Fuel Storage ??

so my car has been sitting up for some time now and will be sitting up for a couple of more months should i drain the 118 oct and run some pump gas thru the system ....... will the high octane destroy anything ie carb parts , fuel pump parts etc .....

I wouldn't leave any fuel in the carb....just drain the fuel bowls .

My alky procedure might be extreme, but if I'm gonna let it sit a long time I undo the lines from the carb and tie them together, cap the vent on the cell and top it off. I pull the bowls on the carb, use brakeclean and comp air to blow it all out, coat everything good with WD40, needles and seat.............everything.


I'd drain the bowls as suggested, I still like a little WD40 to wet everything.

high octain wont do any more or less damage than pump gas. Long term storage will allow the gas to go flat, 6 months down time, don't race that gas.... feed it to the lawn-mower or your daily driver.

For long term storage, on anything thats been wet... Keep it wet. (except alcohol based stuff). I would get a bottle of stable... fuel stabilizer and add about double the recomended dosage for your quantity of fuel (marvel mystery oil works great too) and run it into the engine. Then shut it down. Cap the vents as best as possible.

For start up, race, drain the system, fill with fresh, warm up engine and flush the system.

Dry the carb out, and all the gaskets and seals will be prone to leakage.

Now a libberal filling of WD40 will suffice if ya want to go all out. But again, your going to need to fill and flush the system before race.

Stabil......... Good stuff As well as Marvel Mystery Oil. I typically use Stabil...

Just to add pump gas will go sour pretty fast. Keeping race gas sealed in its original drum will keep it a lot longer as well. Hell i got a drum of plain alky thats 4 years old and she is still good..............

ive just noticed alot of red residue around the carb , and fuel pump

yep, gas stains lol................

wherebouts on the pump is it staining?

all around the an fittings ......... and around the fittings on the fuel cell ....and around the edges of the metering blocks on the carb

Don't sweat it, that stinky gas will do that lol.

Your just seeing the dye in the fuel, a slight bit always seeems to get around the gaskets and o rings, the residue drys and leaves the dye.

As said leave the system wet, cap the cell vent, and regulator, empty the carb and use a bit of WD and dont worry about it.

richter69 wrote:Don't sweat it, that stinky gas will do that lol.

Your just seeing the dye in the fuel, a slight bit always seeems to get around the gaskets and o rings, the residue drys and leaves the dye.

As said leave the system wet, cap the cell vent, and regulator, empty the carb and use a bit of WD and dont worry about it.

X2, what Jon said

Dye for sure .

richter69 wrote:My alky procedure might be extreme, but if I'm gonna let it sit a long time I undo the lines from the carb and tie them together, cap the vent on the cell and top it off. I pull the bowls on the carb, use brakeclean and comp air to blow it all out, coat everything good with WD40, needles and seat.............everything.


I'd drain the bowls as suggested, I still like a little WD40 to wet everything.

What do you consider a long time... more than 2 weeks? Would you recommend the same if running e85?

longroofracer wrote:

richter69 wrote:My alky procedure might be extreme, but if I'm gonna let it sit a long time I undo the lines from the carb and tie them together, cap the vent on the cell and top it off. I pull the bowls on the carb, use brakeclean and comp air to blow it all out, coat everything good with WD40, needles and seat.............everything.


I'd drain the bowls as suggested, I still like a little WD40 to wet everything.

What do you consider a long time... more than 2 weeks? Would you recommend the same if running e85?

E-85 storage in a vehicles fuel system is going to be a little different because as time goes on the water content can separate . The E-85 itself also attracts storage and any amounts that will be stored long should be kept in sealed containers and out of the direct sunlight to keep the moisture down.

bruno wrote:so my car has been sitting up for some time now and will be sitting up for a couple of more months should i drain the 118 oct and run some pump gas thru the system ....... will the high octane destroy anything ie carb parts , fuel pump parts etc .....

If you decide to drain the system make sure you put some oil in the fuel pump to keep the seal protected both in the bottom side and through the weep hole slot in the main body. If the carburetor is stored dry for long the gaskets can shrink and cause some issues when you fire it back off.

thxs for the input

bump for the winter weather

I've done it both ways and yes if the carb is dry for long the gaskets will shrink and like this thread i've heard both before some say drain it some say keep it wet so I've taken them apart at the end of winter to see for myself and yes the gaskets shrink if kept dry the stable run in the system is the best way to go for storage.

If you do store it wet, make sure you put tight fitting caps on the carburetor vent tubes. Otherwise the fuel in the bowls will evaporate very quickly. Don't forget to remove them when you fire it up .

richter69 wrote:Just to add pump gas will go sour pretty fast. Keeping race gas sealed in its original drum will keep it a lot longer as well. Hell i got a drum of plain alky thats 4 years old and she is still good..............

Did you just buy a bunch extra or something? I would have figured that you run through more than a drum in a season, as you have weather to allow for a longer season than the east coast guys? My plan is going to allow for 8-10 gallons of E85 for a good day of racing, even if I never use it all in one night... or am I way over estimating?

That was the last drum out of 4 when i bought it last, that and I just use the plain stuff to warmup with................so it lasts a long time lol.