Becoming a fuel stock piler

[94touring]

I think I must just be bored.  Way back in the day when I was an airplane fueler at the flight school, we'd have 100LL fuel that was emptied from planes for maintenance just sitting in barrels to be disposed of. I had gotten myself a couple 20 gallon old Zep barrels and would keep them full of this "waste" 100LL at my house.  My rx7 being the sports car it is, likes high octane. Especially now since I run insanely high boost with water meth injection.  But, it runs on 91 octane now and is "conservatively" tuned. We have a gas station or two in the Tulsa area that sells pure 93 octane, which if I'm occasionally near will utilize.  One issue I keep finding myself with driving the rx7, fast road blue mini, and soon to be innocenti added to the stable, is fuel is sitting in these cars for a damn long time sometimes. Particularly the rx7 with a 20 gallon tank.  Fuel breaks down over time and I was reading as little as 3 months time. Ethanol breaks down quicker too.  I usually baby the rx7 a bit till the next fill and I know the gas is fresh.  This got me thinking. What if instead of gassing up with 91 ethanol gas, I kept some pure 93 on hand, and used what I needed for the days I decide to take one of these cars out for a spirited drive. *Orders 55 gallon sealed top drum*  Keeping fuel sealed, out of the sun, temperature controlled area keeps it from breaking down. Add stabilizer and it's good for even longer, years in fact.  Add 15 gallons of 100LL and I've got 95 octane.   Hmmm, I can retune the rx7 and get another 25-50 to the wheels. Unnecessary but fun  I could add a little advance to the minis and snag a few extra hp/tq safely as well.  The blue mini still has this turbo kit I put together sitting on the bench waiting for me to find time to actually do it and better fuel would be nice insurance against detonation depending what final compression ratio and timing I decide to go with. Decided to give this a whirl and see if it's worthwhile.  Back in the day I didn't give much thought to safety and had a house fire broken out, probably would have blown my place sky high. I found fuel barrel vent and fire suppression valves are used. Keeps oxygen away from your gas, the important part for keeping it from breaking down and going bad. But perhaps more importantly keeps fume vapor in so you're not filling your storage facilities, shed, or shop with fumes, but allows the tank to expand and contract by releasing pressure once it hits 5psi. Also should a fire break out keeping it from exploding under pressure.  I'd hate to explain why I blew a 200 foot nuclear exploding looking fireball into the neighborhood. As for moving 475lbs of fuel and barrel off my truck bed or most likely trailer, they sell special barrel straps. So long as it's a sealed top barrel there's no top to pop off like there is with a removable lid style. Moving it around the shop and away from hazards, also no problem, they sell barrel dolly's.  Haven't decided on the best way to pump fuel out yet.  There's many ways to do it. Might just wire up a high flow fuel pump I have sitting in the one fuel injection kit I've yet to install and see how I like that. 

[MiniDave]

OH, I have the solution to the pump problem, I'll text you a picture.....I have air powered and electric both.

Remember tho, if you have it tuned for 95 and you go out of town (like the trip this summer) you won't be able to get better than 91 probably......so either you're carrying an extra couple of 5 gal jugs or maybe a couple bottles of octane booster?

[94touring]

Back when I only drove the rx7 tuned for 100LL and we did weekend drives similar to our mini drives, I would haul an additional 5-10 gallons with me.  The inno if it's timed for 95, the extra tank helps me out. I'd probably toss another jug in the back of my truck just to have on hand for one of our drives. Or back the timing a couple degrees.

[94touring]

On the topic of octane booster...  most off the shelf stuff is snake oil.  However this product actually does work from my research.

[cstudep]

Agree on the "octane booster" nearly all of it is a scam.

In a pinch you can also mix E85 with 91 octane to get up around 95-96 octane, both are usually fairly easy to find, a lot of times even on the same pump. The problem being of course all the disadvantages that come with Ethanol in general. People say that as long as you stay below about E50 you should be fine but I am not sure I completely believe them. I have an older mower that I can tell a difference in how it runs just switching from E10 to ethanol free, but ethanol free is almost always 91 and E10 is rarely more than 88 around here so certainly not an apples to apples comparison.

[94touring]

I'm curious how the vespa will run on pure 93 as well. It requires premium fuel, but has only seen ethanol 91.  I don't know if it's ecu is tied into any knock sensors to adjust timing or how it works.  I did watch a series of videos on YouTube where they dynoed new cars with ecus that control timing based on knock sensors, and the 93 consistently gave more power over 91 in back to back dynos.  I of course have to manually tune and don't have any knock sensors to watch.

[MiniDave]

For $13, I might give one of these a try......  https://www.harborfreight.com/battery-operated-liquid-transfer-pump-63847.html?_br_psugg_q=fuel+pump

[94touring]

Just need to add an extension to reach the bottom of the tank is all. 

[bikewiz]

I had a deal with a customer of mine to get 54 gallon drums of VP T4 97 octane in trade for bicycles and stuff. Pre-covid I was getting them for under $400 I stopped when they got over $600, now I think they're getting $1k for them! When I had the drums I used a cheap siphon pump that came from VP to transfer it to the car,motorcycle, and 5 gallon jugs. The siphon transfer worked reasonably well, it really was only a problem when the tank got down to the bottom. One thing to remember is the drums should be grounded, I used a ground wire/clip that my customer gave me when I got the first drum and attached it to a waterline line.
I now have access to 94 octane unleaded avgas from our local airpark that costs $7.50/gal if you're a repeat customer. I usually buy it 20 gal at a time so it doesn't hurt the wallet so much. I run it in the mini, my '92 Duck, our skiff and all of the other small gas motors I have. The spec sheet says it has a 6 month stable tank life.

[94touring]

The barrels VP sell are pricey.  I believe Av gas is going for under $7 a gallon in Tulsa but I need to go check. 93 octane isn't much more than premium at the pumps out here.  I could fill up at Hallet race track if I wanted pure race gas for some reason and for a lot less than what VP sells for. Not to mention freight cost. 

[94touring]

This link shows 93 stations, although a few that are flagged around my area I don't think actually carry it anymore. The blue flag locations will have race fuel.

https://www.zeemaps.com/mobile?group=1385950 

[94touring]

This station in OKC sells 101 at the pump. Used my map app and zoomed in to verify!  Might need to make a trip there. 

[MiniDave]

Is the 101 ethanol free?

Can you use 55 gal in 6 mos?

[94touring]

I'll have to research and see what is in VP 101. 

55 gallons given my frequency of driving could take a year or more in the minis.  The rx7 varies. I might do 2 or 3 fill ups a year in it.

[94touring]

Looks like the 101 has some ethanol. But here is the other info on VPs website. This fuel will be sealed and I may still just pop by the airport and see what the prices are for low lead.