On the subject of ethanol-free gasoline, be careful where you buy it. I don't recommend "no-name" independent gas stations...those with names that you've never seen or are very small chains that sell really cheap gas, and for good reason.
Where I live, about 5 years ago almost all of the big chains went to ethanol-laced fuel, but the no-name guys still had it. I was running the KR and the Swift both on this stuff (I have the auto-fuel STC for the Swift) and I filled the Swift up with some stuff from the local "C&S Fuels" station. When I was filling the 6 gallon cans at the station, I noticed a funky smell emanating from the fuel, but thought maybe it was something else. As I poured it into the Swift, I smelled it again, and realized this fuel was tainted with something other than what I was familiar with in auto fuel. A little reading revealed that some of these cheap stations sell "plug-fuel", which is stuff that might be part fuel oil (or something else) and part gasohol, mixed together in the pipeline in the gap between the dividers between two types of fuel. That's why it's so cheap. It may not have ethanol in it, but there are plenty of worse chemicals that it might have in it! Whatever it was, I walked into the hangar a few days later and it wreaked of this same awful smell. There were big oily puddles below each wing root. This "fuel" had dissolved the rubber hoses that connect the tanks to the center header, to the point that both tanks were drained, and the hoses had an "alligatored" look to them, like the cracked floor of a river bed in the driest part of summer. "Exploded" them would have been a better discription. I'll have to send a picture later. It was eye-opening to say the least. Needless to say, the hoses were replaced and the carb inspected for damage (although it was never run through the carb). Moral of the story is be careful where you buy your ethanol-free fuel. I don't know that there are any real laws that dictate exactly what can and can't be in "gasoline", especially in Alabama! Given our total lack of automobile inspections, that's not surprising, and the reason half the headlights in this state are either "coon-hunting" (aimed up in the trees), or pointed 6' in front of the car! For those who wonder where they can buy ethanol-free fuel locally, see http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp and click on your state abbreviation near the bottom. Notice that most of the places are "UNBRANDED", at least they are for Alabama. That's your clue. Our local Raceway (which is where I buy all of my car gas, and have yet to find a single drop of water or debris in it in 28 years) has recently brought ethanol-free back, but alas, it's only 87 octane. That's OK for the Swift, but not the high compression ratio Corvair or VW engine. But if you can find high octane ethanol-free fuel from a reputable chain, it's probably a good bet. I've run several thousand gallons through N56ML and had zero problems with it with my vinylester fuel tanks. Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com http://www.n56ml.com
