"Puka Reliant Trike"...LOL

[Kawazuki]

Even using Super, it's still got ethanol and the valve seats don't like unleaded anyway - using carbs with this fuel is a crap shoot so expect rotted hoses and bad running - depends on what you are prepared to live with!

[Barneyb]

https://www.frost.co.uk/protect-your-ve ... ed-petrol/
Do not know about rubber protection, my trike is semi tuned, I am lucky it has an electric fuel pump. Perhaps a start in the right direction.

[ratwing]

Old rubber fuel hoses will degrade and leak with ethanol fuels and Frost's Ethomate won't stop that - buy a metre of Gates Barricade for the same price as a bottle of Ethomate and eliminate the problem.
If you're worried about leaving petrol in it over winter then drain it out and put it in your car if you've got one, if you haven't then bear in mind that £22 for a bottle of Ethomate and delivery is roughly the same price as 3 gallons of petrol so it could work out cheaper to just give it away to someone.
As for bad running, I've been using e10 abroad since first taking the trike to Europe in 2013 and it doesn't miss a beat whether it's stuck in traffic or doing 120mph on the autobahn. I use e10 over here too and the Rover v8 engine runs just fine on it's unmodified 52 year old SU carbs.
I'm not unique, there's loads of engines with carbs running around on e5 and e10 and there hasn't been an epidemic of engine failures reported on the owner's and technical forums I look at. Yes it's true that some have problems but there are fixes.
So far no-one has a definitive answer and I don't run a Reliant engine but if I did I'd be sorely tempted get another cylinder head and run it on e10 to see how it does.
Just out of curiosity, when you say semi tuned, what's been done to the engine?

[Barneyb]

Nice to hear your rovers holding up, I have 3 other engines in various build states, so I will see how I get on with e5, can always swap bits if need be, I think the hose has already been replaced to ethanol friendly. I use tuned lightly its mostly upper cylinder stuff, inlet manifold porting, big bore exhaust, need to port exhaust ports, electronic ignition, iridium plugs , performance ht leads, coil (do not know if they do anything), electric fuel pump, k&n etc .mght go to a performance cam, compression increased and have the flywheel lightened but performance is not to bad as is.
With regards to ethanol I seem to remember a fuel water separator used on diesel engines many moons ago, and if pressed could rig one of those up and trickle the fuel through it while keeping water in the lower glass bowl.

[Barneyb]

For anyone interested https://www.millersoils-shop.co.uk/eps- ... protection £8 treats 50 litres

[ratwing]

Your mods sound like good sensible stuff, nothing radical and all the little gains add up whilst keeping it driveable.
Diesel filters are a nice idea but unfortunately don't work for this, it's been tried and if it did we'd have all heard about it and mass produced units would be available off the shelf - plus even if they did get the water out you'd not only be removing ethanol but various other additives that make the petrol work properly too.

[Barneyb]

Hi rw, I mean modify the water separator so the fuel flows through the glass bowl filled with water and absorbs the ethanol. I have seen kits where you agitate the fuel in a container, but that seems costly as its not reusable. I agree all the little bits add up and think the extra steps I.e dry sump,disi drive for 9k rpm, oil pump etc really require the 3 shell bearing housings reinforcing.

[piesdoading]

Thanks for the heads up on the "Puka Reliant Trike." Dealing with ethanol and carb issues can be a hassle. Appreciate the insight!

[Barneyb]

Just replaced all my fuel hoses with r9, just to be safe, thought it was done when previous owner fitted electric fuel pump, but alas no. The ethanol apparently attacks r6, tell tale sign is the smell of petrol around the trike.

[Barneyb]

Fyi noticed slight fuel leak at bottom of su hs2 carb, jet seals rotted, another known ethanol failure, replacing with TWO X JET SEALS (soft brass seals) from ebay. All the best barney