Your petrol of choice ??

[Charles P]

1.  Do you obtain your fuel from a certain Supermarket or only from a brand name supplier, say Shell?
Shell, Esso, BP . I avoid supermarket fuel in all my cars
2.  Which grade do you purchase i.e Standard unleaded, Super Unleaded, Octane rated 95,97 or 99, etc?
The highest octane they have (97 or 99)
3.  Do you add anything to the petrol before using such as Valvemaster or similar lead replacement substance?  
50:1 two stroke oil for the blower and Tetraboost E Guard 15 for protection and octane boost
4.  How long have you made your choices and how does it suit your Seven?
Over a decade and it runs well on it. But then again it's a blown car that is frequently driven with enthusiasm (if not always talent and precision)

[Colin Morgan]

Along with quite a few other old car owners around here, I use exclusively the BP Ultimate petrol, which in this area of the NW of England does not contain ethanol, as far as I am aware.  Never add anything.  Have done this since ethanol arrived.

The car runs okay in hot and cold weather.  The 3-bearing engine isn't in great condition - not a lot of compression - but it always starts easily and runs smoothly.  It is on the standard 26VA carb and 6v ignition.

[Ivor Hawkins]

1. Do you obtain your fuel from a certain Supermarket or only from a brand name supplier, say Shell?
I fill up at any service station that happens to be close by.

2. Which grade do you purchase i.e Standard unleaded, Super Unleaded, Octane rated 95,97 or 99, etc?
I stick in whatever is there, however, if I’m planning not to us3 the car for a while I always fill up with leaded four star (still available near me) or Esso Superunleaded, in an attempt to avoid any corrosion problems which may occur from ethanol, though touch wood I’ve never had a problem

3. Do you add anything to the petrol before using such as Valvemaster or similar lead replacement substance?
Nope!

4. How long have you made your choices and how does it suit your Seven? Using any old petrol...50 years...filling with leaded or super, when not using the car for a while, only since ethanol has been available, but whether it has been necessary is another matter!

[John Mason]

I use standard unleaded from Morrison’s supermarket with no other additives put in by myself I find the car (1935 Mk1 Ruby) runs satisfactory. Only problems found on really hot days poor re starting when the engine is really hot (fuel evaporates quickly from the carburettor.) The only other problem is high petrol smell in the garage for a few days after filling up (Not proven but I put it down to the 5% ethanol evaporating off.)

Like others have said I have no complaints about how the car runs with ethanol added. It is the worry of will it damage to my engine particularly fuel lines, tank and carburettor.



John Mason.

[Tony Griffiths]

Branded fuels is a clever marketing construct. With the exception of Fawley in Hampshire all UK refining is owned by specialist refining companies, not the big oil companies. There is no such thing as Shell or BP petrol. Fuel is picked up by tankers from the refinery "rack" based on price and logistics. Esso petrol in Inverness will most likely come from Inneos in Grange mouth, not ExxonMobil in Fawley. What is true is that the "brands" will supplement the "rack" fuel with additives. So, ironically the petrol companies do exactly what we all do; they buy on price and location and then choose, or not, to add their own snake oil additives.

I remember a report in the 1970s by a man who lived opposite one of these stations where the road tankers of the various "brands" filled up. In addition to the normal "grades" of fuel, there were the "additive" tanks you report - which the drivers, he noticed, more often than not ignored. So, what you bought on the forecourt advertised as containing some magic, consumption-lowering, performance-boosting, engine-cleaning, manhood-improving ingredient, often did not. The only thing missing apparently was a tank of paraffin marked "Austin, Ford 10- and Tractor Use Only".
Amusingly, during and for a time after WW2, the only petrol available was a low-octane "Pool". Most cars of the time ran on this perfectly well - but not those with high-compression engines.

[PeteUU]

Hello fellow Seven owners.

I realise that from September 1st here in the UK, the government has stated that standard unleaded petrol must contain 10% Ethanol. 

Must contain 10%? That does not seem to be the case. It seems that E10 petrol will contain  UP TO 10% ethanol.

I have tried various brands of E5 and tried 'super' and cannot detect a difference. Certainly the weather makes a bigger difference to how the car runs.

Well up to now, the lower grades of E5 RON 95 fuel from Supermarkets or Branded Sites have by my tests mostly contained nearly 5% Ethanol. It is cheaper for the oil companies to use Ethanol than petroleum so why will they not repeat this when E10 RON 95 is introduced?

[Dave Mann]

   
  B & S filter 690612.jpg (Size: 4.22 KB / Downloads: 278) Since covid lockdown started I've used Sainsburys because it is card payment at the pump. Recently I've taken a bit more interest in the grades and see Sainsburys offer E5 and E10 and the E5 is £0.32 more per gallon than E10.
Our more elderly members may remember Cleveland Discol which was available up to the 1968, this was a blend of petrol and ethanol, at what concentration is not known various sources say from as low as 5% to as high as 20%. This was developed by Harry Ricardo, National Distillers and Shell oil in 1928, so in all probability a lot of Sevens may well have run on it.
Judging from some of the 22FZB carburetors that I've had to deal with where the inlet filter is severely corroded into the the carburetor and had to be cut out I don't think this is a new problem.
I think the problem with ethanol is if you get any water in the fuel tank, this will combine with the ethanol to produce an acidic compound, so drain any water out. This can be easily detected and drained off on gravity fed front tank cars if a glass bowl Brigs and Stratton filter is installed below the tank, see photos. 
Faced with my daughters boyfriend filling her VW Beetle up with diesel I had the job of sorting it out and ended up with 4 gallons of almost neat diesel, it went in the Seven to give a 50/50 mix which loved it, a bit smelly when cold but OK when hot.

[Tony Griffiths]

"Faced with my daughter's boyfriend filling her VW Beetle up with diesel I had the job of sorting it out and ended up with 4 gallons of almost neat diesel, it went in the Seven to give a 50/50 mix which loved it, a bit smelly when cold but OK when hot."

As usual, Dave comes up with proper, empirical evidence. There's been lots of discussion about adding TVO and diesel to petrol over many years and an interesting page with a distillation (sorry!) of the facts can be found here: https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/fuels

The volatility of fuel is changed throughout the year (the page gives details) and it might be that a car filled with "winter" fuel might not run so well in summer and vice versa.

[Martin Prior]

Martin H is right. You're kidding yourself if you believe that - say - Shell is any different to Morrison's (I've managed a filling station in the long-distant past).

I've run Sevens as fairly high-mileage daily drivers since the mid 'seventies and have never used anything other than the cheapest petrol available and without any additives.

Austin Sevens will run on virtually anything. Petrol cut with about 1/3 TVO or red diesel seems to have been a favourite among the Herefordshire agricultural community in years gone by; the difference in performance was, supposedly, almost undetectable.

[Bob Olive]

Since covid lockdown started I've used Sainsburys because it is card payment at the pump. Recently I've taken a bit more interest in the grades and see Sainsburys offer E5 and E10 and the E5 is £0.32 more per gallon than E10.
Our more elderly members may remember Cleveland Discol which was available up to the 1968, this was a blend of petrol and ethanol, at what concentration is not known various sources say from as low as 5% to as high as 20%. This was developed by Harry Ricardo, National Distillers and Shell oil in 1928, so in all probability a lot of Sevens may well have run on it.
Judging from some of the 22FZB carburetors that I've had to deal with where the inlet filter is severely corroded into the the carburetor and had to be cut out I don't think this is a new problem.
I think the problem with ethanol is if you get any water in the fuel tank, this will combine with the ethanol to produce an acidic compound, so drain any water out. This can be easily detected and drained off on gravity fed front tank cars if a glass bowl Brigs and Stratton filter is installed below the tank, see photos. 
Faced with my daughters boyfriend filling her VW Beetle up with diesel I had the job of sorting it out and ended up with 4 gallons of almost neat diesel, it went in the Seven to give a 50/50 mix which loved it, a bit smelly when cold but OK when hot.

Agree with Dave here about diesel mixed with standard petrol (my experience for the same reasons as the VW error reported here...) It also reminds me of a late summer evening many many years ago, when having been delayed at the pub (after a very successful cricket match...), in the gathering dusk I mistakenly filled my mower with 'greenhouse paraffin' when the tank ran dry - in order to finish cutting the third of acre of grass before total darkness set in, and whilst it sparked a bit, it started fairly easily, smoked quite a lot, but finished the job with no obvious damage or after-effects to the mower engine. Seven engines seem to be very tolerant of almost any fuel, its just the possible corrosive effects we have to think about.