[jdean]

Gary I got some of that gas a couple of years ago. It percolated and actually caught fire in downtown Austin. Even after we put the fire out it kept boiling out of the idle slots and carb boosters and into the manifold for what seemed like a minute or so. This gushing fuel is a running faucet of gas and can power a very large fire in 2 seconds. Fire was blowing 4 ft. high out of my hood scoop. In my case it was at night, so not even the hottest part of the day. Now I avoid Ethanol completely.

Since hardly any two blends are the same, Gasoline boils over range of temperatures, between 39 and 200o C (102oF and 392o F) typically, the temperature range varies depending upon the brand, octane, and seasonal formulation and how much fuel pressure is feeding the bowls. More pressure equals higher boiling point. Carbs dont have near the pressure as EFI. Ethanol boils at only about 175F at sea level atmospheric pressure. There can be over 200 chemicals in gasoline and many of them, including Ethanol, can dramatically lower the boiling point.

Ethanol gasoline in a carbureted engine, while it easily gets hot, can cause more than one sympton resulting in the engine not running correctly, ranging from cavitation in the fuel pump causing a lean condition, to percolating in the carb causing anything from running rich to mis-firing due to flooding. If it is near boiling while running you may not notice because it is running fine. But when you kill the ignition it will almost always immediatley start percolating and spill into the engine due to loss of fuel pressure and heat soak. Then it becomes flooded and hard to start, AND therefore prone to starting a fire. A fire can start silently in the carb, so it is under the breather and can burn for a while before you even know you have a fire going in there.

If you can easily drain it, you might think about removing it and put it into your daily. It is a real danger in the typical Cobra.