[Andy Cubin]

As promised:

[VicYouel]

I have had serious problems with modern fuels melting old Petseal.  Otherwise no other problems although I tend to utilise the higher octane premium brands..... most of which are said to contain ethanol contrary to other statements in this thread. Apart from cleveland discol, national benzol mixture was another alchoholic mixture.

I ignored the dire warnings of unleaded fuel in the last cenntury and ran a Vincent and a couple of Triumphs for many years with no problems. I simply took the decision to repair/repalce seats ahould they recess..... which they never did. I always thought people were wasting their money on lead replacement additives.

My 10th edition Sunbeam handbook advises adding 1/2 gill of engine oil to every gallon of petrol for ohv machines. Redex would be a good alternate but I tend to use two stroke oil which I hope discourages rust.

[Greybeard]

If you're using the bike(s) regularly and the fuel in the tank is fairly fresh, there'll be no problem (other than parts of the system that are susceptible to ethanol). The danger comes when a bike's laid up for a considerable time and the ethanol absorbs the water from the air in the tank. That can lead to rusting.
I've never really believed the 'stale fuel' argument as I was running an outboard on my previous boat on fuel that had gone into the remote tank 4 years previously (it was under sail most of the time so the engine was used only for manoeuvring - the fuel was bought when I used the boat for sea fishing and motored more often). The engine always started first or second pull and never missed a beat. Perhaps after several more years the petrol may tend to 'go off' 
I now run all the bikes, ancient and modern, on super unleaded, which is supposedly ethanol free. I generally keep a couple of jerrycans of fuel handy simply to save having to make a diversion to the garage before the next day out.
I agree with Ian regarding the conversion to unleaded fuel - it's pointless, especially so on engines that are used for low mileages. I've owned my Rover for 25 years and converted that to unleaded by simply pulling up at the pump with the green nozzle. So far there have been no valve problems at all.

Steve

[singleminded]

I've been using the BP premium fuel for ages, it's supposed to be Ethanol free..
My Comet and the Sunbeam both run well on it, and no hassle of only going as far as one tankful will get you.
If you have to resort to removing the Ethanol how far can you go?  John

[iansoady]

I have to say I've seen no problems using 5% ethanol petrol since it was introduced, in a variety of bikes - Velo Venom, BSA A10, Matchless G80 and Triumph 5TA - quite apart from "moderns" such as my 1999 Honda SLR650. All have run perfectly well, have started after being left for months with petrol in the tanks and nothing has rotted / fallen apart. The carbs have not gummed up despite ignoring the advice to drain them and the petrol tanks have not rotted away (none have had sealer in them). I just buy petrol whenever I need it - always regular 95 octane. Other experiences may vary.......

I do use modern nitrile fuel pipe as much of the old stuff on offer is rubbish anyway, and I can see that modern fuels are more aggressive on rubber type materials.

Maybe I'm just lucky?

I do remember the scare stories about unleaded some years ago. At the time I was running a Triumph Stag as my daily driver, covering about 14,000 miles a year. I decided to take no action other than to check the valve clearances regularly - at first every 1,000 miles then longer intervals as I could detect no change. I did at least 25,000 miles on unleaded till a totally unrelated problem wrecked the engine.......

Remember Cleveland Discol - with added alcohol? http://vintagegarage.co.uk/histories/history-cleveland-petrols

[Greybeard]

I have one of those. Its expensive just for the big cans but the fuel filter does work a treat. All the kit rlies on is adding a couple of pints of water to a jerrycan full of fuel, giving it a good old mix then allowing the water to settle out and take the ethanol with it.
So far Ive found out that morrisons premium contains about 6% whilst the stuff from the local BP garage has none, though that can vary with region.
Over the last couple of months Ive lined the tanks of 3 bikes. The G80 I used a resin from tank care products. It seems good but is extremely temperature sensitive. Anythin below 45 to 50°c and it goes too thick to spread evenly, if at all. The G9 and B31 have had POR15 sealer from Frosts. Its more like a hammerite type paint and spreads really easily. The small tin is ample for a decent sized tank. I have 2 more tanks to do, the FannyB and a mate's Honda S65 - both tiny tanks so one tin will do both. Im now a dab hand with the caustic soda and either hydrochloric acid or phosphoric acid, depending on how much chrome is around, and can get the inside of a very rusty tank looking like new.
Strangely, the Sunbeam's tank is still bare steel and shows no sign of rust so it will be kept on an ethanol free diet.
Having read about the insidious nature of the damage it can cause, Im pleased to be rid of it.

Steve

[Andy Cubin]

My model 8 has arrived - firstly, thank to everyone who was so helpful with advice on what was a big deal for me.

I shall post up some shots in the next couple of days, meanwhile I am researching how best to fettle her.  I have read that removing the ethanol from petrol is a pretty good idea.  I have found a kit called ethanil.

Is this recommended, a definite must or a dont bother?

Interested in your views on this.

Best

Andy
1932 Model 8