The only ethanol free we have around here is 87 but it is at about half the stations so it's not a problem to find.

My yard isn't big enough to run my mower dry, so i just run it once in a while, even in winter  
here in my area, pure gas is only available at one source, and they're understandably high priced, so i either ride at least every 2 weeks (at least 10 miles) or drain the carb, or I did, with my S40

norm92de wrote on 03/05/16 at 13:18:34:


Yes, I have used Avgas 100LL in my chainsaws and yard equipment for a year before I found a source for ethanol free fuel.  The Avgas has lead in it, and the LL stands for Low Lead....which is misleading.  The 100LL has about 2 grams of lead per liter, and that is as much lead as the Premium auto fuels ever had.  The LL comes from the fact that some high performance aviation fuels used to have 2-3 times that amount....the kind of fuel they use in the piston engines of the WW2 fighter planes.

The big problem with Avgas is that it s not really "gasoline" - but is blended from pretrochemicals.  This is great as the Avgas never deteriorates and when it evaporates - it doesn't corrode anything or leave any varnish behind.  The bad thing is that it runs too rich in an engine adjusted for pump gas.....so to run properly you need to rejet the engine to run Avgas properly - then if you put in pumpgas the engine will be running too lean.

I keep a 5 gallon can of Avgas, and when I am going put some of my equipment away for the winter.  Some of my equipment can't be drained of fuel easily - so I pump the pump gas out of the tank and add a small amount of Avgas in the tank....and then run the engine long enough to get the Avgas into the carbs (I dump the fuel in the tanks and run the mower and chainsaws out of fuel).  The Honda ST1100 has a fuel pump, and the carbs are impossible to get to the drains - so I empty the tank of pump gas, then I add the Avgas and run the bike until I can smell the Avgas coming out the exhaust (ride around the block), then I disconnect the fuel pump and run the engine until the engine stops when the carbs are empty).

I keep a small amount of Avgas in my generator so that it will always run in an emergency - but switch over to pump gas as the generator is put into long-term service.  We had a power outage that lasted 3 days a few years ago!

I remember running a Yamaha two stroke on Avgas years ago.

It didn't need warm up at all and seemed to run better. I didn't check fuel consumption because I got the gas free.  

I may try a tank or two in the Suzuki since it is set up lean from the factory anyway. I hate ethanol I have seen what it can do to fuel systems. To say nothing of Lear Jet windshields.

We set up an old Lear windshield and put ethanol on the surface. It ate the plastic up! And that is what we used to keep ice off it. However, the slipstream prevented damage but you had to make sure there were no dribbles etc.

Just for those folks who like to "know".

Avgas 100LL is 70% Alkylate, 15% Isopentane and 15% Toluene.  There are also additives that include Lead for Knock resistance, a blue dye to identify that it is 100LL (other grades are died green or red), Antioxidants to help keep the fuel fresh and reduce corrosion, and Scavenging additives to help reduce the lead fowling of spark plugs and combustion chambers.

I used Avgas 100LL in my chainsaws for a year when I couldn't find a good source of ethanol free fuel.  The saws were adjusted to run on pump gas - and when I switched over to Avgas the saws would run too rich and dropped about 1,000 rpm at full throttle....once the carb was leaned out they ran fine...although I don't believe they ran as well as they do on pump gas even after the adjustment.  Now I just use "fresh" pump gas and make sure it is never more than a couple months old.

Ed L. wrote on 03/07/16 at 06:42:50:


So.....you are riding to Daytona!