Ethanol Free Gas - What's Your Experience?

Most gas today is 10% ethanol. Indeed, not sure I can buy anything else in Sacramento. I just heard that President Trump is pushing to change federal rules to allow 15% ethanol, as something about helping corn farmers after Chinese trade retaliation. People are tempted by the lower price of E85, but you get ~30% less mileage with it, plus your engine controls must be for "flex fuel", which I think means it has sensors which detect the ethanol % in the fuel flowing to the engine and adjust accordingly.

I first ran into gas w/ ethanol in a drive from Atlanta to Albuquerque in 1989. Our 1969 Dart slant started stumbling above 55 mph in the afternoon in MS and got so bad by eastern NM that I had to stop. I found the fuel hose at the pump inlet was soft and collapsing under suction. Swapped that and no more problems. I think it also caused the accel pump diaphragm in the Holley 1920 to fail and leak gas onto the intake manifold, which is a big safety concern. Probably one issue using NOS carb rebuild kits is that their rubber is not ethanol safe. When you buy fuel hose, don't get the old carburetor type (R7, recall) since it might be old stock. I always use "for fuel injection" type (R9, recall) since has a liner (Viton?) which resists ethanol. It is also stiffer so doesn't kink at a bend.