Quote Originally Posted by raytoews View Post
When I was at Oshkosh in 96 there was a guy from a university who was obviously pushing ethanol. He had an RV3 and was running it on pure ethanol. When I asked him about mixing fuel he was quick to point out it was pure ethanol he was running.
I can believe ethanol will increase the octane (resistance to explode).
Light a can of gas and WHOOSH.
Light a can of ethanol and you get a pretty light blue to clear flame.

How would one go about doing some real world testing?
Set an engine up on a stand, crank the timing up until it spark knocked and then try different fuels?
I haven't heard an engine (pinging) since the 70's, EFI engines won't allow it with their knock sensors.
I have never heard an airplane engine ping, not sure you would hear it over all the other noise.

Would be nice if someone with a test cell and dyno would try it and post the results here, the way EAA did when they were STC'ing auto fuel.
Probably never happen, impossible to keep the lawyers at bay!

There are numerous companies developing av fuels but from what I have read they are limited production and would never release their findings to a bunch of crazy experimenters. Besides, no money in finding a simple solution like adding a little two stroke oil?

Ray
(M)Ethanol is higher octane, but contains less energy(BTUs) than gasoline. I would run ethanol in my 600 CID 11.5 to 1 Chevy. Specific fuel consumption goes through the roof with Ethanol, but I have no issues with pre-ignition on a supercharged engine putting out over 1000 horsepower. The downside is that for correct air fuel mixture it requires about 30% more fuel over gasoline. As a side note it also fires cooler whether that is an advantage is up to you. I have no clue about how it affects an aircraft engine but I wanted to pass on the facts as I understand them about (M)ethanol.
Rick
P.S. please feel free to correct me if I am mis-informed!!!