No problems yet with Fred and Ethyl!

In Sweden E85 fuel has been available since several years and is becoming very popular. Car manufacturers such as Ford, Saab and Volvo offer flexifuel cars that are "adapted" to run on E85.
What is interesting is that many owners of non-flexifuel cars are mixing E85 with ordinary 95 unleaded gas. Most injection engines seem to be able to handle a 50/50 mix of E85 and 95 unleaded. Out of curiosity I have tried it myself for a couple of months with my 2001 Audi.
In contrast to what was stated in another post I have not noticed any power loss. Fuel consumption however is up by approx 10%.
Other than that I have not noticed any differences in engine performance and behaviour. I guess it has a lot to do with the ability of modern fuel injection units to cope with different fuels. People with carburettor aspirated cars reports that a change of the fuel pressure regulator may be necessary to allow for the slightly higher fuel flow when using pure E85 or mixtures with high ethanol content.

There are some concerns on the long term effects on rubber and plastic parts (swelling) but there is no agreement on how much of a problem this is. Drivers of ordinary cars who have used a 50/50 mix of E85 and unleaded 95 for several years have not reported any problems.

Methanol differs from ethanol in that it is much more corrosive causing problems with metal parts in the engine fuel system.

/Red B.

I managed fuel distribution for a couple of different companies for the last 20 years and have had a lot of experience with Ethanol blended gasoline.......To keep it simple, Ethanol is made from grain......until they put the additives in for the car it is moonshine.
Methanol is made from wood by products and if you drink it your dead no matter what.
Ethanol is a good fuel system cleaner and injectors seem to do well when you run the normal 10% ethanol blended gas. Alcohol is hydrophylic (it soaks up water) but only to a certain point! Cars in the colder climates accumulate moisture in the fuel tanks and water is heavier than gas so the moisture is puddled in car fuel tanks but it is below the fuel out let. So, you don't know its there until you fuel up with an Ethanol blended fuel.
If there is enough water in the tank when you take on the Ethanol blend, the Ethanol is actually pulled out of the gas and you end up with a mixture of alcohol and water in the bottom of the tank with gas sitting on top.......engines don't run well and drivers get very unhappy and tow companies get very happy. Thats why when a new area is mandated to run Ethanol blended fuel there are a lot of initial problems......gotta get the condensation out of those tanks. Once the excessive moisture is gone every thing goes well....I run the stuff in my vehicles and have never had a problem. Also, Methanol is very corrosive and hard on carb guts. I don't know if Walbro has upgraded their components to hold up to Ethanol.....I know older carbs had a problem with it.........and boat motors have had a double whammy.......the older carbs couldn't do alcohol........and remember the water thing.......boat environments invite problems......In addition, alcohol volatilizes at a lower temp than gas so given the wrong engine temp environment vapor lock can be a factor....I have never had a problem but only have run it in my vehicles....not RC.....I'm still learning so would like to monitor this conversation.......Maybe Ethanol is OK ....but I would never use Methanol in anything other than maybe Gas De-Icer......Small amounts for you vehicle......not RC plane

I got blasted in another post for telling people how but it's really not hard to get the ethy out of the gas

Your suggestion is doable with a water seperator.
I would not be surprised that someone doesn't try it and report on it.

you can buy a clear siphon hose with the pump bulb to start the flow at the auto parts store so your not doing it the old fashion way
I've been doing it that way for some time now and there really is no danger unless you smoke or something stupid like that ,just keep the end of the hose about an inch above the water
I'm not sure if a water seperator would capture the ethy or if it would let it pass how much do they cost compared to the free method
anyway for the small amount of gas you need for a weeks flying it doesn't take that long two jar fulls and you have a 1 1/2 gallons of pure gas