E10 Petrol

[Duccout]

Does anyone here follow Paul Henshaw's You Tube channel? He has discovered that E10 fuel requires larger carburetor jets, namely he goes up a size of needle jet in the Amal carbs. I mention this because I have run into the same issue; until recently I ran my 250 and 350 on super unleaded E5, but I have now switched to E10 and find that the spark plug electodes are white, even after raising the needle in the Amal carbs. Has anyone else found this?


Cheers,

Colin

[blethermaskite]

Colin, I have never ran any of my Ducati's on E10 fuel (not even my lawnmower!) as a generality alcohol fuels need bigger jetting and overall richer carb settings ......so.......in theory? E10 fuel would run a little weak on a normally set up pure petrol burner. ( I think )
Cheers George

[Duccout]

Hi George,

Round here there are very few petrol stations left, and those do not stock E5, so I have to make a special trip to fill up with it, which is not very convenient sometimes, plus the single E5 pump often has a queue. Things are never easy with old vehicles.


Cheers,

Colin

[ranton_rambler]

There is a lot of nonsense talked about E5 and E10 fuels, mixed in with the useful stuff.
I run my Ducati on E5 as it's easy enough to obtain round here.
My 1972 Guzzi is quite happy on both E5 and E10 with standard carb settings. I will use E5 by preference but I had to it fill up 3 times in a row with E10 while in Italy over the summer with issues.
I also have a pre-war Rudge which I was told should have the ignition timing altered to suit modern fuel, but I have not found it necessary yet. It is not a high-performance Ulster so perhaps is a bit more tolerant.

I found that in Europe, fuel availability is quite different to what I experience in my local area of England.
Depending where you are, there is E5 98 and E10 95, much as we have here, but also E5 102, E85 (no thanks!) and E5 95 none of which I have never seen here. The E5 98 availability was poor in the mountains.

[Boxprod]

Indeed there is a lot of nonsense out in the etherweb (all of which is accepted as valid by AI, so turns up over and over again as solid fact).

When I was building a fuel injection system for my 1974 Ginetta G21 and its Sunbeam 1725 engine, I found one seriously useful site: https://classicenginesmodernfuel.org.uk/?DYN_MENU_MainMenu=1000001&manchester=1

If you're intrigued by the subject, you'll find a lot of common sense there - although it's now all published in book form, which it wasn't when I built my Ginetta engine.

It's a fascinating rabbit hole!

Pete.

[themoudie]

Morning Colin,

With the 450, fitted with AMAL MKII 32mm, with the following settings when using E5 fuel, a short bellmouth and no air filter:
Main jet: 230
Pilot jet: 25
Slide: 3½
Needle jet: 106
Needle: 2A1, with the clip in the lowest of 5 grooves on the needle
Pilot screw: 1¼ turns out from seated

These settings have proved to be reliable, with this engine and my home made modified 'Gold Star' pattern silencer, using the Motad designed/Royce Creasey published in Classic Mechanics, silencer unit.

I have considered raising the size of the needle jet to 107 and placing the needle clip on the topmost of the 5 grooves, as on occasion at the transition of pilot jet to slide in the throttle opening, there can be a slight 'cough'! This 'cough', I think, is in part down to the design of the MKII (airflow) and a mixture weakness. Using E10, when no other fuel is available, heightens the effect of this 'cough' and I get round this by adding 1cc of Millers VSPe Power Plus for every litre of fuel. 'Cough' does not occur and the tan colour of the spark plug (NGK B7HS) electrode remains the same as when using Tesco E5, Shell V Power, or the Esso Synergy Supreme + 99 petrol that is still available in places.

If I may add a couple of notes to the above?

After 15,000 miles the needle jet side holes were blocked and the needle was worn oval below the clip slots, where it runs in the bore of the needle jet. So, the needle jet, needle and clip were all replaced. The clips can be fragile, as I have found to my cost and Nigel Lacey warned me about the high wear rate of the needle/jet in the MKII carb.

I hope this helps. Good health, BillR