using alcohol in yesterdays engines.

jonnny2006 · Aug 26, 2008

I was reading on here that the old 6 cylinder gassers are supposed to use at least 93 octain. I was wondering a few things, were the octain ratings of yesteryear the same as they are now? Is the gas that is now 87 the same as 87 then? also since e-85 is around 100 octain it would seam to me that it would be ok to run it in the 6 cylinder gassers as long as you adjusted the timing and allowed more fuel into the engine as the e85 dosent contain as much energy as gas. I have been running e85 in my car and also in my farmall A. I havent noticed anything bad yet. here in mn we have been running e10 for many many years and i dont recall ever hearing of any fuel related problumes. what do you guys think.

old · Aug 26, 2008

Octane ratings have chance a few time in the pass 50 year. 99% of older tractors ran fine on what was 93 octane but that was back when lead was in the gas. No lead now days but the older ones still run just fine of the high priced cheap stuff. Years ago tractor where run on left over gas as in what could not be run in the cars and truck but a tractor didn't care but the farmer sure did because it saved him a lot of $$ to run what he could get as cheap as he could get it

kossuth · Aug 27, 2008

The only issue I would be concerned about is gaskets and such in the carb. This discussion has come up some and the major problem with running E85 in an older engine is that alcohol is that it is very corrosive to certain types of gaskets and rubber seals/lines. If your lines and gaskets are compatable then all is well if you turn up the fuel and timing.

james rumph · Aug 27, 2008

Go to the Tractor Pulling section and ask for Chad or screen name Chads. Chad has had alot of sucess with E-85 and will be able to answer your questions.

I know from drag racing that straight Methanol is hard on seals [ rubber], but the E-85 has gas in it to protect them.

I know two brothers that pull Farmall As that run them on E-85 and there hard to beat and they havn't had any problems.

Don in Texas · Aug 27, 2008

The octane on gasoline is determined by two knock engines. One is called Research octane , the other is called Motor octane. The octane results are added together and the result is divided by two(2). These are the three numbers you see on the gasoline pumps. The research number is the higher number and is the one that was used in the past.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 27, 2008

There aren't any gaskets in a tractor carb that would be harmed by alcohol. E-85 or E-10 work fine in a tractor.

mkirsch · Aug 27, 2008

Natural rubber is what doesn't agree with ethanol, AFAIK.

Carburetors pretty much have paper gaskets in them, and any seals or hoses that have been replaced in the last 20+ years use synthetic materials that are impervious to the ethanol.

rustyfarmall · Aug 27, 2008

James, methanol is a totally different fuel, and should not be confused with ethanol.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 27, 2008

Don,
That is correct, my old Case DC manual says; "Always use fuel with a Research octane rating of 92 or Motor octane rating of 82. Buy clean fuel,keep it clean!" So 92+82=174 divided by 2 equals 87!!!!! Around here 89 is 10% Ethanol and 10-20 cents cheaper, so I use it instead of fuel line cleaner/deicer.

using alcohol in yesterdays engines.

jonnny2006

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old

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kossuth

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james rumph

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Don in Texas

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Anonymous-0

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mkirsch

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rustyfarmall

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Anonymous-0

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