BLUE JUICE - ETHANOL FREE Pure Gasoline for OLD IRON

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
20180627140554-4186d932-me.jpg


As many of you know, Cindy and I have a small stable of old iron that includes a 1954 CJ3B, a 1969 C101 Jeepster Commando, a 1972 J-2000 Pickup Truck and a 1974 CJ-5 Renegade. Being that we prefer our old iron to be as stock as possible, all of them are still running their original factory motors and being that Unleaded gasoline wasn't even introduced until 1974, you can be sure that none of them were designed to run on Ethanol laced gas.

What a lot of people don't know, especially younger people these days is that gas used to have Tetraethyl lead put into it and on purpose. Back in the early 1920's, GM was looking for a way to build high compression engines and found that adding lead helped to boost octane, reduce engine knock and minimize wear and tear on valve seats. Of course, lead isn't good for your health or the environment and so it was eventually phased out.

Now, while Ethanol was first used to power an engine back in 1826, it was only until 2007 that the Federal Government mandated that the U.S. must use 36 billion gallons of alternative fuel per year by 2022 and for the most part, that fuel will come in the form of Ethanol. Unfortunately, being that Ethanol is a grain alcohol refined primarily from corn, it has a few negative aspects to it especially for vehicles that were never made to use it. Specifically, Ethanol is hygroscopic meaning, it absorbs water and water is the last thing you want in a steel gas tank or a carburetor (can you say rust in the fuel system?) and this is to say nothing about how it can also deteriorate rubber hoses and plastic fuel lines.

Up until a few years ago, finding "Clear Gas" or "Pure Gas" was possible but it wasn't exactly easy. For the most part, the best a guy with an old Jeep could do is run E10 gas, essentially, gas that only contained 10% Ethanol. Fortunately, more and more gas stations are now carrying Clear Gas - gas that has ZERO Ethanol and as luck would have it, our local Maverik is one.

While the range of standard unleaded go-go juice is typically marked in yellow and diesel in green, Clear Gas can be found marked in blue.
20180627140557-6fe3b375-me.jpg


20180627140601-7629ee50-me.jpg


Clear Gas can be a bit more expensive than regular unleaded of the same octane but not always.
20180627140559-c84ba152-me.jpg


I should also note that in addition to being better for old iron, another benefit of Clear Gas is that it will give you better fuel economy. According to pure-gas.org...

"Pure gas gives better mileage than E10, and much better than E85, simply because gasoline has higher free energy than ethanol. The free energy of gasoline is 34.2 MJ per liter. The free energy of ethanol is 24.0 MJ per liter. That means E10 (10% ethanol) has a free energy of 33.2 MJ per liter, and E85 (85% ethanol) has a free energy of 25.6 MJ per liter. As a result, your mileage is reduced by 3% with E10 over pure gas, and 25% with E85 over pure gas, all else being equal. Mileage will be reduced even more if your engine doesn't run as well on E10, which is often the case with older vehicles."

Click on the link below to see a list of gas stations in your area that sells Clear Gas.
https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp

Hope this helps to keep your old iron chugging along and for years to come. :cool:
 

notnalc68

That dude from Mississippi
It was tough to find in Mississippi, until just 2 or 3 years ago. Ethanol will kill small engines quickly. I’ve been running it in my string trimmer, chain saw, lawn mower, etc. I’m glad you can find it more easily, now. I used to drive 58 miles, round trip, to buy it for my lawn mower.

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WJCO

Meme King
Never heard of that. Cool info. So can that be used on newer vehicles as well as older?
 
I HATE ethanol. And it’s tough to find non ethanol gas in Ca. I have to hunt down a VP racing gas station for my old junk and lawn mowers. I think they are the only ones that even sell it. That and they have 100 octane which I like to run in my lawn tractor weed whacker.
Sta-Bill seems to help when I can’t get the good stuff.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I'm shocked to see so many stations carry it here in California. 🤯

As you'll notice, a lot of the CA stations that carry it are also stations that carry racing fuel. Also, I noticed a lot of them are in towns where there are a lot of classic cars.

It was tough to find in Mississippi, until just 2 or 3 years ago. Ethanol will kill small engines quickly. I’ve been running it in my string trimmer, chain saw, lawn mower, etc. I’m glad you can find it more easily, now. I used to drive 58 miles, round trip, to buy it for my lawn mower.

Oh yeah, Ethanol is really hard on small engines. I now use clear gas in my mower, chainsaw and the like. :yup:

Never heard of that. Cool info. So can that be used on newer vehicles as well as older?

Yup, you sure can and you should find that you get better MPG :yup:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I HATE ethanol. And it’s tough to find non ethanol gas in Ca. I have to hunt down a VP racing gas station for my old junk and lawn mowers. I think they are the only ones that even sell it. That and they have 100 octane which I like to run in my lawn tractor weed whacker.
Sta-Bill seems to help when I can’t get the good stuff.

Yup, VP Racing is where I've typically found clear gas. Sta-Bil has definitely helped my small engines too.
 

longarmwj

New member
Hmm. Might have to run a tank of that stuff through the JK and see how it effects MPGs. There’s a couple of places near my house that carry it, but I’ve never used it because it’s so much more expensive.


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BaddestCross

Active Member
As you'll notice, a lot of the CA stations that carry it are also stations that carry racing fuel. Also, I noticed a lot of them are in towns where there are a lot of classic cars.

Yeah, I noticed that. Unfortunately, they closed down the VP station that was here local to me. 🙄

If I ever get my 59 Fairlane back on the road, I'll definitely track this down... Thanks for the info! 🍻

--
Build Thread - Adventures of Fiona - https://wayalife.com/showthread.php?t=47407
 

Brute

Hooked
20180627140554-4186d932-me.jpg


As many of you know, Cindy and I have a small stable of old iron that includes a 1954 CJ3B, a 1969 C101 Jeepster Commando, a 1972 J-2000 Pickup Truck and a 1974 CJ-5 Renegade. Being that we prefer our old iron to be as stock as possible, all of them are still running their original factory motors and being that Unleaded gasoline wasn't even introduced until 1974, you can be sure that none of them were designed to run on Ethanol laced gas.

What a lot of people don't know, especially younger people these days is that gas used to have Tetraethyl lead put into it and on purpose. Back in the early 1920's, GM was looking for a way to build high compression engines and found that adding lead helped to boost octane, reduce engine knock and minimize wear and tear on valve seats. Of course, lead isn't good for your health or the environment and so it was eventually phased out.

Now, while Ethanol was first used to power an engine back in 1826, it was only until 2007 that the Federal Government mandated that the U.S. must use 36 billion gallons of alternative fuel per year by 2022 and for the most part, that fuel will come in the form of Ethanol. Unfortunately, being that Ethanol is a grain alcohol refined primarily from corn, it has a few negative aspects to it especially for vehicles that were never made to use it. Specifically, Ethanol is hygroscopic meaning, it absorbs water and water is the last thing you want in a steel gas tank or a carburetor (can you say rust in the fuel system?) and this is to say nothing about how it can also deteriorate rubber hoses and plastic fuel lines.

Up until a few years ago, finding "Clear Gas" or "Pure Gas" was possible but it wasn't exactly easy. For the most part, the best a guy with an old Jeep could do is run E10 gas, essentially, gas that only contained 10% Ethanol. Fortunately, more and more gas stations are now carrying Clear Gas - gas that has ZERO Ethanol and as luck would have it, our local Maverik is one.

While the range of standard unleaded go-go juice is typically marked in yellow and diesel in green, Clear Gas can be found marked in blue.
20180627140557-6fe3b375-me.jpg


20180627140601-7629ee50-me.jpg


Clear Gas can be a bit more expensive than regular unleaded of the same octane but not always.
20180627140559-c84ba152-me.jpg


I should also note that in addition to being better for old iron, another benefit of Clear Gas is that it will give you better fuel economy. According to pure-gas.org...

"Pure gas gives better mileage than E10, and much better than E85, simply because gasoline has higher free energy than ethanol. The free energy of gasoline is 34.2 MJ per liter. The free energy of ethanol is 24.0 MJ per liter. That means E10 (10% ethanol) has a free energy of 33.2 MJ per liter, and E85 (85% ethanol) has a free energy of 25.6 MJ per liter. As a result, your mileage is reduced by 3% with E10 over pure gas, and 25% with E85 over pure gas, all else being equal. Mileage will be reduced even more if your engine doesn't run as well on E10, which is often the case with older vehicles."

Click on the link below to see a list of gas stations in your area that sells Clear Gas.
https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp

Hope this helps to keep your old iron chugging along and for years to come. :cool:

The fact that ethanol fuel absorbs moisture and allows this to settle to the bottom of your tank is a big deal for boats, especially if you have 150 or 175 gallon tanks...enough water will phase out of the fuel and settle to the bottom that your fuel pick up will send water to the engine which it can't burn, leaving you dead in the water. I always refuel the.boat with ethanol free gas and add a fuel stabilizer
 

jesse3638

Hooked
Thanks for the info. I didn't know that about ethanol added to gas. I did know that it gave you poorer gas mileage. I also did not know about it being hard on small engines. We run a lot of them and I've seen several chain saws recently "wear out" relatively quick. Could be that or the guy mixing the fuel had it too lean.
 

Spazbyt

Hooked
The fact that ethanol fuel absorbs moisture and allows this to settle to the bottom of your tank is a big deal for boats, especially if you have 150 or 175 gallon tanks...enough water will phase out of the fuel and settle to the bottom that your fuel pick up will send water to the engine which it can't burn, leaving you dead in the water. I always refuel the.boat with ethanol free gas and add a fuel stabilizer

Oh yah! I watched my father poor a gallon of antifreeze into his boats fuel tank last winter... :doh: Only good thing was that because it went straight to the bottom we just sucked a few gallons off the bottom and pored in some Heet and stay-bill. We checked the water filters just to be sure though. After that I bet we never get the fuel and water tanks mixed up again.
 

notnalc68

That dude from Mississippi
Never heard of that. Cool info. So can that be used on newer vehicles as well as older?

I’ve actually checked fuel mileage, in a Chevy pickup I had a few years back. I ran pure gasoline against e10. At a steady 50 mph, on the Natchez Trace Parkway, is get 20.5 mpg with ethanol, and 23.3 with pure gasoline.


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jesse3638

Hooked
I’ve actually checked fuel mileage, in a Chevy pickup I had a few years back. I ran pure gasoline against e10. At a steady 50 mph, on the Natchez Trace Parkway, is get 20.5 mpg with ethanol, and 23.3 with pure gasoline.


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app

I'd be curious as to the price difference and which is more cost effective.
 

nbunga

Caught the Bug
Speaking of leaded gas. Can you still get the lead additive to put in like they had when unleaded was first coming out? I can remember my dad always had some for his truck.
 

MSJKU11

Caught the Bug
I was asking myself the other day after looking at my gauge, "when was there ever leaded gas". Thanks for the information, always love learning new things.

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