fuel type

[Mark Reeves]

I am sure this has been covered on all types of motorcycle forums.
I have classic Japanese 4 and 2 stroke bikes and am still unsure which fuel is best E5 or E10.

Please can anyone give me a straight answer.

Cheers

[Alan H]

Personally I get the least E possible in my GT550s, Kettle and GS750.
It's not just the engine, which will probably digest whatever you put in it ok, but it runs hotter and rubber/plastic pipes & seals don't like it.

[Mark Reeves]

Thanks Alan,
I would go for the smallest E number as well. Some people on other forums add a stabilizer to there fuel.

[Colin12303]

I have converted a large water bottle to enable me to get the ethanol out of the fuel
It does work and there are lots of instructions on the web

[Alan H]

Well Colin, tell us how you did it, and a bit of who you are too, so people can understand where you're about, my friend,

[Colin12303]

Well Colin, tell us how you did it, and a bit of who you are too, so people can understand where you're about, my friend,

My name is Colin i live in Kent England i am 63 years old and have a GT380m 1975.I had a GT380b new in 1977 when i was 18.
I ended up writing that off and bought a second hand GT 550 which was brilliant no trouble at all, when i passed my car test the
GT550 ended up in mt grandmothers front garden with a cover over it. A year or so later we got a knock on the door from someone
who wanted to buy it. I conected a jump lead from the bike to my ford capri and it started 2nd or 3rd kick it never wanted to start on the starter motor. I sold it for £90 as the exhausts needed to be replaced.
Anyway back to removing the ethanol from petrol.
You get a large water bottle and fit a tap at both ends. You measure out 10 litres of E10 unleaded. You then measure out 1 litre of water. Add a small amount of a dark food colouring to the water. Put the petrol in the water bottle. Then add the water and shake the bottle for several minutes to make sure it is fully mixed. Then leave to stand for a few hours. You will notice the petrol and water will seperate and there will be a distinct line between them. The water plus the ethanol will all be at the bottom so now open the tap at the top of the bottle to let the air in. Now slowly open the bottom tap and let the water run out into a can or whatever until you get to the dividing line. When you measure this out you will have exactly 2 litres.1 litre of water plus 1 litre of ethanol.(Some people take a little bit more out to make sure no water gets left behind) The reason this works is ethanol does not like mixing with petrol but loves water so it comes out of the petrol and attaches itself to the water.
Hope this is clear.

[Alan H]

Nice writeup Colin.

Bet you look back on the 550 sale with some annoyance now, considering the prices they fetch. I've had several (started with a J in 1972), restored 3 and currently have a J and a very non standard A.
IMO, the best triple.

[Colin12303]

Hindsight is a fine thing. Back in the late seventies early eighties they were worth very little. I bought my GT380B brand new from a place called AYE-GEE in Welling for £800 and had a lovely custom paint job done on the tank for £30 from a place called Shane Harteys near Shortlands station Bromley Kent. I paid £250 for my GT550M from a guy in Orpinton Kent who became famous for a short while as the policeman who picked up a torch on the front desk of the station tried it and it blew his hand off(IRA bomb).
I also had a FS1E and a Suzuki super bloop (B120P)which i passed my test on. which are both worth money now but back in the day were cheap and disposable.
Yesterday i took a lot of chrome bits to a platers to get a quote which they will contact me with in a couple of days, hopefuly it won't be too expensive they are all GT parts petrol cap lids, fork ears and 3 sets of fork shrouds and rings

[Zunspec4]

Hi Colin,

I would use an Ethanol free petrol as a 1st choice. Esso market one:-

Blurb from their website - "Although our pumps have E5 labels on them, our Synergy Supreme+ 99 is actually ethanol free (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, the Teesside area, Scotland and NW England). Legislation requires us to place these E5 labels on pumps that dispense unleaded petrol with ‘up to 5% ethanol’, including those that contain no ethanol, which is why we display them on our Synergy Supreme+ 99 pumps."

If you have a nearby Esso garage you can rest your back garden refining operation (at least until it changes).

Cheers Geoff

[Colin12303]

Just filled up with esso e5 might take some and test to see if it has ethanol in it

[daxman]

Hi Colin

You're suggesting that water can bind with ethanol in a ratio of 1:1? How is that notion deduced?

Cheers

J

[Colin12303]

As i said on a previous post all the instructions are on the internet. I just relayed what was worked out by more clever people than me.