Alcohol engine

[73Tahiti_dream]

I was wondering if anyone knew how the boat would react to changing the engin over to Ethanol. I know you buy chips to do vehicles. Ethanol is just straight 200 proof alcohol.
I am a lead supervisor at an Ethanol plant so I can get it in mass quantity for dirt cheap 30 cents a gallon. That's the main reason and it burns a lot cleaner inside engines and the wear is considerably less. We have ran lots of tests on different styles of engines to find results. The biggest problem was after about 50'000 miles the gaskets would dry out and leak.
Hope someone with an alcohol engine may be able to help. I would really like to keep my 455 rocket. thanks

[Bruce Washburn]

I am not an expert on ethanol motors but there are a couple of things that you may want to consider.
1. I assume your 455 is a Carb. motor. You would need to drastically change your Carb to handle the ethanol. I blelieve you would also need to install a different fuel pump. Keep in mind that Alcohol attacks rubber. (neddles/seats, fuel lines etc.) You will also need much bigger jets and volume.

2. Keep in mind that you will burn close to twice as much alcohol to go the same distance. Are the tanks big enough to do what you want.

3. Unlike a car a boat can sit for prolonged periods of time. Two items to think about. /////the first is that alcohol will mix with water. You may need to come up with a good way to drain the tanks. A second concern may be that there would be a greater likely hood of internal rust in the engine.

4. You may also want to research what affects ethanol would have on the valve train valve seals etc of that engine. This motor was made in the early 70's when we still had leaded gas available.

If you ran straight ethanol would you also need to increase the compression to get the most benefit??

I would think if set up correctly and built to run ethanol the engine should make more HP but I believe to do it right you will need to make some major changes to get the most out of it.

I would love to hear what you find out, it sounds like an interesting project.

[blown68ssrs]

Pros:
higher octane
lower cost
runs at lower temperature

Cons:
lower BTU
not available at any gas station
require more flow