alcohol fuel in air cooled beetle

I was doing a little web research on running alcohol in an engine
intended for gasoline. Found this site:

http://terrasol.home.igc.org/alky/alky.htm

He claims it's instructions to convert an air cooled Beetle to run
on alcohol. But he wants money for the plans.

Has anybody seen these instructions? has anyone done it?

Other sites have described how to enlarge the carb jets to run
alcohol, alter the timing, increase the compression ratio, etc. It
all sounds fairly straighforward to do......and i'm interested in
getting all the facts about it.

And the fuel called E85........85% alcohol and 15% gasoline. I
haven't seen it available at any stations yet.

Anyone running alcohol in a vehicle: how does it start in the cold
weather? how does it run in the hot weather? what is the mileage
compared to gasoline?

I've been running e-85 in my ford sport trac for a few months. I love
the stuff, huge increase in towing power, very smooth running, smells
sweet when you first start up in the morning. The coldest morning start
was 2 degrees above zero and no difference in the start at all from
regular gas. To be fair the sport trac's computer is programmed to run
the fuel from regular gas to 85% alcohol mix or anywhere inbetween. It
has a sensor in the fuel tank that tells the computer what the mix is
and the computer adjusts the amount of fuel delivered, proper timing,
etc. I guess the only downside is I get 15 to 16mpg on the e-85 vs 18
to 19mpg on regular gas. I pay about 30 cents per gal less for the
e-85. The octane rating of e-85 is 105. I have ran all my aircooled on
15% blend alcohol for over ten years without any problems and will be
running e-85 in the Puma for sure this spring. Alcohol is an organic
fuel without the pollution concerns of carbon based fuels and I have ran
it in my vehicles since 1982, many times to pass emission tests.
alcohol also burns cooler which is great for my air cooled heads and
valves. There is a lot of negative bs about using alcohol and for the
most part that is all it is if you set your jets up right, just BS.
Dennis

href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4025706&a=30209382&vt=vp">Den's
1977 Puma</a>

wrote:
>
> Anyone running alcohol in a vehicle:
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You mean, other than a few million Brazilians? (Brazil has been using
E85 for years, including in their Volkswagens.)

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> how does it start in the cold
> weather?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

You'll need to define your terms. Minus 30 causes lots of problems
with any carburetted engine. But if you mean the latitudes & wx
normally found in the United States, you should not have any problems.
What you MAY run into is the formation of ice in your fuel tank/lines,
since alcohol is hygorscopic.

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> how does it run in the hot weather?

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No significant change.

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> what is the mileage
> compared to gasoline?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Generally poor. The BTU content of a gallon of alcohol is much less
than for gasoline. But your actual mileage will depend on the specific
fuel (not all 'alcohol' fuels are the same -- E85, M50, etc.) and if
your engine is fitted with modern combustion controls. But if you're
talking about your basic carburetted 1600cc VW engine, E85 will
generally cut your mileage in half (ie, you'll need twice as much to go
the same distance).

Bottom Line: Alky isn't a very good choice as a motor vehicle fuel...
unless you have no other option. Politically, it is extremely
attractive since American production is presently subsidized by the
government to the tune of several bucks a gallon (!) I believe ADM is
presently the largest producer... and the major receiver of the
pork-barrel funds.

Read the fine print. The claimed costs are only for PRODUCTION of the
alcohol -- they do not include the cost to grow & transport the corn.
Brazil's program was based on sugar cane, which has a significantly
higher alcohol-yield than corn and at a lower total cost.

-Bob Hoover

Actually the the true cost per gallon does not have much federal
government money in it unless you are counting the subsidized crop
production itself and with millions of tons of corn being stored on the
ground since the elevators are full this year, I hope it does not go to
waste. Also the by products of the alcohol production is made into
animal feeds and fed to them for our consumption. Iowa has lead the
nation in alcohol production for decades and has required it at all gas
station pumps. If you google their alcohol site you can find out much
more on the true costs and benefits. Brazil on the other hand uses the
residues of alcohol production to fuel their national electric
production which I find very interesting also. The actual burn of the
alcohol is slower and I believe can be made more complete than gas with
the proper engine modifications and that is what I will be doing this
year. Dennis

href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4025706&a=30209382&vt=vp">Den's
1977 Puma</a>

I think that one of the issues is that the alcohol is very corrosive
for the internal parts of engine. The engine will not last as much as
if you use fuel.

João

myth

href="http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4025706&a=30209382&vt=vp">Den's
1977 Puma</a>

> wrote in message
ps.com...
> I think that one of the issues is that the alcohol is very corrosive

It's not friendly to some gaskets and fuel lines, but modern components are
okay with it.

Do a little searching thru the mother earth news
website and you will find lots of info on converting
and running cars to run on alcohol.

Randy

:::groan:::: it's just hit me........ I have a Beetle and a Volvo,
i'm investigating alcohol fuel, and now I'm reading Mother Earth News
sites. I'm gonna be mistaken for a granola head earth muffin.

wrote:
> :::groan:::: it's just hit me........ I have a Beetle and a Volvo,
> i'm investigating alcohol fuel, and now I'm reading Mother Earth News
> sites. I'm gonna be mistaken for a granola head earth muffin.

I was already kicked out of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy for this.
Be careful. And don't go hunting with Cheney.