Saddest time of the year...

toomanytoys

Well-Known Member
#23
That sucks...I ran out of excuses not to use it when I found that closeby pump. I'm literally in one of the boating capitals of the world a mile from Lake St. Clair and it never occurred to me that most of those stations sell it.
I've looked before. I have a hard enough time finding 93 octane I tuned my car on. I'm glad I didn't splurge for flex fuel sensor and tune since only one station has it near me! Be awesome to be riding around with an extra 100hp that e85 would bring me, but oh well.
 

mustangfrank

Well-Known Member
#24
I've looked before. I have a hard enough time finding 93 octane I tuned my car on. I'm glad I didn't splurge for flex fuel sensor and tune since only one station has it near me! Be awesome to be riding around with an extra 100hp that e85 would bring me, but oh well.
I feel your pain...
I had 3, 24 month lease Fords with Flex Fuel in a row prior to 2002 and only 1 or 2 stations that sold E85 in the middle of Metro Detroit back then. My last Mustang had a full tank of Sunoco 93 when the tuner had it, he dialed in all the timing it would take...it would ping under load if all I could find was 91, had to carry a bottle of octane boost until I could get another dyno session in 3 months.
 

copyman

Well-Known Member
#25
Lucky enough I don't have to do anything to bikes here in NJ and ride pretty much all year round. Winters don't get real cold until Jan - Feb but can still get a 50 degree day to get a ride in. Might get one or two snow storms but that's it.

Also use only Truefuel or other engineered fuels in my bikes so no treatment for gas necessary. Engineered fuel is pricey at $20 per gallon but who knows with Biden that might be our cost of regular gas in near future!
 

SAS289

Well-Known Member
#26
I already have the tank off my stock bike and bowl drained. The tank gets a few oz of trans fluid sloshed around to coat all of the inside to prevent rust.

@toomanytoys My other bike may be doing a Noble county visit this week before it gets "winterized'. Nice weather this Tuesday and Wednesday.
 

toomanytoys

Well-Known Member
#27
I feel your pain...
I had 3, 24 month lease Fords with Flex Fuel in a row prior to 2002 and only 1 or 2 stations that sold E85 in the middle of Metro Detroit back then. My last Mustang had a full tank of Sunoco 93 when the tuner had it, he dialed in all the timing it would take...it would ping under load if all I could find was 91, had to carry a bottle of octane boost until I could get another dyno session in 3 months.
The woes of trying to eck all the performance you can and still run pump gas! I'd kill for more options on gas.

I was stuck on a trip, no 93 available, I took on a half tank of 91 and i could actually feel the car pulling timing and cutting boost. It was bad. I found a station with 93, then added in a bottle of octane booster. A 100 miles later it went back to normal. My tuner display was going nuts. Showing high knock numbers. I just short shifted and did the best I could do not to spool the turbo.
 
#28
While it does get below zero here, we don't get a lot of snow,its too dry. I do ride if I can dress for the cold and there is no wind.
I do not "winterize" any of the minis as I start them up once a week and warm them up. Most winter days are warmer than freezing.
Several of my mini's have Li Ion batteries installed by me to run my lights and charge cell phone/Ham radio. I normally keep the batteries on a trickle charger all winter.
 

I74

Well-Known Member
#32
Well ,, it's 11/30/21,, & took the GX out for it's season finale this afternoon,, as the temps were mid 50's for awhile & sunny.

Bundled up pretty good though, as it was pretty windy,, & ''of course'' the wind chill.

Managed to put on just over 9 miles in my 1/2 hr. ride.

Glad I went. ;)

I
 
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#33
Well ,, it's 11/31/21,, & took the GX out for it's season finale this afternoon,, as the temps were mid 50's for awhile & sunny.

Bundled up pretty good though, as it was pretty windy,, & ''of course'' the wind chill.

Managed to put on just over 9 miles in my 1/2 hr. ride.

Glad I went. ;)

I
Glad you had a good ride.its gonna be in the 70s in South Carolina.so I'm going on a ride LOL
 
#34
I've never heard about Trufuel but back in the day when I had bass boats, the ethanol gas was an engine killer. It would cause water to form in your tank and if there was enough water that it was not able to vaporize and even a drop went into the combustion chamber on the big two strokes it was bye bye engine. Water doesn't compress well so it would blow a hole where there is not supposed to be one. Along came Startron as an additive and it works GREAT. It will keep ethanol from separating and keep gas fresh. It will even rejuvenate old gas that has been stored although if it has aged to the point of smelling like varnish it needs to used for campfire starter. Anyone that I have turned on to this product has been impressed. I put it in all my yard tools, like mowers, chainsaws etc. and come spring time they all start right up.
 
#37
No such thing as 11/31. Anyway, Startron is the best IMO. I've left bikes sitting for two years with the same gas, and they start right up and run fine.
 

DaddyJohn

Well-Known Member
#39
I make sure all my street bikes have ethanol-free gas in them, at least over winter storage. My off-road bikes and mini bikes only get ethanol free all year. In any case, I make sure metal tanks are full and carb bowls drained.

Taryl Fixes All did a great multi-episode fuel storage additive experiment on YouTube that more or less concluded E0 was the way to go and that fuel additives didn’t help much, or at all, to stop the damaging properties of ethanol gas. Here’s one if anyone wants to dig into it.
 
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Harquebus

Well-Known Member
#40
I'll second using Trufuel or other long life 4-cycle or pre-mix 2-cycle fuel. What is this stuff? It has a mild odor in the can {very unlike gasoline} burns very clean and has a mild exhaust odor. I just thought it was super duper enhanced gasoline {plus additives or lubricants}.

It IS expensive so using it right at the end of the season in expectation of a dormant period or for storage seems like a great idea. I think it wins over Stabil in the extreme long term because I've seen a lot of Stabil-treated gasoline that eventually turns to sludge or jello in the float bowl.

I think it's totally cost effective for EMT rescue crews {chainsaws} and those 2-cycle cuttoff saws they use to get into wrecked cars. Those don't get used every day but they need to start when needed.
 
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