home ethanol production and ethanol in a 59
 

all right im sick and tired of seeing the gas prices go up and up and the oil companys turn in record profits and im not even driving yet. ive heard of these ethanol still to make ethanol at home and that sounds pretty cool. so is there any one out there with one of these stills making there own ethanol. my second qeastion is what will i have to do to run e85, or someother blend in my 1959 ford 292 Y-block. ive heard so many differnt stories about what you have to do, from just richening up the jets to it not being possible. just looking for some unbiased advise.

I plan to build and use the following still:

http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/id3.html

You can order plans from him, although admittedly I haven't tried to build the still yet, although I did order and do have the plans. There's also lots more information on that site.

From what I understand, to really use alcohol effectively, you need to do some things to the motor. Basically, take advantage of the increased octane rating. To do this you will want to increase the compression ratio. A lot. You want a 10:1 to 10.5:1 dynamic compression ratio, which probably means something like a 13:1 static compression ratio, depending on camshaft timing. Here's a compression calculator to get you started:

http://www.kb-silvolite.com/calc.php?action=comp

You could run it without modifying the motor, but you wont be getting the most out of the fuel, power and mileage wise. The problem I think you'd run into in a Y-block is low compression. Ethanol seems to thrive on compression. Nothing a custom set of pistons wouldn't fix...

Also, you need to make sure your fuel system is up to the task. I've heard many different things here, as to what alcohol does to various materials. I believe that if you have a recent carburetor rebuild kit (you'll have it apart anyway to put bigger jets in it) you'll probably be OK there. You'll probably want a higher volume fuel pump, again alcohol compatible. Fuel lines... you guessed it. I wouldn't even consider using a gas tank from 1959 with ethanol (even the 10% pump stuff you can get now), since it will loosen the corrosion and plug up things.

It's not impossible. Do your research, play it safe, and you should have good results.

There are alcohol-proof fuel tank coatings that you can use. I coated a rusting 1957 Chevy tank and noticed that the material stated that it was alcohol-proof, probably intended for methanol race fuel at the time. I drained and removed the tank, put in some small gravel and shook it around to "sand" the inside, dumped it out, rinsed and dried. You then pour in the coating, slosh it all around and dump out the excess. After about a two day cure, you are ready to go.

Jim

Hey that's pretty neat! I ought to get some of that stuff for the '70 F100. Where do I get it?

cool i like to hear there are a few people out there that think like me. any ideals on what kind of still is the best.

I really couldn't tell you. I'd want one that puts out the most alcohol per amount of energy put in. I know that's kind of a side-step answer, but it's the best I can do. I think that a good place to start would be the still in the link I posted above.

thanks is there any one out there with stills and withc ones they have and how good the work.

Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to sell the ethanol as moonshine and buy gas with the proceeds?

Yeah, but you can make the ethanol legaly, and a lot more at a time. Although moonshine sells for $25 a gallon, you can't sell near as many gallons to make money to buy gasoline.

One thing you need to do, make sure you carburator and fuel system has NO RUBBER at all. Nothing the fuel touches can be made out of rubber b/c it will eat it away! Also, Be extremely careful as you can blow yourself up in the ethanol producing process!

Visit <a="http://ethanolstill.com/alcoholpermit.pdf">ethanolstill.com</a> for the permit to make ethanol. Be advised the ATF agents have rights to come inspect you at anytime with no warrant if you get a permit! They are scared you are making it for reasons other than fuel. One more thing, as soon as you get your first batch, denature it by adding 2-5 percent gasoline "to prevent human consumption". They WILL inspect for this!

okay about the rubber what about the gromment around the fuel neck and the chunck of hose that goes between the feul neck and the gas tank. they will both be new as im doing a ground up rebuild do i need to worry about them since they will be new. and if i need to replace them what do i replace them with.

I would not worry about them if they are new, just when you start using ethanol check them every so often. I don't think it will eat them up too fast since you do not have fuel filling them in their entirety, but what it will cause is them to swell and crack, so just keep checking them, but if you see a leak that is probably it.

thanks if i start running ethonal ill be sure to check all the rubber pieces once in a while.