Project: ETHANOL!
 

Well, guys, I've decided to start making my own ehtanol, mainly because I need a new hobby. I've been researching and looking and scanning and I've been trying to solve the problems associated with using ethanol as a fuel, including cold starting and power loss. The two I haven't quite worked out are lubrication issues and fuel system materials.

So...

The first thing I want to tackle is the fuel system. Fuel tank will be replaced with plastic fuel cell. What can I use for fuel lines? Is there a place where I can find out what materials were used in Mazda's fuel systems? Will I just have to soak everything to test it? Anything I'm missing? Any ideas on the premix? Thanks for the help, gangsters. Whoever helps this happens gets 100 free gallons of...


...love.

Stainless steel fuel lines, if you have a winter cold start box fill it with gasoline and wire it to spit fuel on start up. and PREMIX your fuel. Adjust ignition timing, fuel timing and fuel pressure.

There may be legal ramifications to making ethanol fuel, since it's (nearly) pure alcohol, then I've heard of problems from people making/using bio-diesel, something about the road tax and the government wanting them to have permits as fuel suppliers and so on. It'll be best to do some research before proceeding to make any. Also it'll probably be far more expensive than to just buy gas, or even to just buy the ethanol, or E85 even.

You probably don't want to get arrested for making moonshine now do you?

Screw that...how would anyone know you run or even make bio-diesel. Dont be a pussy

There was some news story linked maybe on this board a little while ago, and the government certainly found out there. I think the bigger issue might be the moonshine issue though. Going to jail sucks (apparently), having all your equipment confiscated sucks, having to pay a huge fine sucks, so it's a good idea to at least look into these issues to help shield your life from all that sucking.

Bio-Diesel and Ethanol are two different things. And it's perfectly legal to produce consumable alcohol AND sell it (in some states) if you are licensed and you pay taxes on it. I thought about heating the fuel tank and insulating the fuel lines to help with cold starting. Something in the ballpark of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Sound good? Dangerous?

Now I need to search for premixing.....

Ethanol fuel is denatured, meaning it's poisonned to prevent it from being consumed. It's probably possible to get licenced, but it may be more trouble than it's worth. Just want to make sure you've considered all the angles.

god damn hippies

How much money you have into your lab?

how much for me to get started?

He can get the proper liscense to make the ethanol for fuel purposes, it's no big deal, he will have to be able to prove that he is denaturing the alchohol when he's producing it if they ever come by to check it out.

I wouldn't be all that concerned with materials, ethanol is mildly corrosive compared to methanol. You will definatly need some sort of cold start system, I was putting some E85% in my tank last year around this time and any more than about 30% in the tank and you could forget about getting it started. A fuel injected car would be a little easier to start on ethanol in the cold though.

Using the stock cold start system with gasoline is a good idea, just make sure all the parts can handle the gas. Running a higher gasoline mixture in the tank would also be good in cold weather. Running more fuel pressure will help to atomize it more comming out of the injectors but you'll have to tune out the extra volume. As for heaters Mazda has used small ceramic heaters before to help with cold start situations, you can find them in small space heaters get one of those and canabalize it, should work ok at car operating voltages.

In order to get the best drivability, power, and fuel economy on ethanol you need a higher compression ratio. On piston engines it is advised to run around 10:1 or maybe even higher, since increasing static compression on a rotary is more difficult you may be better off running a small turbo setup at like 4-6 lbs of boost to get your dynamic compression higher and increase your drivability.

It's still going to be much more expensive than gas to make if you where thinking of trying to save some money.

F- the gov. Make the damn fuel. They steal from us enough. WHy follow their rules when they dont even follow the constitution.

There are certain plastic fuel lines that are clear.
Kinda line the ones the use on mechanical fuel injection racing set ups...