FUEL ADDITIVES WARNING

[Terry T]

When I got my '51 HJ, it had an electrical pump installed, bypassing the mechanical pump.
The first two drives let me stranded at the same intersection in town, one northbound lane, one southbound lane.  I first thought that it was a hot coil problem---NOPE.  While trying to start it the next day, very strange noises came from under the hood that were fuel pump related.  I R&R'ed the pump with the proper HJ mechanical pump.  Problem fixed.

I took the pump apart, and much to my amazement, the rubber diaphram turn into a black gummy substance.  I originally thought that was due to it being an older pump built before modern day fuels which require different rubbers.
I talked to Carter about this and they said the deterioration was due to fuel additives, eg octane boosters and excessive fuel stabilizers.  This makes sense since I got the car from a older farmer who drove the car only 2,000 miles in 15 years.  More than likely he added additives at the end of every season and inadvertently increased the concentration beyond recommendations.

[Doc]

Today's ethanol also not good for old rubber or seals.  My brother was advised not to use additives when Daytona Carburetor rebuilt his '56 Premiere carburetor.  But because of some what appears to be water in gas this last yeat on two or three cars, I have been adding the Marine Stabil.  It's like you're caught between a rock and a hard place.  There is an ethynol free station failry close but very pricey.  They wanted $4.08 for 93 octane and I think it was $3.89 for 89 octane, which at the time a few weeks ago was considerably higher than the corn gas.

[Logan]

I add Marvel Mystery Oil to every fill up to protect valve seats, etc.  Will that do any harm?

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

If an additive is burned up (literally) the impact over time is lessened.  If it sits for months at a time (like over winter) the corrosives have more time to attack the material they come in contact with.

Kaiser-Frazer and Willys-Overland had fuel system parts for use with alcohol-based fuels (some countries had a heavier alcohol concentration than the US back then), unfortunately, stateside dealers did not stock them as a rule and I would not be surprised if much of the Toledo inventories went to IKA and Willis-Overland du Brasil in the late 1950's or 1960's.

[Jim B PEI]

A few things. Our Studebaker club had a presentation today at the Spring meeting from local representative of NAACC (ie, Canadian equiv to the US SEMA, and keeps in close contact with them) General consensus was
-don't run ethanol fuel in any concentrations above a percent or two, in any car older than 2001, unless you go through a tank within a week. Never let it sit!!!
-don't store older cars over winter with fuel in them, run them dry/drain them. Tank liner material (bad news) needles and seats (bad news) and pump diaphrams are very affected. Fuel stabilizer can also cause problems when being burned in the engines especially if the percentage gets too high.
-In Canada, our premium (say 93 octane) is pure gasoline, for now, while regular can/will have up to 10% or guaranteed 10% standard ethanol in most provinces. Midrange will be 5%. So, buy premium. We do not have the option (yet) of buying leaded aviation gasoline of the 130 octane variety
-Adding a 1 in 50 in Marvel Mystery Oil or two stroke oil tends to be beneficial, especially if there is any ethanol in the gasoline. I always used to add 1 in 50 diesel fuel to my Studebakers when diesel had sulphur compounds in it, as an alternative to MMO.