us dead or destroyed...

Now jump to E85 and there is a difference although once a .50 difference the economy is equal for my flex fuel vehicle... and right now with gas at $4.08/gal gas and E85 is $2.98/gal the savings and economy is huge.

Add some tweaks and aftermarket parts and those downfalls can be minimized...

 

belive me there is no shortage of demand for corn if it wasnt for ethanol it would be used other places the big push we want to see now is sorgum, switch grass, sweet corn choppins, or corn choppins, so we can use the whole plant

 

Well, I do know that if your vehicle was set up for it (really high compression), you can actually have vehicles that run E85 or 100% ethanol that get as good of mileage or better mileage that a gasoline engine due to higher thermodynamic efficiency of the high compression engine, the down side is that you can't run any gasoline in that car ever, or kaboom.

But unless the engine is designed for it, your not doing your vehicle any favors by using ethanol.

 

You can blame Detroit for Ethanol issues..... When Henry Ford designed the Model T it was designed to run on gas or Ethanol and Ford envisioned Ethanol would be the fuel of choice being renewable, better for environment, and readily available for anyone to get. Detroit went the other way to petroleum based fuels. The Model T got 25-30mpg on either fuel. 100 years later and Detroit is just now getting back to that MPG rating that Henry had to start with....

 

I agree. Right now I'm running around 11° timing on my truck, but I know a lot of people are running around 14° with stock motors. I'm pretty sure if I bring the timing up and expect to pull a camper, I'll need to start running 89, but I'm hoping the higher timing will help compensate for the lower gas mileage I'm seeing right now while running 89.

I'm not against ethanol blends, it's just proven through my own driving habits to be more cost effective to run 87 with no ethanol. I do know on tanks where I've driven a little more "spirited," the difference in gas mileage pretty much disappears (yes, a 21 yr old guy here who drives like he's 85....)

 

being that you have a 460 with with 3.55 gears. You could probably run the timing up a bit more on 87 octane than what you're currently at. I have my truck (351) set to 13° BTDC and that's running mildly over sized tires with a 3.08 gearset on 87 Octane E10 gas. Truck never pings under load.

My philosophy has always been run the timing up to where your vehicle is still comfortable, while still running on the same octane as stock timing. But I come from the land where gas gets more expensive when you start going up in octane. Cheaper 89 is just weird to me.

...and there you have my 2¢ for the night. See you all tomorrow.

 

The Model T didn't get 25-30 MPG with 4 people in it, going 70 MPH, with the air conditioning running...or have any sort of real crash protection for the occupants.

Jason

 

I'm planning on upping the timing sometime soon. I just need to get ahold of a timing light before I can do anything. In a week and a half when I graduate, I'm spending a week at home to get everything packed up from school and to get ready for leaving for work, so I'll be tackling a lot of maintenance and tuneup types of stuff.

 

they didnt haha ya know just to through my two sense in our city got a new transit bus the old one had a 7.3 and got 13.5 the 6.0 rental 10.5 and the new 2011 ford flex fuel bus 3.5-4and the only reason why we have ot is because one station in town has e85 and we get a huge state tax credit

 

The Model T weighed 1,200 lbs with only 22 hp. Of course it's going to get good mileage.

 

If you made a 1200 lb 22hp vehicle now, it would get way better mileage than what the model T got. I bet you close to 100mpg.