Question about alcohol
 

I'm asking because I know nothing about alcohol. Does alcohol shorten the life of a motor? I heard it does something with the pistons because alcohol burns so clean it evaporates the oil on the cylinder wall. If this is true, how long can you go before a rebuild compared to a gas motor?

I've ran both and see no difference in motor life.

I'm thinking about going to a alcohol carb, I hear alot of talk about the torque gains you get on the bottom end. Do you have to give it a shot of gas to start? and what maintenance issues do you have? I didn't ask for much detail when I asked patrick at pro-systems(I felt like a knob because i don't know much about it) but he said there new alcohol friendly carb there is hardly any maintenance. If you had to do any? what would you have to do?

I run APD carbs they dont require a leanout and dont milk the oil. 95% of the time Randy hits the nail on the head with them. If its really cold I squirt a small amount of gas in the carb and it fires right up. I remember one time last year it being mid 30's and snow flying and it started without any gas. 2 pumps crank it over, 1 more pump turn ign on and away ya go. I change the oil the same amount on gas and alky. Only difference I do is change plugs and timing for alky.

Call these guys and they will take the time to chat with you about both gas and alky carbs they are awesome with both and good customer service. Even if you just are thinking about it call and get some info from them.

Advanced Product Design

Via Telephone:

419-855-3073

Via Fax:

419-855-9703

Thank you for the info hammertime-

not a problem :D

Alky
 

Been running alcohol since the early 90's samw motor no problem on a carb

That depends on your definition of "life of the motor". I know people who freshen their engines every winter. Whether it's got 50 runs or 200. I personally like to get 300-400 runs before freshening the motor. My opinion is that's not gonna happen with alcohol. IF you get a carb that's properly setup out of the box, or IF you have enough experience with injection to get the barrel valve and pill settings lean enough quickly, and IF you are willing to burn the fuel and have enough time to get the engine warm enough to prevent milking, condensation, etc, before every pass, and IF you don't mind freshening the motor every 100-200 passes, then no. It doesn't effect the "life of the motor". The power is awesome, the et gains and consistency are really cool, but for me gas is the only way. No corrosion of fittings, no white powder buildup inside carburetors, (it happens to all of them. Don't BS me), no little crystals inside injector nozzles that require periodic cleaning, no fuel pumps that lockup if you let the sit dry, etc. Now I know that my opinion won't be very popular with most of you, but unless you have previous experience, or have a crewmember who does, (and I don't mean that guy who's helping you because he just blew up his alcohol motor), you'd be better off sticking with gas.

that's my opinion, go ahead and throw rocks......

One more thing, Don't get me wrong, if you decide to switch to alcohol, you'll love it! The eyeball flattening, grin inspiring torque will force you too......until things start to go bad. Once again, in my opinion, there's a pretty good chance it will........

" and IF you don't mind freshening the motor every 100-200 passes, then no. It doesn't effect the "life of the motor". The power is awesome "

Johnracer, Evidently you have never ran alcohol and beleived every horror story you were ever told from someone that didnt know what they were doing. That is not the way it is. If you run the right rings and have a quality fuel system it is not a problem milking the oil.