Alcohol burner??

[dyce51]

Thinking of converting my engine to run off alcohol rather than gasoline. Won't be hard to do.......although I did find out it is illegal to burn straight alcohol....According to the BATF and the TTB you have to blend it with gasoline (to make it undrinkable) otherwise it's illegal. I asked about how clean straight alcohol burns (emmisions) and they say that doesn't effect them....I had to laugh...

anyone already doing this??

 

[Fe2O3]

There's a fine line between Moonshine & Race fuel

A.T.F should be a convenience store NOT a part of the goverment.

 

[liljgoneman]

i wouldnt worry about blending... at least until you see a shotglass holster on ol' barneys "batbelt"....

 

[RPM]

What you want is Methanol. It is very hard on aluminum and rubber. Runs a lot cooler than gas and you will use about 1.5 time more fuel. We used it in dragsters.

 

[adam]

Alcohol is not illegal to burn. Methanol is already a poison-drink it and it will kill you-gas or no gas in it. It runs cleaner than gasoline because it only has one carbon molecule, whereas gas has 8 carbon molecule to break up when it burns (if I remember correctly from school)

 

[dyce51]

Alcohol is not illegal to burn. Methanol is already a poison-drink it and it will kill you-gas or no gas in it. It runs cleaner than gasoline because it only has one carbon molecule, whereas gas has 8 carbon molecule to break up when it burns (if I remember correctly from school)

But when you can produce alcohol cheaper than you can buy it....Problem is when you make it the purest you get is 190-195 proof...that alone can be burned in an engine, but it's against the law. You have to "denature" it to be legal. Means you have to "dry" the alcohol (remove residual water) and blend it with gasoline to make it undrinkable an then legal to run...only 200 proof can be mixed with gas....

 

[dyce51]

I still think it would be cool as hell to roll up to the local cruise in burning pure alcohol!!!

 

[woodman]

Alcohol is very corrosive and if you run rich it will wash past the rings and puke up your oil. When I raced I used methanol, I added a couple table spoons of bean oil to each 5 gallon can of Alcohol to give it lubrication properties. At the end of each race day I had to pull the plugs and spray WD 40 in each cylinder. If you don't (Alcohol collects water) it will rust the inside of your cylinders, and pit them. Just a heads up...

 

[echnidna]

I'd have a think about two carbs on the engine, 1 for gas the other for alky. Then you could use either fuel relatively simply.

 

[dyce51]

Alcohol is very corrosive and if you run rich it will wash past the rings and puke up your oil. When I raced I used methanol, I added a couple table spoons of bean oil to each 5 gallon can of Alcohol to give it lubrication properties. At the end of each race day I had to pull the plugs and spray WD 40 in each cylinder. If you don't (Alcohol collects water) it will rust the inside of your cylinders, and pit them. Just a heads up...

hhhmmmm I didn't think of the water part of it........may be a bad idea to run unblended alky....

 

[26Troadster]

back around 83 we ran eithanol (spelling) with no gas in it, wouldn't run methanol as it will eat up rubber and aluminum(spelling) we always started the car on gas and shut it down on gas, less problems on the rust that will happen with just alky. carb had to be real fat too. like alot of comperssion as well. from what i understand you can make eithanol as long as it can not be drank, you can always use grass clipings and the sort to make it. besides if you don't tell anyone where you get it then no one knows. i say do it the still would not have to be that big. you can even make the still out of aluminum and no one in their right mind would drank it, the good stills are made of copper.

 

[dyce51]

back around 83 we ran eithanol (spelling) with no gas in it, wouldn't run methanol as it will eat up rubber and aluminum(spelling) we always started the car on gas and shut it down on gas, less problems on the rust that will happen with just alky. carb had to be real fat too. like alot of comperssion as well. from what i understand you can make eithanol as long as it can not be drank, you can always use grass clipings and the sort to make it. besides if you don't tell anyone where you get it then no one knows. i say do it the still would not have to be that big. you can even make the still out of aluminum and no one in their right mind would drank it, the good stills are made of copper.

yup the good stills are made out of copper and some are stainless as well ... I'm kind of going off "Heritage" with my '51 Ford F-1 build. Doing something along the lines of a Rum Runner/Moonshine Hauler/Panther Pi$$ Express truck. Moonshining is part of my family heritage. I figured if that was kinda the theme why not run it in the tank as well....

 

[the reverend muddy grimes]

Maybe you live in a diferent part of the country than me, but here, unless you drive a diesel, no one checks your fuel. they do in diesels for farm diesel, but never in anything else