twocoolgliders

My engineering school built a pure hydrogen powered car in the 70's.....based on Fiat 850.......Ran but had engine knock as octane (rating was too low).

Maybe they have that all figured out by now.........

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twocoolgliders

Quick Internet search shows that ethanol does raise octane rating. In fact running on pure ethane will give very high octane allowing for very high compression and advance timing making more effecient engine (in terms of power per displacement)(engine mods required) .....Bad news is the energy content of alchohol is about 50% that of gasoline so mileage would be 1/2 and ethanol cost more to make than gs so running costs would be like 3 to 4 times.........

Had info in shop manual on turning my Triumph sports car into pure alchohol for racing.......minor mods to carb to allow for increased fuel flow...

Seems that many states require fuel to be "oxygenated" what ever that means, and alcohol fits the bill. They say it keeps the air cleaner from pollution

They use to use some crap around here, called MTBE, but soon discovered it was polluting the water supply, so they went to 10% alcohol.

Also quick Internet search says 10% alcohol in gas will result in 3% worse gas mileage..........than pure gas, but same mileage as other oxygenators....

When we has MTBE in the gas I got like 10% worse mileage in my cars.

Another idea of alcohol in fuel is that it is a "renewable resource"......But like many say, I would rather eat the food, and burn the oil......

Brazil has so much sugar that they make alchy out of it and run high % in the gas.........or even 100% alchy....

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twocoolgliders

BTW........some years ago, the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) went to great lengths to get STC's (suplimental type certificates) to get approval to use automobile gas in many common airplane engines.........

Many guys jumped at this, as avgas can cost upwards of double the cost of mogas.....and planes don't get very good mileage........

BUT..........the STC's FORBID the use of gasoline with any alcohol content!!!!

It will just plain ruin an aircraft engine, but eating up all the hoses, seals, gaskets, etc. Some don't like it in cars either for the same reason......modern cars are supposed to have all the stuff resistant to alcohol, but who know for sure?

Saw a demo once.....put car gas into a styrofoam coffee cup.....in a short time it will eat through the cup and leak. out.....same with av gas.....cup stays intact...

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Fridgitator

I'm sure the gasohol debate will continue for years, but it's been long enough that it's not hard to see that the theory didn't play out as promised. It hasn't reduced oil consumption, saved the whales, or improved my love life. It has changed agricultural practices around the world, and IMHO, not in a good way. To paraphrase Joni Mitchell, :"Give me spots on my apples, but give me liberty, and give me honest gas!"

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'09 Rebel 250

Loud ties save lives.

maxweljames

Bob Lazar is a certified genius(many consider him to be crazy)converted a Corvette. But it's hydrogen generation is based on a hydride reaction as opposed to electrolysis like the "kits" sold on ebay. Difficult kind of stuff to come by. I'm not really up to speed on hydride or it's production, but according to Lazar it's perfectly legal to produce yourself for your own personal use. And in order to do that you need an accelerator which he build on his ranch.(cause who doesn't know how to build one of those) Anyways, my guess is that if all that is on the up and up, his car is probably pretty cool, as well as fuel efficient. Probably not cost efficient being that accelerators take a crazy amount of power to run in order to create the needed material for the car.

The unit I may build is based on plans for one of those "ebay" kits. Sure as heck ain't paying for such a thing. But I've got enough parts around that I can probably throw one together without any additional expenditures. It's electrolysis based, which does produce hydrogen, I'm just not sure it will actually work, however I used to work with a guy who swears by the one he put in his 1980's pickup truck two years ago, claims he went from 18 mpg to 30. The office was about 50/50 on believing him and he never seemed to drive that truck to the office.

Back to the other experiments, I'll for sure do my MPG check once the Reb is back together after long term maintenance. Don't know if I'll have the free time to tackle you idea, but it's certainly a good set up for testing. Hopefully a group can get together and knock out some science.

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Maxwel James
2003 Honda Rebel

maxweljames

There was a caveat to that STC. The engine had to be approved to run on that low of avgas, i.e. 80/87 red. Any engine that is certified to only run 100LL is not eligible for that STC. Always had customers wanting that stupid alteration but a quick viewing of the TCD prevented it. And besides all the 100% correctly stated BAD things auto gas does, it stinks. A single plane with auto gas in a hangar overnight will stink up the entire place by morning. Go into work and just open the hangar door first thing, don't matter how cold it might be outside.

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Maxwel James
2003 Honda Rebel

twocoolgliders

Yeah, but there are a lot of planes out there that used 80/87....no longer available, they now have to use 100 LL and that's not good for them either......

Funny how it ( mogas) makes an airplane stink, both sitting there, and when it burns the car gas.....yet cars seem to smell OK? Cars have vapor recovery maybe?


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twocoolgliders

Isn't it Iceland? Where they go from geothermal, to electricity, to electrolosis, to hydrogen to power cars..........

Seems like a dopey waste of energy, but they have that geothermal for cheap.

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carlos

Sorry for this late answer.But now I know that here in europe the number on the pump is only the RON number. So the same gasoline is labeled 4 or 5 points higher in europe.

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Buickguy

RON and MON are different. In the USA we label a "pump octane" which is a formulaic equation of the two. I believe Carlos' 95 would correlate with a high degree to our 87.

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1987 CMX250C Rebel

2002 FSC600 SilverWing

1983 Yamaha Midnight Virago XV920MK

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