Name That Vehicle

Guess the make and model year of this mystery car for a chance to win a free gift from the Historic Vehicle Association.

The rules are simple: All you have to do is head on over to the HVA’s Facebook page and log your best guess on the make and model year of the car featured in this photo.  Guess correctly and you have a chance to win a free HVA ballcap. This is the same cap available here, in our online store: basic black, fully adjustable to fit any sized melon, and featuring the HVA emblem on the front and the FIVA (Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens) emblem on the back. One winner will be randomly drawn from the pool of correct Facebook responses on Friday, December 30.

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What do you know about Fuel Additives?

November 17, 2011

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Last month, an HVA e-news article entitled A Comparative Evaluation of Prevention of Gasohol Phase Separation by Fuel Additives generated a significant number of questions from readers interested in finding out more about how they can protect their engines from ethanol fuel damage.  We put some of these questions to the author, Benjamin Kellogg, who offered his response.

Benjamin Kellogg of South Texas became interested in historic vehicles through his family’s collection of old cars, which include a 1943 WWII Jeep and 6x6, light armored 1943 M8 Greyhound.  Regular maintenance and engine repair has long been a hobby for Kellogg and his father, who last year began wondering if fuel additives might help combat the inherent problems attributed to the ethanol fuel that had arrived at local gas stations.  With an equal passion for chemistry and access to a lab at his school, Kellogg decided to find out. 

With the help of a local high school chemistry teacher, Kellogg designed a simple water titration study to objectively test the effect of the additives on phase separation.

Last month, HVA e-news republished the resulting article from those tests, which originally appeared in the Fall 2011 issue of Army Motors.  If you didn’t catch the piece, A Comparative Evaluation of Prevention of Gasohol Phase Separation by Fuel Additives, click on the story link and then take a moment to see Benjamin Kellogg’s answers to some of the most frequently asked questions sent in from HVA members.

What is the baseline dehydration (life) for the gas we used five years ago?
Kellogg: How long pure gasoline can be stored varies from a few months to a few years depending on the type of gasoline—aviation gas, for instance, is supposed to last longer—and the storage conditions (cooler is better). Predicting how long it will “last” is difficult because it is hard to know how long the gasoline has been stored at the gas station.  The biggest problems with storing pure gasoline are: evaporation of lighter hydrocarbons; hydrocarbon oxidation; and ultimately formation of “varnish-like” gum deposits.  It is difficult to tell if evaporation has happened by simple inspection of a gasoline sample, but gasoline turns progressively darker as it oxidizes.  When gum forms, small pieces can be seen in a sample.  Gasohol is less stable than pure gasoline because ethanol will absorb water from the air, thus gasohol can be contaminated much more easily than pure gasoline. It is said that gasohol can be stored for up to six months, but I have not tested this.  Water absorption by gasohol is the problem addressed by the Eastwood fuel additives that I tested.


What is the impact of other fuel stabilizers (i.e. Sea Foam, Sta-Bil, Sta-Bil Marine, etc.)?
Kellogg: While I have not tested these products, they are supposed to reduce the risk of phase separation in the same way as the Eastwood products in my study.  Sta-Bil claims to have the same effects on phase separation that the Eastwood products have but, again, I have not tested Sta-Bil.  Both Sta-Bil and Sea Foam are mixtures of different hydrocarbons than the Eastwood product I tested.  Sta-Bil contains only one active hydrocarbon agent, while Sea Foam and the Eastwood products each contain three active hydrocarbon agents (although they are completely different agents).  Since the three products are all chemically unique, knowing which is superior would require a new comparative study.
What do your results show if the amounts of fuel additive are exceeded?
Kellogg: If the recommended amounts of fuel additive are exceeded, it seems likely that the amount of water that could be retained in solution before phase separation happened would increase in direct proportion to the excess amount of fuel stabilizer used.  I suspect that the recommended amount of stabilizer is based on the amount of water that would be expected to be absorbed in six months of storage.



 At what point would increased dosage become ineffective?
Kellogg: When the concentration of the additive became so high that the combustibility of the gasohol was decreased, the additive could be considered to be ineffective at preserving the fuel. Also, if the concentration of the additive in the gasohol ever exceeded the ability of the gasoline to dissolve the additive, the additive might phase separate from the gasohol and become ineffective.  But since they are both hydrocarbons, I doubt that would happen in actual use.



Can you reference any studies about whether hot weather has any impact on fuel component performance?
Kellogg: I live in south Texas, so doing something with heat and gasohol stability would be useful; however, my chemistry teacher and I decided heating gasohol in the chemistry lab could have a bad outcome so we only cooled it.

Reader note: What’s your experience?  Have you tried fuel additives in the engine of your historic vehicle and, if so, did they work?  Please share your experience with  All About Detail-Classic Car Brokers on our Facebook page.

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Are there any other studies you are working on?
Kellogg: I started a project for the Military Vehicle Preservation Association’s Army Motors magazine to look at the effect of DOT 3 versus DOT 5 brake fluid on natural rubber and synthetic rubber that has been going on for almost a year.  I have not yet analyzed the data, but results will be coming soon.If the two additives [tested] are chemically identical, why didn’t you continue with your test to determine if doubling the dose of each additive on its own resulted in the same increase of water retention as the combined effect revealed?
Kellogg: Doubling the concentration of each additive would be a logical follow-up experiment, but as this was not tested, a direct conclusion cannot be reached; however, based on chemical principles, doubling the amount of fuel additive should double the amount of water that could be absorbed before phase separation happens.  But, again, the experiment has not been done so one cannot be sure.
If doubling the dose resulted in increased retention of water in E10, would increasing the dosage continue to increase the effect?
Kellogg: Based on principles of chemistry, there should be a direct relationship between the amount of additive used and the amount of water retained so that doubling, tripling, etc. the amount of additive should double, triple, etc. the amount of water retained.

On The Tube: Historic Car Commercials

http://www.historicvehicle.org/

 

On The Tube: Historic Car Commercials

Remember in 1964 when Ford asked people to “Try total performance for a change. In 1967, the Pontiac GTO was billed as “The Ultimate Driving Machine” and Volkswagen asked America to “Think Small.” Mad-Men era ad men came up with some witty slogans during the 50s and 60s, and some of the commercials were even more memorable. Thanks to YouTube, you can take a look back at some of the best.

For an example:
Rocket Go on Regular Gas

The 1960 Oldsmobile with “Rocket engines and Quadra-Balance Ride”—sparkling new from every view.

HVA Update

Historical Vehicle Association

 

 

Update: Ethanol

Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2011 - 13:36

Chalk up another victory on the path to repealing the EPA’s ill-advised move to increase the amount of ethanol in our fuel by 50 percent.

Good news from Washington in the ongoing E15 debate. Recently, the HVA provided key legislators in congress with important scientific research from the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport that firmly established the fact that ethanol-based fuels are not compatible with historic vehicles. For a full copy of the U.K. report click here. Representatives in Congress were apparently listening and last week passed a budget bill with an amendment that eliminates all funding to the EPA for any activity related to moving ahead with the implementation of E15. 

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Good for Collectors: The Arizona Emissions Study

Historic Vehicle Association HVA Monthly Newsletter
3/01/11
There’s a common belief among historic vehicle enthusiasts that environmentalists and regulators will continue to find ways to make it seem that we’ve made little progress in cleaning up our air and that things will only get worse unless aggressive new regulatory programs are implemented.

Can well-reasoned arguments backed up by hard data still make a positive difference where stricter emission law threaten historic vehicle ownership? Thankfully, the answer is yes.

Take the case of Arizona. In 2005, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) conducted an exhaustive study on the impact of “collector vehicles” on carbon emissions and overall air quality. The Arizona report concluded the impact on emissions and air quality was “negligible” and, based on this information, Arizona regulators moved to exempt historic vehicle owners from emissions regulation. This exemption required the federal EPA to review and approve the Arizona findings before the exemption could take effect. In April, 2007, the federal EPA did just that. Click here for copies of the ADEQ study and the EPA approval.

While reasoned debate and compelling data doesn’t guarantee that all regulators will come to their senses and follow Arizona’s lead, it does provide a strong precedent for the future defense of historic vehicle owners elsewhere in the future.

Check out the HVA's Interactive Emissions Laws Map


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