Is ethanol free gas best for old, carbureted 911s

[Quickstep192]

If I ever finish my new fuel tank project, I’ll have the ability to fill it with ethanol free gas from here on.

I can get ethanol free 89 or 93 with ethanol.

I can also get 100 octane tetra ethyl lead, but it’s more difficult.

Which is the better choice.

[GH85Carrera]

93 pure gas is fine. The low lead stuff is not necessary unless you have an 60s or 70s engine that has never had the top end rebuilt.

Avoid the gasohol is possible. And it helps if you put the model of Porsche in your signature.

[Jeff Higgins]

The better choice is to tune the motor to run on whatever is the most commonly available in your area. These motors can be tuned to run on pretty much anything. If you narrow your choices to what is available locally at one oddball station, you are going to have a difficult time once you travel outside of a radius proscribed by your range from that station.

[nickelplated5s]

As stated above the 93 has ethanol. Personally I have 87 non here and cut some 100 non into the P car. If you're traveling run premium. Go back to non when you can. Any small engines you have around that sit idle in the winter will appreciate it. The Subaru gets better mileage with it too. I'm lucky, my whole seller started carrying it so I bought a second tank. In other words my advice is to run the non when you can. The racing fuel is about 20 per gallon but I don't use too much of that.

[nickelplated5s]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

93 pure gas is fine. The low lead stuff is not necessary unless you have an 60s or 70s engine that has never had the top end rebuilt.

Avoid the gasohol is possible. And it helps if you put the model of Porsche in your signature.

Aviation fuel is the only one I know about with lead anymore. Even diesel is 5% bio nationwide if not more.

[proporsche]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

93 .

Avoid the gasohol is possible. And it helps if you put the model of Porsche in your signature.

Glen cklic on his garage;-)

Ivan

[gamin]

I would not use ethanol fuel in a carb EVER. I have PMO's on my '70. Richard Parr, former owner of PMO (wish he still was), told me not to use ethanol fuel. If it sits in the carbs for an extended period of time it will damage them. If the car is driven regularly, like every week, damage can be avoided. House painter brought his 1 year old power washer over. Wouldn't start. Ethanol ate up the carb over the winter. Expensive fix. Project Farm has a video on YouTube about this. Worth watching.

[LJ851]

I’m 11 years into driving my 3.2 liter engine with PMO carbs exclusively on the E10 93 octane available at the pump here. Zero issues as long as you use the correct fuel hose and drive the car.

All of my cars and most of my motorcycles are carbureted and as mentioned above the ethanol fuel needs to be kept moving. Anything that sits at all I put 90 octane non ethanol into.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

My boat with an old school Holley carburetor needs to have the fuel bowls drained and all the gas in the accelerator pumps pumped out before storage. The air bleed holes get filled with hard water deposits and I need to use piano wire to clean them out.

Nothing like being forced to buy a product NO one wants

[EC900]

Ethanol is a monster when left for a season. Most old hoses swell and gum up. Even using stabilizers doesn't always help, for instance just check the cap and the pour spout on a bottle of Stabil, it even leaves sticky residue at full strength.
Higher octane gas has more detergent and helps keeping carbs clean, but in lawn equipment and generator storage I dump the gas out and I run True Fuel 93 octane through for a few minutes.

If I could I wood use ethanol free full time but it’s not available in the city.

[Bill Verburg]

The issue w/ Ethanol besides it's relatively low energy density is that any of the plastic and rubber parts in the fuel system were not designed to accommodate it and will deteriorate due to exposure.

[chrismorse]

If you keep the ethanol contaminated shi* moving through your car/equipment it works ok, but don't let it sit or it can corrode out your carb, (my generator carb), chain saw, weed whacker or 904 carbs, (I wish).

Here in the independent socialist republic of Kalifoania, you MUST sign, in blood, that the alcohol free gas you are about to pay another $1.00 pr gallon for WILL NEVER, EVER BE USED ON THE SACRED, UNDEFILED HIGHWAYS of our glorious state - and i am a democrat!!!!

Does anyone have any comparative test data on the time effectiveness of various additive to extend the non corrosive utility of the ethanol SHI*

A short while after the curse of ethanol was inflicted upon us, I asked a local chain saw/small engine shop what percentage of his work was the result of our defiled gas... His reply, OVER HALF.

A pox on the cretins
chris

[nickelplated5s]

Sorry, no data just real world experience. I lost two small engines long ago, probably could have fixed them with carbs. Even in CA any marina should have non ethanol. I did that for along time before buying a tank. The 8 small motors or so sitting here start just fine after sitting. Then you get into diesel, have that tank too. Don't use that much so I put biocide and additive in that. Yes, there is a bacteria that can live in diesel. At a guess due to the 5% bio that is federally required.

Here's my 2c - if the motor is being used regularly ethanol should be OK. If it's going to sit don't use it. Speaking of I need to order more. That's a fun bill to get.

[HarryD]

I have been using non-ethanol in my 911 and bus and things seem to be better.

One observation is that my bus has one of those clear fuel filters. When I was using E10, there was ALWAYS bits of black material in the filter. Once I switched to Non Ethanol, the black bits disappeared. And yes, I used ethanol compatible lines and my fuel tank if clean.

[tops911]

Montana was the first place where I saw alcohol free gas. It's alcohol free premium 91 octane. It's all I use in our 2 cars, a 2007 BMW X5 and the 1982 930. And of course in all the small engines like the mowers, generators and the like.

[ToySnakePMC]

Have access to ethanol free? End of story. Small, local NC chain of gas stations here only have premium in ethanol free, and it’s 93 octane. It’s definitely the go-to place for older hi performance cars...
I inherited my FIL’s 15 kw generator. $680 repair bill by small engine shop to bring it back to life. His replacement fuel cap even has No Ethanol printed on it to help homeowners avoid problems in the future.

[Dpmulvan]

This is what will happen to your Webers if you leave ethanol sitting in your carbs.

[PeteKz]

As someone said, if you are gonna use ethanol-contaminated fuel, drive the car regularly so you keep putting fresh fuel in it. Fuel injection systems are pretty well sealed, so don't have as much trouble as carburetors. But if you let carbs sit with ethanol fuel in them, they will gunk up. I can't count the number of motorcycle and small engine carbs I've had to clean because of that.

[David Inc.]

Leaded gas is always the worst choice, just don't use it.

[nickelplated5s]

Actually low lead is a lubricant for older engines. Valves, piston rings. All station fuel is unleaded. Racing fuel I'm not sure about. Last time I bought aviation fuel it was 100 low lead. Those motors are air cooled too