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The reason why it came back is because of the MTBE and the ill effects it causes. As for locally around here, I can remember buying 10% ethanol fuel for as long as I've been legally driving, which is going on 18 years now.

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I think it has more to do with the tree hugging hippies that won't let us drill on our own damn soil.

As for "what's next?" it won't be methanol. Most likely hydrogen. And BMW's finding out that converting a gasoline engine to hydrogen is pretty easy, and the only waste product of burning hydrogen is water, pure, drinkable water. And since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, my money's on that being the fuel of the future. Not quite sure how I'm going to adapt the Packard to run in it though...

ok. So there are many of us that have a rather vast collection of carburetor parts setting on the shelf for decades.

The question is: How can we test those parts against any current or future gasoline changes whatever they may be????

Not to mention how do we determine if our running cars are compatible without risking roadside breakdowns or complete shop disassembly for inspection/determination.

How do we handle such conditions where the fuel formulations are changing faster than we can analyze/change our cars????

Simple test: put part in question in a sealed container filled with the fuel in question. Monitor it, and see if there's any degradation. I've been meaning to do this with an SU carb and some E85, but never got around to it.

In regards to the E85 mandate, For those in Calif, be prepared. An article in todays paper says those of us in the San Joaquin Valley air basin district will be paying $12 more on each car registration starting next year to pay the EPA penalties because of missing the deadline to reduce emissions. Goes on to mention a court challenge is expected but if fee gets the go ahead, then LA area's South Coast air district already plans the same. Not sure how many districts we have out here but rest assured, if one finds a way to get more money, all will eventually. And a saying goes, Calif leads the nation--in bureaucracy & BS regs at least-- so those in other states with pollution problems that follow Calif leads will most likely get touched too. Whether it cleans the air or not, someone is convinced it does and we will have it.

EDIT: As to the Hydrogen, there was a splashy announcement when the guvinator took office that he has going to have fill stations up and down the state. As usual, politics and money got in the way. As far as I know, only a few experimental cars are running around--usually in a convoy with press coverage--& there is a fill station only here or there. As I understand it, the car mfgs have seen no need to push the program aggressively or make the cars, the fill stations are expensive and no cars to take advantage of them and oil co's are working against it. There was a plan to require a significant number of cars sold here to be low or zero emission by a certain date, but that was watered down -I think to almost nothing- because someone would have to pay for it and no one wants it out of their pocket.

Converting internal combustion engines to run on hydrogen is nothing new. IIRC, GM, working in conjunction with NASA, accomplished this with at least one full-size Chevy and a Monte Carlo back in the early 1970s. Unfortunately, the use of hydrogen as a vehicle fuel never really progressed any further in this country.

That a real shame.

One thing that distinguishes hydrogen from any other fuel that I've heard of is that that it is a perfectly renewable resource. I suspect the most abdundant source of hydrogen would be water, but liberating H2 from O is a slow process.

When it comes to the environment, burned in the presence of oxygen, the only product of combustion is H2O - in the form of water vapor. However, conversions that I've seen use atmospheric oxygen, which is not pure, and I'd have to wonder what other byproducts of combustion might result from that.

From what I've read, the byproducts of combustion are predominately water and very little if anything other.

Aside from infrastructure, I think the biggest thing now holding things back is how to get the hydrogen at a more reasonable comparable to oil price. I believe the cheapest extraction method currently is the steam process using heat on byproducts of gasoline and hydrocarbon production. Of course, that still means oil. The electrolysis method is clean but is slow and requires huge amounts of electricity for a relatively modest output. Chemical processes have their own problems and leftovers.

There is research but because of lack of demand and today's political climate on big ticket infrastructure spending, until we are forced to or something really cheap comes into view, I don't expect much.

How goes Cali then so goes the rest of America. True, very true.

I am intrigued by the following:

"... those of us in the San Joaquin Valley air basin district..."

Is that to say that there is actually a geographical area that is officialy refered to as an "air basin". Or was that a misprint?? I interpret that to have really meant Air Base such as military Air Base.

Maybe Owen, our resident scientist/chemist, can give us some technical or other opinions about hydrogen powered cars. H-Power is just not something i've followed much over the years.

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Yes. In our case, it is the 9 counties in the central part of the state. San Joaquin valley is surrounded by mountain ranges. There are effectively two openings and our problem is, aside from what we generate via vehicles and large agricultural operations, the prevailing winds drive pollution from the San Francisco Bay area through the Altemont pass (large wind turbine farm there) at the north end and a significant portion of LA's through another pass in the Tehachipi mountains (another wind farm) at the south end. Being a valley or basin, there is no place it can escape so the pollution just sits.

South coast basin is comprised of several high pollution counties in the LA area with similar geography and there are other regions in the state each with it's own problems and district.

Hmmmmmmm. Amazing that we don't have that problem here in the Tennessee Valley.