You bought a still, are making your own home brew in that backyard and want, through ethanol conversion, to start burning alcohol in your car. It may seem like a good plan as by distilling even one acre of corn into 200 proof alcohol and mixing it with gasoline to produce E-85 ethanol can provide enough fuel for a 5,000 mile trip.
However, before you go dumping alcohol into you gas tank and thinking that is all there is to ethanol conversion, consider that even the most efficient still only produces about 195 proof alcohol. To get that final five percent you are going to have to remove that last of the water by filtering it through zeolite. While this may sound overly technical and complicated, rest easy as zeolite is not all that expensive and a 10 pound bag can last almost forever, as it is reusable.
Allow the distilled alcohol to soak overnight in the zeolite, drain through a filter, and you have 200 proof alcohol. Still, do not pour it into your gas tank just yet, you are not ready for ethanol conversion as some modifications are need to the carburetor system. Not only that, but also some of the fuel system parts may be damaged or destroyed by alcohol. You will want to verify that the non-metal parts do not disintegrate with alcohol use and replace them with metal if needed.
Carburetor Rebuilding Will Be Necessary
Typically, fuel metering jets, that is the main jet, idle jets and accelerator pump nozzle will have to be larger by either replacing them with a larger size or machining them larger to an appropriate size for your vehicle. Other considerations as part of your ethanol conversion process are the fuel filter and fuel gauge.
Alcohol is a dirt remover and burning a mixture of 85 percent alcohol and 15 percent gasoline, will loosen dirt inside the fuel line. You will want to consider installing a filter between the tank and fuel pump and a second one between the pump and carburetor and monitor them closely the first few weeks.
Due to ethanol being heavier than gasoline by about eight percent, part of the ethanol conversion process should include an adjustment to the fuel gauge float. This can be by bending the float rod, or find a heavier float to assure accuracy in the gauge s fuel level reading.