| Ethanol (Ethyl Alcohol) is an alcohol and can be made from pretty much any organic matter that you can ferment. It is a renewable resource as long as our sun is burning bright in our skies, so really our pollution and smog is killing our ability to produce more of it. The ethyl alcohol is not very combustable compared to gasoline. It's got a much higher octane rating than gasoline which means it's much more difficult to combust than gasoline. It has less "stored" energy than gasoline so you'll use more ethanol to travel the same distance, in other words you'll typically get LOWER mpg with ethanol. With a summer blend of ethanol at 10% in CA, I see a decrease of about 10% in my mileage over the winter months. I average about 33 mpg in the winter months, in the summer months I get about 30 mpg. (At least this was the case a few years ago... I think CA has gone to a year round ethanol mix) The ethanol will typically deterioriate rubber and can harden the seals in your vehicle if your vehicle was not designed for ethanol. This typically means the ethanol over the long haul will damage fuel lines, and valve seals compared to gasoline. In CA and many states that are regulating smog, ethanol helps gasoline burn cleaner. The chemical formula actually has an additionl Oxygen element that helps in the combustion process for your fuel to burn to completion. The fuel mix is done in states that require it to reduce hydrocarbon emissions (which causes smog). So the fueling stations that don't require it are in states that don't require it. Mixing ethanol into gasoline actually raises the cost of gasoline and thus most refineries won't mix it in unless they have to because it just increase the cost of the fuel.
 
****472 RWHP/461 TORQUE ON 110 RACE GAS @21 PSI
****438 RWHP ON 93 OCTANE PUMP GAS/STOCK MOTOR****
****429 FT LBS/TQ******************************* Also own: 2001 Harley Davidson Custom Softail Deuce
1997 Ford Explorer XLT V8 AWD
1993 300ZX 2+2 NA
1991 Yamaha YZ250
1985 Ford Bronco 3" lift, 35" Tires Sold:
1986 Yamaha FJ1100
1987 Nissan 300zx na(Z31)
1979 280ZX 2+2
1972 MGB
1968 Pontiac Firebird
1972 Nissan 240Z, dual webber carbs, etc
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