Ethanol in the petrol

[P50]

My Trident has a new tank which is seperate as we know so one assumes the new resin and fibreglass will be OK.

However I've heard grim things about the P50.  50 year old fibreglass which is part of the body.  I think the future will be a secondary tank if one wishes to actually drive your P50.

Or hacking the thing open.  Grim.  I think the former solution to be the best.

A one litre tank should give you approx 15 - 20 miles.

Enough for a trundle.

[Big Al]

Ah! Got ha! You have to be patient with us Essex folk, its all the inbreeding you know!

I thought that was the fens?
I had a 5th share in a C15 hidden in an old ladies garage near school. I had to rebuild it after crashing it into the River Frome. Always was useless on a bike! A Barracuda might have floated a bit better or I might have gone in deeper!

[richard]

funny my c15 was also a half share ! kept in a hidden shed . £15 - £20 at the time - a weeks wages then for a teen .

[adi]

It is true that in europe they are pushing for more and more ethanol in fuel. This is nothing really new, there is already quiet a lot of it in fuel.

Old fuel tank sealants, and especially old fuel system components like carb/fuel pump diaphragms and seals, get eaten by ethanol. So if your car has been last rebuilt before ethanol was put in fuel, you have to rebuild the fuel system.

This is an even bigger problem because a lot of carb or fuel pump rebuild kits on the market are new-old-stock, which are of course just as useless as your old ones, since they will just fail quickly. They have to be components made from new ethanol-stable materials.

The best tank sealer by far is the POR-15 branded product.

[richard]

two ads in the latest OBM - old bike mart

[jean-do]

yes alcool in petrol is a problem .
as you said, it eats all classic gaskets and seals ; first the crankshaft seals  "spi" that guarantee the good 2 strokes function .... the medecine is " viton seals " brown colored made with a sort of teflon , that can resist .
but with gas tanks, there 's actually a problem ! as i'm professional, and able to apply products correctly( i beleive ! ), my last one  made, for my customers and for my own scooters had strip off from one week to one month after first use .
asking the factory where was the problems, they told me about ethanol .... ethanol , or alcool is the product used to remove paints  ou chemical products ( the other family of remover is acetone ) and actually they didn't have products able to resist ...(our french restom creator tells you that you made bad preparation !!! ....easy no??)
what we use as sealant product is epoxy resin with "fuel " resistance  , used in industry to cover big tanks in refineries . gfr resin is not able to resist ... .we look for better product , no matter the cost, and the best they had what writen in notice "good for petrol, gas oil, super gas ,but  no for gas with additives ...
the other solution actually possible is tin covering .... but to cover , they must cut the tank to put it in hot tin and TIG welding it after . this is for me not ok, because the welding line won't be tin covered and heat may cause tin fusion on the edge of welding line ... it has to be clued before thinking of that process .
what is my solution :
rust off tank with acid ; let it like this  ,( or with old resined tanks ) and never let gas inside more than two weeks  without using vehicule .( remember that new ethanol gas loose its property after 3 month )
don't forget that ethanol gas may react too with zamac carbs making craters ....
so i have a gas jerrycan ; fill up my scooter or bubblecar , have a trip , then when it won"t be used in the next weekend , pump the gas out of my tank with manuel pump ( like renault 4 gas pump ) and let it flew down the jerrycan with gravity ... then start the engine to empty line and carburator ...
a little work, but no problems . and only about 20 liters  home filling from one to other ...
when i get a scooter or microcar  for a ride, new gas , kick start and ride !
i hope they'll found quickly good chemical product  , fisrt because petrol bussiness is very imortant ...
hope my experience helps you  too...