Whats in your fuel closet/shelf/bunker?

Gotcha Kim

some of this questionable stuff will proly get into the cleaning solvent category

and a while back I had a bit of fun burning off some other unknown blend in a chain saw...great gobbs of smoke!!!
Funny cuz I though the clapped out Husqvarna chain saw ran better on the glow fuel than the 40:1 gas mix

For now I gotta be careful relighting the stogie... don't want no blue flame hands....grin

BUT I sure do smell good....

Even thought of dumping one last questionable quart into my old ratty John Deere rider (D-105)with the 18HP single cylinder 4 stroke just to top oil it and make the mowing smell fun....

Of course like any good do it yer self er... I studied up on all things alcohol....thinking I might just distill some drinkable spirits and maybe a side run of fuel meth...

I have successfully fermented fruit into wine and dabbled briefly in beer brewing--- but I much prefer my German store bought beers....though my friends and family thought my 20% blackberry wine was pretty damned good

The curiosity is:... My ultra sonic cleaner, EVEN with heater "off", heats the juice quite a bit... 156F~187F --so If I used older fuel as a Ultra Sonic solvent... wouldn't the real solvent component -the methanol- just boil out of the mix fairly quickly

Yes Virginia...this question forces folks who do not know, to look up the boiling point of most alcohols and get a quick primer in distilling.....grin

You guys that have run glow fuel in lawn mowers and other small 4-strokers, is that mixed with gasoline, or straight-up?

The only time I did it Rusty was a few weeks back and I just took the beater worn our chain saw with year old gas in it and added to fill up the tank of my questionable glow fuel in and that damned thing fired right up!,,,,,, smoked like a skiter fogger tho....grin

All of this pontificating regarding fuels and home brews reminds me of the time my five year older than me brother attempted to make his own concoction in a kettle stuck inside an old Model T trunk that resided in our back yard.  Out of curiosity I raised the lid only to discover that the solution was covered in maggots.  When I brought it to his attention (younger brothers love to needle older brothers) he was not pleased. "You tell Mom and Dad and I'll kill ya".  Just one of many similar threats from him that I enjoyed in my younger years.  

But most confusing is finding gas that will not explode or burn.  I drained five gallons of gas from my MG's tank, nasty stuff, yellow and rusty.  I couldn't siphon all of it so I removed it and upended the rest into a container.  Now I'm stuck with it and you can't just chuck this stuff into the local creek or landfill.  So I dug a pit in the middle of my burned off brush pile, dumped in some gas soaked rags and a couple of kindling and doused it with a cup of the nasty gas and from a distance threw in a match.  Nothing.  More nasty gas and tossed in a lit piece of paper which just sat on top of the pile burning. What?  Gas is highly flammable and explosive, hence my caution.  

So what I'm getting to is.........how do you dispose of contaminated gasoline?





MG's coming along beautifully, doors and fenders off and I'm thinking - Beach Buggy!  

Bob, you could check with your local, township, city or county goverment. Where I live The county has a disposal site (Hazardous Waste In Kent County) they take most anything, just have to call ahead for an appointment. It does make me sleep better at night knowing I'm not killing wildlife or fish....or my offspring by just dumping in the yard or creek. Check it out!

Hey! Did ya ever get a chance to watch the Corvair video I posted a while back??
I do like your MG better.

 I remember you posting about running that chain-saw Phred.. I replied with a photo of "Leather-Face". It just seemed appropriate where you live in Texas.

I don't have nearly as much fuel on-hand as you Phred. My Sig fuel's plastic-bottles (pint and quart size) have not "puckered-out" on the bottom.. but I have a quart of "Tower" (TOWP1625) 30% car-fuel.. that is bulging at the bottom. I bought that one-quart before learning that the Sig-Champion fuels have an adequate oil-mix for my Cox engines. That Tower quart is un-opened.. and at least 15 years old now. Most all of my model-engines are vintage.. and need "castor-oil" in the fuel. The Tower fuel might be OK for running in my OS .10 FP/RC.. but that's about it. The OS engine is NIB... so it won't be seeing that fuel for several hours.. if ever.



I also have an OLD QUART..........      of Testors/McCoy (unopened) with a "K-Mart" price-sticker on it.. ($1.93-special)



Probably from back in the 1970's.. Only God knows if it's still chemically-sound enough to run an engine made for it. If I ever run my Testors .049 "pipe-bomb"... I may Christen-it with this fuel, just for nostalgia-sake. If it runs ok, I'll have a whole quart to burn. I would imagine that being sold at K-Mart; the fuel was intended for use in the Testors "Fly-Em" arf's that K-Mart likely stocked at the time. Maybe it was toward the "end" of Testors' popularity.. after the models were no-longer on the shelves. What would a quart of Testors fuel retailed at, during the height of popularity?

Marleysky wrote:Bob, you could check with your local, township, city or county goverment. Where I live The county has a disposal site (Hazardous Waste In Kent County) they take most anything, just have to call ahead for an appointment. It does make me sleep better at night knowing I'm not killing wildlife or fish....or my offspring by just dumping in the yard or creek.  Check it out!

Hey! Did ya ever get a chance to watch the Corvair video I posted a while back??
I do like your MG better.

Tried to watch it Rene, but I'm not on Facebook and couldn't open it.

I will google WV hazardous waste sites, but this is West Virginia a poor state and government services are very thin. I know that Virginia has one near my sons house, guess I will let him dispose of it.

Thanks - Bob

Can't you just burn it? The volatility is long gone. Gather some brush and throw that crud on it. It's no worse than going out the tailpipe.

That's all they do at a hazardous waste facility.

Edit: I need to learn to read better. I still stand by my original statement though. Light that junk off on a brush pile.

I have the perfect solution Robert.. Add 1-part "yellow-stinky old fuel" to 10-parts "tiki-torch" fuel. It might take the Summer.. depending on how many torches you light.. but you'll burn-off that old fuel fairly quick. I absolutely LOVE tiki-torches. I typically light at least "eight" torches on a given night. I like to place them near outdoor stairways.. along pathways.. and around the outer-perimeter of the yard. Around a fire-pit is also nice.

If you haven't already; you could transfer the old gas into some fuel-cans.. and mix-it with the lemon-grass torch-fuel to be burned-off. Try just one first... and see how it burns. You might need to buy some extra wicks for your torches.. but they're cheap and easy to replace.

What to do with old fuel ??  Two Words ....FIRE ANTS !!!! A terrible affliction of the Southern US....
I like to take a long screw driver deep into the burrow and dump old gas /model fuel down the hole. A few seconds later, light it !!!! home made napalm just like apocalypse now !!!
Oh Yes ..I like to leave 2 or 3 alive so they can warn the other colonies down the street that my yard is where that Crazy Blank Blank  lives...

Bob... I think you should be right to be concerned with a proper way to dispose of the bad gas.... most haz mat sites ...especially the free ones , won't take it , as there is no pure way to know what it is..... more on this in a second

Potentially you have leaded gas with Benzine....bad stuff to even burn as the smoke residue is still a airborne hazard

And as You know every thing in WVA flows into some stream because the streams are all close

As Army contracting officer, once I had to manage a motor pool waste managment contract... for a fee they would take used motor oil, bad fuel, and used coolant..... If one of my soldiers dared to put coolant into the oil collection container...then the fee per gallon went up by a factor of 100 because now it had to be disposed of differently by EPA guidelines

Hell in my county.... that has twice a year free turn ins... if any acceptable liquid is MIXED with any other liquid they will NOT take it....just plain costs too much to properly dispose of

MY solicited advice is to gather a wheel barrow load of wood chips and saw dust.... dispense the raw bad gas in the chips....let sit in the sun until mostly evaporated.... then when you do add the sawdust/wood chips to the burn pile...pick a day when winds are not to the town...and do not breath the smoke

OTOH ---5 Gals is not likely to have many PPM of the lead or benzine--- if any--- depending on potential age of the bad gas

OK a lot of caution words...IF you know the gas is from modern era with zero lead or Benzine... pour it any where you see fit .. it is not a serious hazard ..and I suspect all the volatile organics have already dissipated... based on your "will not burn" note

Thanks all, I especially liked the fire ant solution.  They were all over in central Florida where we lived.  

I'm pretty sure this is unleaded, it was built in late '77 and has the restrictor in the filler pipe.  I'm pretty sure it was last ran in 1991.  I have contacted the previous owner whose address was gleaned from roach eaten scraps of old insurance papers and registrations found in the glove compartment.

I turned that information over to my son whose internet skills far exceed mine and within minutes he had the previous owners current address and phone number.  I called the number and a charming female voice answered and related that the car was owned by her husband (now deceased) and one of her daughters.  Now in her 70's we had a lot in common and we swapped MG and Mustang stories back and forth.  She doesn't have the title but her daughter may, either way she will obtain a title and sign it over to me.  

She had the best time relating how one time she could not get the MG into reverse while trying to park in a snow storm and had to seek help, (the car is presently equipped with four almost new (then) snow tires) also memories of her daughter and husband with their heads stuck under the hood searching for some malfunction. She had separated from her husband and does not know what happened to the car after that.

With a propeller like that, if it had wings it could fly.



Now that I have seriously hijacked this thread I must apologize once again.  

Bob

Bob, we love your posts!
Cool post on the MG, i came close to buying one when i was in the Navy, it had been 'customized' several years before, wheel wells flared, purple paint, paxton supercharger, but had rust popping thru the bondo, leaked oil and was basically worn out....so i 'settled' for a 390 4 spd. '67 Cyclone!

Just took at look at my fuel, which hasn't see the light of day in who knows...



Years ago i made little tabs to put on fuel bottles, as was running different engines, got into a habit of using quarts a lot less weight for the field box, i could always grab another quart to bring if needed. Theres also the qt. of caster in background.



Some current fuels from 3-4 years ago.


Far back of shelf theres a unopened gallon of all caster powermaster, i got at the (2001) nats for a Fox i never ran and a empty can of Nitrotane a popular R/C fuel from the 80's

I have two gallons of green Cool Power that were foisted upon me in a weak moment. I haven't bothered to look up the ingredients but they make a good rest for wings while installing and aligning. So would water jugs, which also wouldn't fuel any unintended fire. A couple of unopened metal cans of old Cox fuel.If anybody wants those, just say the word... that goes for the green stuff too. The rest is all in use at least occasionally, except for some solvent fuel that I should combine.

Sold... a "gold-painted" 77 MGB that was for sale at a used car-lot down the street from my house. I noticed it a few days ago.. and stopped to look at it this afternoon. It had been repainted at least once.. (originally "red") but the body looked solid. I have to admit; I wanted it. The window sticker was flipped-over with "sold" facing-out.. but had "best-offer" on the reverse-side with the model-year noted. I knew it was a late-model by the mag-wheels and the bumpers. It looked to be a fairly solid car. The rag-top was in very good shape. It had recent NH Lic. plates on it.. and four brand-new radial tires. (the white-wall stripes were blue..) My uncle has a 65 "B" in his garage that's been off the road for 40+ years. It's sky/powder blue.. with wire-wheels/knock-off hubs. It needs the front strut/control-arm parts that were/are hard to find.. and he didn't want to go the J.C. Whitney route with a conversion-kit. So it's been sitting with a heavy canvas tarpaulin over it... for decades.

Today,
I read Roddies account of the gold MG and as I left home I turned onto the main road to run an errand and a Goldish beige MG-TD passed by me. I haven't seen an MG on the road for many years much less a TD!!
To me that was an odd coincidence...Guess you had to be there !!
Sorry for the ramble, Steve....

I enjoyed the MG stories guys. I haven't been keeping everybody up with "what's going on" with my MG Midget build here, but if your interested, this is a link to the MGE (MG Experience) forum. sorta like the CEF without the camaraderie.

http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?3,3490822

But beware it runs four pages long with over 1700 views.

Bob