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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - E10 fuel

I've done a search on the BBS to no avail.

Has anybody drawn up a list of Viton (or equivalent 'ethanol resistant') part numbers for the 'rubbery/flexible' fuel-line components that will need changing so that E10 can be used safely long term?

How do SU fuel jets fair (the clear plastic bendy tube, and float-chamber plastic floats)? And fuel pump rubbery parts?

I'm thinking a 'from filler-cap to inlet manifold' comprehensive Viton parts list.

(Will just have to live with the E10 rusting effect on the mild-steel fuel tanks!)

Thanks.
J Thomson

Use only the higher grade fuel (E5) and NOT E10.
It has taken me many months to eventually obtain confirmation that carburettor overhaul kits from a major specialist are even suitable for E fuel !

S G KEIL

E10, and higher, has been run in other countries for decades so to follow the logic the classic car owners there would have needed Viton bits at least a good few years back so what have they been using?
Nigel Atkins

I'm with Nigel on this.

From what I can make out from those who have had to use E10 for a while it's maybe not quite the doom and gloom picture first painted. However, the consensus seems to be to keep an eye on the rubbery bits. When in need of replacement, I've bought suffix R6 fuel line for my old stuff which is supposed to be ethanol proof (after all even E5 has a potential 5% ethanol element). However, as S G says above, the safest bet is stick with the E5 while you can get it.
Peter Allen

I need a short offcut of 1/4" fuel hose last week and of course I'd bit of 8mm but not 6mm. To my surprise whilst in Halfords on another mission I saw they a small roll of 1/4" (my be a meter length, I didn't measure, perhaps even 3 feet as it's marked 1/4") R6 (I like to live dangerously).

On the label it had "bend radius 75°" I'd never noticed this before, perhaps that's why the originals(?)y got external braiding too, I've got two or three well over that figure I'll have to keep an eye on them, if I remember.

As I've put before, all this worry and doom saying about ethanol reminds me of when leaded was going out, possibly by the same people about the same cars.

Nigel Atkins

I rebuilt my carbs 8-10 years ago using a kit supplied by Moss USA. I was replacing the original 1968 parts on my 1275. I've also been using run of the mill parts house hoses for years and have not had any problems with either. We've had E10 for at least 20 years and the only deterioration has been normal old age. This is on my daily driver Frog and on my 1965 Ford Econoline. So I'm not complaining.
Martin

And as I have cimmented before I was a voluntary guinea pig and changed our own fleet to E10 when our local outlet did si 9 years ago, so I could personally test and report effects to customers on off the shelf parts. There have been zero in the 9 years since.
Paul Walbran

Thank you everybody, for all of your replies. Really appreciated.

From everybody's E10 experience, the way forward is clear, 'keep calm, and carry on'.

Cheers . . .
J Thomson

I am using the Esso expensive petrol that they say has no ethanol in it at all - available in most of their large petrol stations. Its labelled E5 as apparently they have to show fuel as either E5 or E10, but this means up to 5% or 10%. So zero ethanol content is still labelled as E5
Graham V

Here's my tuppence worth:

During the fuel shortages here in the south east, I filled my frogeye with E10. I had to richen the mixture to make it run acceptably.

Having consumed all of that I filled up with my normal ESSO E5 super-unleaded and had reset the mixture to a weaker level.
Simon Wood

Esso super unleaded remains Ethanol free in some parts of the UK.
This is the response from Esso in March this year

" I would like to confirm that our plans are unchanged concerning the ethanol content of the Synergy Supreme+ Unleaded. We have no intention to add ethanol to Synergy Supreme+ in general, however in some areas, the service stations are supplied from terminals that are operated by third parties, and they may choose to blend ethanol in UL97 or UL99 grades in order to meet their own biofuel obligations. Currently, these areas are Devon, Cornwall, the Teesside area, Scotland and the North West of England.

In other areas, where terminals are wholly owned and operated by Esso, Supreme+ Unleaded grades remain ethanol free."


Jeremy MkIII

Interesting Simon. I found I had to do the reverse and lean it out a couple of flats.
Bob Beaumont

I have used E5 and E10 for some years now. The only parts that had a very short half live (1 year and less) where the gasket of the fuel sender unit (Moss 2h1082) and the seal between float chamber and the H1 body (auc1534).
The gasket fuel sender unit is made in ethanol resistant rubber here in Holland by Arend Stolte. A leaking gasket is not dangerous here.
The carburetor seal is an other story, the exhaust is near... Burlen did not have the right quality rubber. But you can use fiber rings with a somewhat different later (Moss auc1387) set up (photo left).
not E 5 related: I change all the rubber parts every 10-12 years. Do not forget to change the rubber hose between the engine and the Dual Gauge. It is can be the reason for a melt down.
Flip







Flip Brühl

This thread was discussed between 18/10/2021 and 19/11/2021

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.