Can we run E85 in our car? I read the tread in the archive's. We just started getting it here. Its only .10 cheaper but does it matter? I ran turbo blue in my N/A 12A once. I wanna hear you thoughts.

 

Don't do it. It plays hell on rubber seals and lines.

 

It's not really a cost savings either. It does not produce the same amount of energy per unit (ounce, gallon, whatever), so you have to use more of it or have less power. I think you also have to re-jet the carb to get it to run too.

 

Really i didnt think it would be that big of a deal. OK guess I ll stick to regular and turbo blue once a year.

 

I have heard before that our cars can run very low octane just fine. I doubt that ethanol would harm the fuel delivery system nor harm anything as it combusts and exhausts, but am not certain. I would expect that the fuel lines good for gaso would do fine with ethanol as well.

 

Yea thats what i thought to but U wanted to ask before i tried it out.

 

It does burn alot cleaner so the less carbon build up may be a good thing. Someone probably has an e85 conversion already.

 

No car from the 80's is E85 compatible. Even today there are very few cars E85 compatible.
What makes them compatible is the materials used in the fuel sytem, the capability of the fuel system to deliver up to 20% more fuel for the same engine speed, and the ability of the vehicle to determine the % of Ethanol in the fuel. An E85 car can determine how much Ethanol is in the tank and then adjust the fueling rates accordingly.

A carburetor can't increase the fueling rate when E85 is used. Also fueling rates for starting in cold weather are increased many times more than gasoline because E85 does not like to turn into a vapor as easily as gas.

 

E85 is corrosive to normal fuel systems, so you would have to change out a lot of parts. and seeing that E85 is mostly alcohol, you could probably jet the carb for alcohol use. the one thing i found interesting bout E85 is that its octane equivilant is upwards of 110-115! and GM's redbull Solstice D1 car is built and tuned to run E85, making 450 horse. but ,all motor, our cars love low octane. maybe the fuel manufacturers could make some 85 octane gas for us....and drop the price

 

True, but that does not mean they can't be updated to handle the new fuel with a total system overhall, something people here do for fun anyway. Older diesels cannot run biodiesel because it is also corrosive on the natural rubbers used on older cars but they can be replaced with newer, synthetic rubbers that can handle it.