Where can I get info on how your making your feul? $1.80 sounds expensive, but still better than $2.10 for gas, plus other benifits too :)

Being I just got a 78 F150 with a 460ci engine I might need this!!!

For a heat source I think I could build a still into my other systems and use the waste heat I already will have, perhaps reducing costs.

Here there is plenty of cheap or free scrap oak for fires and making charcoal etc.. and the waste heat produced making charcoal in summer could be used for the still perhaps. In winter waste heat can heat the house.

What part of Missouri you in? South central for me, about 150 miles or so to Springfield or Branson.
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nothing to lose

My truck went through 7 filters before it was down to normal replacments, and I do use the better element type due to the very fact that Alky like to cimbine with water and the cheapo filters expand when water shows up, which is a good thing but not when your going down the highway.
I actually got into using Alky because of the racing circuit and the higher octane that Alky gives you.
The corrosivness to metals is manily on the Alum and pot metal mixes.
The older type of rubber was a pain, but by using cork / metal for heads and such there isn't any problems.
There was a time that the valve sring keepers that used rubber for cleaning the oil off but those went to neoprine back in the middle 80s and shouldn't be a problem anymore.

A friend in Minn. tells me he cuts his back to 40 - 60 during the winter and hasn't had any porblems with cold weather starting.

If I could find an affordable diesel I would swap this one out quick as I could, Bio-diesel is much more energy dense and I could even get away with a 4 cyl. due to there low end torque.

Another reallt good link with a lot of real good/ truthful info would be to google for "Blue Flame" it is the "code word" for 'shine.
He has some very good ideas on making it, and the receipes work , I've tried almost all of them.

In my costs per gal I try to take into account the total costs of production.
I have had people tell me they can make it for $1.00/gal. I than ask them to cough up the production numbers i.e. nat'l gas, how long they had it on the burner, how they kept the mash at the right temp, how they seperated the tank stuff versus the drinking stuff. At that point they start to back off.

One thing I haven't taken into the cost is the fuel costs for me to pick up the supplies, but since it's on my way back home from work I don't think that would matter unless I went into full production, which I will not do, since it would then be a JOB.:-(

Also to keep this honest here; I do not use the old traditional method of distilling. I found couple of different methods of making this stuff with a little less work.
Also, since I have to deal with the FDA on almost a daily basis in my work, I've found that consistency and repeatability are amoung the most important factors.

 I use a kind of solar still, it isn't directly powered by the sun, but a small 400 watt 12Vdc setup that it kept topped off from my little solar PV. I stayed away from deep cell batteries, didn't have the money, but did use some of the cast-off NiCds that we had laying around the repair department.
Rated at 19.2Vdc 1300mA it was fairly easy to rewire them to be at 12Vdc so that my little PV could keep them up to charge, and following some other ideas to keep the current usage down I can now run my setup almost daily with no more out lay of equipment , other than resupply of the starches and yeasts.

We don't really have highway taxes here , but I do count the taxes I pay for the sugar if that can be called an equalivent.
To me using a purely solar still would be way too hard to control, I like my off time and reading the knowledge people like windstuff ed puts on these boards.

I can send pictures of my still if everyone would like, but not in this area as these things should be in the diaries area I think. Don't think I'll be breaking any laws.

Good question about the Zinc oxides.
Here in St. Louis we have mandatory exhaust tests for all vehicles, I have yet to fail, actually they tested lower than the truck is supposed to and they threatened to fail the truck. Said I must be using one of those alternative fuels to lower it illegally, like injecting water or something I opened the hood and said go for it.

I can, I suppose take the truck to my local repair shop and have them test deeper but I'm fairly sure thet the Zinc is acted upon in the catalyic converter. I am thinking though since the galvanized pipes show no seeable wear after years of use, that the amount would be down in the PPB rather than the PPM that everything is tested at.

Being a curious person I will have them check for closer next time I have to have a saftey inspection, they have an old BEAR emissions tester they get out for me when I try a different type of batch.

On the 180F level, I keep mine at the 212F spot , but if you want to try going a different ruote( the one I use after the first seperation) try putting it in your freezer. See Alky doesn't freeze ( okay it will but not until it's down to the -200F mark or lower) so since I have this chest style freezer for our keeps our meats, grapes and stuff cold. I put my first run in there, the water in it freezes and tada the stuff not frozen is pure "Blue Flame". The rest goes into a 40 quart vat until I have enough to  poor in the zeolite for water extraction, this si the stuff that then goes though the galv. pipes for the truck. I non-frozen stuff goes to a holding bottle for those cold cold winter days :-)) or ...

For the fuel injection cars, there was a nice story on the news here about 2 weeks ago stating that most 2001 and newer cars are already FFV and can even use the e85 stuff without any problems. We have an older than that Buick with 205,000 miles on it and while I know it would run better on my "stuff" I won't run it on it until I have the time to clean out the tank, lines and injector ports.
Carbs are asy enough to work on and clean, injectors clog and it's major money to fix.
 I like your anology of it being energy stored, but there are purist that will say,"energy is NEVER created or destoryed it is only converted from one type to another", so look out for it that.

I'll stop here, this really isn't the spot for this discussion and I can go on for hours about this subject.
Admin: Again sorry for the long windedness
Cheers!!