TOPIC: Gasoline

The motor is a 1963 650 four cylinder. It has not been used in about 20 years and was recently checked and refurbished and has a compression of 120-125 in all cylinders.

Since I will probably be using gasoline with ethanol added and ethanol has less energy per gallon, I expect a slight (about 5%) decrease in power output.

What is the experience of you other Mercury owners regarding fuel with ethanol added?

i have not had a problem retard the max timing about 3 degrees. disconect the fuel line and run the motor out of gas when done dont leave the carbs full.

This link might be useful to you in finding real gasoline.
pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=WA

can't believe jersey don't have any!!!

With everything I keep hearing from different sources I only use Ethanol - free in all of my small motors including my '77 Merc 1150. From what I understand it is the hardest on two strokes. It tends to wash the cylinder walls and bearings let alone what it does to gaskets and floats. And as bad as it is, I keep hearing rumors that they want to allow them to put in more!!! From what I hear it even raises hell with the new outboards as well and cuts the life expectancy way down.
Bill

and in the long run polutes more.less milage so you use about the same gas permile plus the ethonol and the polution it makes comverting it and it mixes with the water so it wont evaporate off thr top.just to name a few.

Pretty sure it's illegal for them to sell gas without ethanol here in NJ.

vuyosevich wrote:

can't believe jersey don't have any!!!

Hum-m-m-m???
So-o-o-o,...Aren't there any airports in NJ??
Don't folks with float planes that can't land at an airport still use fuel cans to fill their tanks???
Slowly,...I plant the seed in despiration towards survival of the 2 stroke O/B.
Muu-WAH-HAA-Haaaaa
Doc F

Heck, you can't even PUMP your own gas in Jersey..(like Oregon).

Another reason I am glad I don't live in Jersey!!! LOL
Bill

I have never experienced to oft complained about ethanol problems on my outboards but I am careful to swap out the needle, seats and floats plus upgrade the fuel lines. The motors run with no complaints, I use 40 to 1 synthetic. On my two high perf inlines I do run them 2 jet sizes bigger where as you say, ethanol is down on BTU value so you have to run a bit richer for equivalent power. The smaller ones I don't bother.
As far as storage here is what I have experienced. For the two cycles premix motors: During the summer where motor may sit for a week max I don't worry about running it out of fuel, this has never resulted in any issues.
At end of season I do run the carbs dry while fogging.
I use the newer fuel stabilizer in the 6 gal tanks although I try to run them down in anticipation of storage. Take your tanks out and get them into a dry location rather than leaving them in the boat. It's condensation forming inside the tank that is the issue during storage. The new stabilizer prevents the phase seperation that the ethanol fuels are suseptible too when water gets in.
Anyone storing a 4 cycle inboard or I/O with carbs, it's a pain to run them dry so I learned a simple trick: While fogging them, I squirt two cycle oil into the bowl vent making a localized two cycle mix right in the carb. What I have seen happen with ethanol fuels is as the fuel evaporates and condensation forms in the bowl it corrodes the casting and small parts which generally causes carb issues the following season. The sort of white fluffy stuff you see upon disassembly. It is pronounced with ethanol fuels because the alcohol attracts water.
What the oil mix does is as the fuel evaporates it leaves a coating of oil over all the internal passageways and parts of the carb so the water never really contacts the metal because of this protective coating. it works like magic and is easy to do. I also put the newer ethanol stabilizer in the typical built in tanks found on the larger boats.
There are three distinct problems with ethanol, One is deteriation of rubber like parts or hoses if not alcohol compatible, os ya gotta replace the old stuff with new. The other two problems are water related, what happens in your carb and what happens in the tank. The carb problems are due to fuel evaporation and corrosion from the attracted water. The tank issues are phase seperation in the ethanol fuels due to water mixing in so you need to treat them differently. The phase seperating is a gooey mess and will gum up everything once it is drawn up into the pump and carb. I still fill my fixed tanks up to minimize the space that condensation could form. Have your tank vent so condensed water will not run down into the tank. Make sure your fill cap is tight. The less water that can creep in the better. Use the stabilizer made for ethanol fuels, it works now.
Good luck and a little preventative goes a long way. I keep 7 boats running in my collection so I got good at storing this stuff to make the next season turnkey.
my 2 cents,
Randy

All of the above information is good and will be helpful as I get back under way. However, the issue that is of primary interest is if anyone has noted any power decrease (speed loss, difficulty getting on plane, etc.) with the decreased energy of gasoline/ethanol blends.

After restoration/rebuild, I expect my boat to be a little heavier than originally and it was marginal on planing when I last used it. I will have a tachometer now and will be able to determine if I am over propped for the combination.

Kern