knock was my first thought on 55 octane. So, what could be mixed with it to increase it to around 80? First thought is proportional mix of E85 or straight alcohol. Isn't E85 over 100? This being the case then a 50-50 mix might get to around 75.

Yeah, E85 is 105 octane.

Toluene or Xylene could be added as well, IIRC 114 Octane is the rating of those chemicals.

Just so everyone knows, I was only kidding about using "shine" for fuel.

Ok so an upcoming experiment on my "junkyard dog" salvaged 95 civic coupe will be white gas-E85 50/50 mix, soon as I replace the muffler this weekend.
One gallon each into empty tank and drive my usual route to work till it quits. right now it gets 34 mpg in city driving.

The manual for my 1960 Merc700 outboard motor says it requires white gas. I just run premium in it, but worry about ethanol problems. I wouldn't even know where to buy white gas. BTW i swear that thing gets ZERO mpg. lol

I recall back in the '70s, I would occasionally fill up at a station in Twentynine Palms, Calif, when I would be out visiting friends who lived back a couple miles off the paved roads. Had some great parties out there....but I digress...anyway, there was this filling station, and off by itself, away from the main islands, was a gas pump labelled "White Gas". Remember asking my dad about it...he said you could run a Model T on it (IIRC, he said you would have to use regular gas to start, but it would run on the white gas once it was going), but it wouldn't be good for a modern car, except for possibly one with a Wankel rotory engine. Too low octane...ping the engine to death. The rotory supposedly would run even on very low octane fuel. Later on I purchased a '72 RX2, but never had the balls to try the white gas in it. IIRC, it was about 20-25 cents a gallon, when regular gas was about 75 cents a gallon.

by diluting your clean white gas with ethanol to get the octane back aren't we in essence creating the e-10 and e-15 junk we complain about

E85 supposedly contains 85% ethanol - balance regular gas. The E85-white gas blend will be a step in the right direction. Will not be a perfect test but should give an indication of what is possible with a more pure fuel than what we have out of the pump. If I had a good source for grain alcohol that would be the better test. If it knocks like hell I will dilute it with regular gas and forget about it. Or figure out how to play with the timing a bit.....

Until they find a source of ethanol that doesn't use up valuable farmland, I wont use it as a primary fuel source. Only thing I'll use it for is race gas if I ever get my hands on a turbo. ;)