ethanol and older ferraris

Hi, Bill - here in southeast PA, most filling stations advertise "UP TO 10% ETHANOL" in their fuel.

I have been running this in my 1967 Ferrari for as long as it's been in place and NEVER experienced any problems.

I also run it in my 1967 ALFA and 1974 FIAT - again, no problems.

Also, I run only regular.

Bob Z.

 

Been running it in my '72 Dino for at least a year.

Once it cleaned off any of the gum/resideue that ethanol apparently is prone to doing, car ran fine.

A little harder to warm start, but that seems to have cleared up too.

I do run premium (93 octane) Sunoco most of the time.

I've heard it gives newer Saabs and motorcycles more trouble than vintage Ferraris.

There are a couple threads on this in vintage. Might want to do a search there.

Dave M.

 

10% seems to work but it does attack hoses and tanks that aren't designed for it. The new standards are for 20% I'm not sure that will work so well.

 

Is it 20% in all grades, or only the lower octanes?

 

The owners manual for my 430 says any ethanol content is not recomended. Is this their lawers talking or a real technical issue. E10 is essentially unavoidable. E20 is probable certain.

 

The shame of it all is that ethanol is a big scam.

John

 

I'll stick to the technical in this thread.

E-10 or gasohol (~90% gasoline up to 10% ethanol) was mandated in the Energy Bill of 2005. It replaced the previously used MTBE additive in many areas of the country. Gasohol was used in the Midwest starting in the 1970s after the OPEC energy shocks. It was this period that the compatibility issues with the fuel system that Bill mentions came about. Hoses, o-rings, fuel pumps, etc. The OEM suppliers have since upgraded their products.

Since Bill mentions a 1987 Ferrari, in this case every hose should be replaced not so much for the ethanol but for their age. According to one of Carrol Smith's books, he would only use US made Gates/Dayco or German or Japanese OEM hoses on his race cars. Italian was on the do not use list.

For the older Ferrari's and other antique cars in general. Ethanol can cause corrosion in some non ferrous metals like zinc. Some weber carbs used Mazak (zinc alloy) castings instead of aluminum.