TitaniumTT's I hope I make it to DGRR '09 Build

[FC3S Murray]

You and your flipp'in vodka. What's your brand? I'm quite the vodka drinker myself

Goose of the Grey my friend.


MAn, we have an ethonal mix up here, small percentage but still here. If it isn't one thing.....

[EJayCe996]

I'm a potato vodka man myself but I do enjoy Stoli, Ketel One, and Level (a good bottle to take to the BYOB strip clubs, the girls think the bottle is pretty )

[Turbo II Rotor]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

I have no idea what the product was. I took it to a local radiator/machine shop and they took care of the whole thing. I'm positive it's the ethanol that's breaking it down. Most everyone that I know with a fiberglass tank is replacing it with plastic or Aluminum. I've even heard from Tim Marren that the ethanol is breaking down the plastic fuel cells and releasing the "sand" they use to help mold the things. Metal seems to be the only safe bet now.

I know it's the ethanol because at one point I dropped the tank. Cleaned all the fuel out. Whiped the tank down with a paper towel and it came back clean. I poured some gas in, sloshed it around and whiped again, still NOTHING. A few weeks later I have filters clogged with sludge after I found NOTHING in the tank. Fucking ethanol. I would talk to the guy that coated the thing and see if he's had ANY complaints about it, and I'd also be curious how long he's been using it. Seems to take a few years for the shit to start breaking down the epoxy. Unless some other rank chemical was added recently that I'm unaware of. I'm no chemist, but from my experience, the ethanol seems to be the beast.

F... Mine is getting done at a radiator repair shop. I've seen the effects of the ethanol on my 5 gal gas cans. They are at least 20 years old and have been perfect until about 3 years ago and you can see the plastic drying out at an accelerated rate. I'll have to ask how ethanol friendly the coating they used is. As with your car no part of my fuel system will be OEM so I will have to see how this goes. Do you have the name and number of the shop you used? I'd like to give them a call and find out what product they use on their tanks.

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by FC3S Murray

Goose of the Grey my friend.


MAn, we have an ethonal mix up here, small percentage but still here. If it isn't one thing.....

Mine too actually..
We're up to 15% I believe. Shit sucks moose balls.

Originally Posted by EJayCe996

I'm a potato vodka man myself but I do enjoy Stoli, Ketel One, and Level (a good bottle to take to the BYOB strip clubs, the girls think the bottle is pretty )

BYOB strip clubs?!? AWESOME. TX rules. I've got a Polish bottle that looks like a stained glass widow, pretty awesome, very pretty.

Originally Posted by Turbo II Rotor

F... Mine is getting done at a radiator repair shop. I've seen the effects of the ethanol on my 5 gal gas cans. They are at least 20 years old and have been perfect until about 3 years ago and you can see the plastic drying out at an accelerated rate. I'll have to ask how ethanol friendly the coating they used is. As with your car no part of my fuel system will be OEM so I will have to see how this goes. Do you have the name and number of the shop you used? I'd like to give them a call and find out what product they use on their tanks.

A1 Radiator in Bridgeport CT. This was about 5-6 years ago. Good luck Scott. If they have anydoubts as to the compatabilty with the ethanol, I would think about having the epoxy boiled out, if at all possible. Tanks ain't that expensive, relatively speaking anyway. I'm actually looking forward to an extra few gallons.

[Turbo II Rotor]

Yeah a new tank is sure as hell cheaper than a new motor.

[TitaniumTT]

Not to mention 3 Although, only one motor can be directly attributed to ethanol. And luckily it was only 2 Apex seals that got fragged. Although after everything was said and done it's still ~$700 to rebuild it. Are you logging Fuel Pressure Scott?

[classicauto]

I would think its the alcohol/ethanol as well.

Reason being, the custom AI tank I made I ahd lined by my good friends radiator shop. They do a tonne of bike tanks, old car tanks, everything with this stuff, its a type of epoxy but unsure of its exact composition. Its red

I tested a chunk of it before he did the tank for me. Took 3 pieces, left one in 50/50water/meth, one in 100% meth and another in gas...just because. The 50/50 piece didn't degrade quickly, but still turned a milky colour after 3 months. The 100% turned whiteish in a matter of days, the gas one is still unaffected.

I wanted an idea of what I could run for AI with these tests, and those were my findings. The meth/alcohol absolutely breaks down the "common" materials used to line tanks. High percentages of ethanol would do the same thing I'd imagine.

[Turbo II Rotor]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

Are you logging Fuel Pressure Scott?

For sure. I guess I'll have to wait and see. I'll PM you the info on my tank when I pick it up and some pics of the surge tank I made.

[TitaniumTT]

Originally Posted by classicauto

I would think its the alcohol/ethanol as well.

Reason being, the custom AI tank I made I ahd lined by my good friends radiator shop. They do a tonne of bike tanks, old car tanks, everything with this stuff, its a type of epoxy but unsure of its exact composition. Its red

I tested a chunk of it before he did the tank for me. Took 3 pieces, left one in 50/50water/meth, one in 100% meth and another in gas...just because. The 50/50 piece didn't degrade quickly, but still turned a milky colour after 3 months. The 100% turned whiteish in a matter of days, the gas one is still unaffected.

I wanted an idea of what I could run for AI with these tests, and those were my findings. The meth/alcohol absolutely breaks down the "common" materials used to line tanks. High percentages of ethanol would do the same thing I'd imagine.

Ah crap, mine's red too

It seems that the ethanol breaks the crap down, just at a really REALLY slow rate. Like 3-5 years but it still seems to happen. Starting this year is when all the tanks in the marine world starting needing it.

Originally Posted by Turbo II Rotor

For sure. I guess I'll have to wait and see. I'll PM you the info on my tank when I pick it up and some pics of the surge tank I made.

Definately Scott, I'm interested.

[FC3S Murray]

You get my PM Brian? Anyway, I got the housings, they look GREAT!!

I wonder if there are going to be some major legalities down the road with the ethonal destroying all these tanks. Safety recall perhaps in the future?

[TitaniumTT]

Doubtful it'll happen in the marine world, fiberglass tanks aren't all that common and it seems to take longer than warranties are offered for.

In the automotive world, factory metal tanks don't seem to be effected. Just the ones with an aftermkt coating.

[FC3S Murray]

OH, my mistake. I thought our tanks out of the factory were fiberglass. I guess I have actually never took a look inside my tank even when I did my pump years back.

[TitaniumTT]

Nah Sean, they're metal, but they're coated inside and out. The coating from the factory really doesn't seem to be affected by this shit. The factory definately got that right. The S4 tank that I'm using from my buddy was damn near mint on the inside. That car was pretty much always used though. my tanks sat static for a few years and I think that's when all the rust started. It was all downhill from there.

I'm just hoping that I got it all. I'm still going to be paranoid and constantly check that filter for the next few thousand miles though. Certainly don't want to loose another engine and I'm not going to be running that bosch, way to damn loud.

[Turbo II Rotor]

Originally Posted by TitaniumTT

I'm not going to be running that bosch, way to damn loud.

Was that an 044 you had? I'm going to run 2 of them external in the hatch.

[EJayCe996]

Find out what pump he's running, its pretty quiet