Ethanol-proofing a gas tank

[tmx]

Hey Luke,

Friend of mine (wb57 here on on advrider) has the same bike with the same problem. I was wondering how your repair is holding up now, 7 months down the road?

Thanks,
-Bob

[Luke]

Originally Posted by tmx

Hey Luke,

Friend of mine (wb57 here on on advrider) has the same bike with the same problem. I was wondering how your repair is holding up now, 7 months down the road?

Thanks,
-Bob

As far as I can tell, it's perfect. The bike runs well even on old gas. I looked inside the tank a couple of months ago and didn't see any peeling or other problems.

[wb57]

Originally Posted by Luke

As far as I can tell, it's perfect. The bike runs well even on old gas. I looked inside the tank a couple of months ago and didn't see any peeling or other problems.

Holy moly. I'm in.
Thanks, TMX and original poster.

MotoJunky - I'm thinking I rode for a weekend with another Scorpa from MD at Brushy Mountain last summer... CF?

I'm going to do this ASAP and I'll let you know the results. Currently, my pilot is plugged. Here's the good part: I was sold what was purported to be non-ethanol fuel from a marina about an hour or so from here. Apparently, it wasn't.

Buyer beware.

[motojunky]

Originally Posted by wb57

Holy moly. I'm in.
Thanks, TMX and original poster.

MotoJunky - I'm thinking I rode for a weekend with another Scorpa from MD at Brushy Mountain last summer... CF?

I'm going to do this ASAP and I'll let you know the results. Currently, my pilot is plugged. Here's the good part: I was sold what was purported to be non-ethanol fuel from a marina about an hour or so from here. Apparently, it wasn't.

Buyer beware.

Yep, that's me.

When you do this, please keep us posted. Two success stories would be enough to convince me.

I may email you about that last line of your .sig. The kid (~20) next door asked me the other day if I knew of any trials bikes for sale. It'd be great to have someone local to ride with. Of course, at 20 he'd probably be too good for me to hang with in about a week...

That said, I don't think you should sell it. I sorta lost interest for a while and sold my old Montesa only to find that I "needed" another one a year or so later.

[wb57]

Originally Posted by motojunky

Yep, that's me.

Damn. They really *will* let anyone in here...

Originally Posted by motojunky

When you do this, please keep us posted. Two success stories would be enough to convince me.

The horror story you posted seems to be a completely different situation and hasn't really scared me off much. I'm going to do this.

Originally Posted by motojunky

I may email you about that last line of your .sig. The kid (~20) next door asked me the other day if I knew of any trials bikes for sale. It'd be great to have someone local to ride with. Of course, at 20 he'd probably be too good for me to hang with in about a week...

That being said, other than riding with you at Brushy last summer, I think I've ridden once with TMX since then. Give me a call or shoot me an e-mail when convenient. I don't want to be without a trials bike in the long run, but it would probably be better off with someone else right now.

Originally Posted by motojunky

That said, I don't think you should sell it. I sorta lost interest for a while and sold my old Montesa only to find that I "needed" another one a year or so later.

I love riding it. Probably spent more time on it than the KTM in the last couple years. BUT, I've probably only spent ~10 hours on the KTM in the last 12-15 months. John said he wants to get back on a 4S, so I think I'm going to set my 250F up for him and sell his 200. With him being off at school, I'll have it available pretty much any time I want to ride it anyway. If he wants to get back into racing someday, I'll look at something new at that point.

[Skippii]

Huh.
A year ago, I painted my bike (including gas tank) with epoxy.
This year I decided to redo it, so I just poured gasoline all over the tank, let it sit for half an hour, and wiped it off. Okay, scraped it off...but still--gasoline was a great solvent. Of course, no one ever advertised that kind of epoxy to be gas resistant.

[motojunky]

I just got back from the VP dealer. The fuel I've been using jumped from $9/gallon last time I bought it to $15/gallon today.

Is the epoxy still holding up for you? I'm suddenly much more interested.

[wb57]

Originally Posted by motojunky

I just got back from the VP dealer. The fuel I've been using jumped from $9/gallon last time I bought it to $15/gallon today.

Is the epoxy still holding up for you? I'm suddenly much more interested.

I e-mailed them last night asking if they'd sell a smaller size than the $40 size as it does 10 gallons worth of fuel tank. If they don't'/won't, you want to split an order?

Getting ready to do mine now.

[motojunky]

Originally Posted by wb57

I e-mailed them last night asking if they'd sell a smaller size than the $40 size as it does 10 gallons worth of fuel tank. If they don't'/won't, you want to split an order?

Getting ready to do mine now.

Sounds like a plan to me. I have 5 gallons of fuel now, so I'm good for a couple of months. You wanna do yours first and and the leftovers to me?

[wb57]

Originally Posted by motojunky

Sounds like a plan to me. I have 5 gallons of fuel now, so I'm good for a couple of months. You wanna do yours first and and the leftovers to me?

Yeah, that sounds great. I've got mine just going back together now and the only fuel I had was the "fake" ethanol free, which has gone back home to become one with nature.
I haven't heard back from them on quantities, but I doubt they're going to do anything different for me just because I have a .5 gallon fuel tank.

[motojunky]

The tank on my '02 Scorpa is curing now. Process was clear-cut and seemed to go well. Time will tell.

I'll post an update or two as time passes.

[motojunky]

Originally Posted by motojunky

The tank on my '02 Scorpa is curing now. Process was clear-cut and seemed to go well. Time will tell.

I'll post an update or two as time passes.

I had been running VP SEF94, a 94 octane, ethanol-free fuel designed for small engines/power equipment, etc. The bike has run great with that fuel for the year that I've owned it. After using the Caswell, I mixed up a gallon of Sunoco 93 octane pump gas. The bike ran terrible, knocking and pinging at moderate load. I was able to get it barely good enough to ride (I was an hour away from home at the time) with some fiddling with the air screw, but drained the rest as soon as I got home. Today I mixed up a gallon of Sunoco 100 octane race fuel from the pump. This fuel does contain ethanol. The bike is back to running great. This fuel is $8.50/gallon - painful, but far better than $15/gallon for the VP stuff. I may try mixing 50/50 100 octane and 93 octane or somesuch to keep the cost down.

Other than that, there have been no ethanol-related issues. It's too early to get too excited about that but I am cautiously optimistic.

[wb57]

Originally Posted by motojunky

I had been running VP SEF94, a 94 octane, ethanol-free fuel designed for small engines/power equipment, etc. The bike has run great with that fuel for the year that I've owned it. After using the Caswell, I mixed up a gallon of Sunoco 93 octane pump gas. The bike ran terrible, knocking and pinging at moderate load. I was able to get it barely good enough to ride (I was an hour away from home at the time) with some fiddling with the air screw, but drained the rest as soon as I got home. Today I mixed up a gallon of Sunoco 100 octane race fuel from the pump. This fuel does contain ethanol. The bike is back to running great. This fuel is $8.50/gallon - painful, but far better than $15/gallon for the VP stuff. I may try mixing 50/50 100 octane and 93 octane or somesuch to keep the cost down.

Other than that, there have been no ethanol-related issues. It's too early to get too excited about that but I am cautiously optimistic.

Wow. Mine always ran great on any 93 octane pump gas I threw in it. Well, except for that cottage cheesy shit in the carb.

[motojunky]

Originally Posted by wb57

Wow. Mine always ran great on any 93 octane pump gas I threw in it. Well, except for that cottage cheesy shit in the carb.

I read on the interwebs about adjusting the timing to change the power delivery. Might be that mine is advanced further than yours was.

http://www.thehellteam.com/catalogue/c11/c20/c27/c62

I have not seen the cheese effect - and I hope to keep it that way!

[wb57]

Originally Posted by motojunky

I have not seen the cheese effect - and I hope to keep it that way!

Strictly a function of ethanol and the OEM fuel tank. I think you bypassed that little wonder.