Alcohol in Gas. How will it affect FDs?
04-21-06, 09:08 PM
#1
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Alcohol in Gas. How will it affect FDs?
Apparently there is a trend to put alcohol into gasoline. I specifically remember something in the manual about not running on gasohol. Will we be able to use this new gasoline without damaging our motors?
04-21-06, 09:34 PM
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You are probably referring to Ethanol being added to gas. While this is new to Cali, it's been happening in the midwest for well over a decade. No problems, as long as it is a maximum of 10% ethanol.
04-21-06, 10:06 PM
#4
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For those concidering using E85... Don't forget that it is 85% Ethanol and 15% gas and (probably?) will probably kill your RX dead.
I wonder if Mazda sells RX-7s in South American countries that are dominated by Ethanol and if there are any fixes.
I wonder if Mazda sells RX-7s in South American countries that are dominated by Ethanol and if there are any fixes.
Last edited by BLKTOPTRVL; 04-21-06 at 10:10 PM.
04-22-06, 10:29 AM
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E85 will probably never happen in the US in mass produced form. It cost to much more to produce, it's less efficient, only 72% of 87 octane gas. Lastly places in the US where it is on sale it is heavily subsidised giving the false impression that it's cost effective. There is no way we could make enough to sustain our own consumption requirements.
On the other hand I heard that gas prices will hit $5 a gallon this summer. That could push me into considering a fuel and environmentally friendly V8 conversion.
On the other hand I heard that gas prices will hit $5 a gallon this summer. That could push me into considering a fuel and environmentally friendly V8 conversion.
04-22-06, 11:04 AM
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Has anyone had any experience with tuning performance vehicles which has been runngin on regular gas to on ethanol added fuel? I read an article (admittedly not from a good source) about a skyline which had been retuned and has recorded slightly better power with the ethanol based fuel. Anyone know anything about this?
04-22-06, 12:53 PM
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While it wasn't performance tuned, the newspaper where I work owned an E85 GM car (Impala if I recall). You couldn't tell the difference between that and the rest of the fleet, as far as drivability. I would think that performance tuning would yield similar results to gasoline + 10 percent ethanol. Fuel to oxygen maps with greater injector flow shouldn't be that much more difficult to develop. Indy cars, if I recall run on 100 percent ethanol.
An earlier post stated that there isn't enough ethanol production to become widespread. I would agree, living in a corn producing state. Indiana is gearing up to be the top ethanol producing state of the country, but their production will still be limited by the amount of corn that can be grown to fuel the ethanol plants. Right now, there isn't nearly enough to make a dent. It is unlikely that corn production can be increased to offset any signigicant quantity of oil imports. It requires ideal growing conditions and there's not that much more ideal land available in this country to have that sort of impact.
An interesting sidelight relative to our cars, however, would seem to be biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from soybeans. Farmers rotate soybeans with corn every other year. Alot of research is being done at the moment on making biodiesel fuels. Performance gains with this fuel can be significant. An experiment recently demonstrated by a technical school class in PA. recently produced a biodiesel fueled car (I'm not sure of the chasis) that did 0-60 in five seconds yet ran an efficient 50 miles per gallon. I would think that a rotary engine in our 7s could be adapted for this application.
What you all think?
An earlier post stated that there isn't enough ethanol production to become widespread. I would agree, living in a corn producing state. Indiana is gearing up to be the top ethanol producing state of the country, but their production will still be limited by the amount of corn that can be grown to fuel the ethanol plants. Right now, there isn't nearly enough to make a dent. It is unlikely that corn production can be increased to offset any signigicant quantity of oil imports. It requires ideal growing conditions and there's not that much more ideal land available in this country to have that sort of impact.
An interesting sidelight relative to our cars, however, would seem to be biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from soybeans. Farmers rotate soybeans with corn every other year. Alot of research is being done at the moment on making biodiesel fuels. Performance gains with this fuel can be significant. An experiment recently demonstrated by a technical school class in PA. recently produced a biodiesel fueled car (I'm not sure of the chasis) that did 0-60 in five seconds yet ran an efficient 50 miles per gallon. I would think that a rotary engine in our 7s could be adapted for this application.
What you all think?
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04-22-06, 01:01 PM
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I don't think our engines could generate the compression needed to ignite diesel fuel. Our car's are at what, 9:1 comp ratio while a diesel engine compresses at a ratio of 14:1 to as high as 25:1...
04-22-06, 09:44 PM
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I must confess I'm no expert on diesel engine theory, but what if you could:
A. decrease the combustion point of biodiesel fuel, requiring lower compression or
B. Add a spark plug for combustion at the end of the fuel injection/compression cycle.
or C, do all of the above?
A. decrease the combustion point of biodiesel fuel, requiring lower compression or
B. Add a spark plug for combustion at the end of the fuel injection/compression cycle.
or C, do all of the above?
04-22-06, 10:39 PM
#10
Originally Posted by Mazda99Nikon
While it wasn't performance tuned, the newspaper where I work owned an E85 GM car (Impala if I recall). You couldn't tell the difference between that and the rest of the fleet, as far as drivability. I would think that performance tuning would yield similar results to gasoline + 10 percent ethanol. Fuel to oxygen maps with greater injector flow shouldn't be that much more difficult to develop. Indy cars, if I recall run on 100 percent ethanol.
An earlier post stated that there isn't enough ethanol production to become widespread. I would agree, living in a corn producing state. Indiana is gearing up to be the top ethanol producing state of the country, but their production will still be limited by the amount of corn that can be grown to fuel the ethanol plants. Right now, there isn't nearly enough to make a dent. It is unlikely that corn production can be increased to offset any signigicant quantity of oil imports. It requires ideal growing conditions and there's not that much more ideal land available in this country to have that sort of impact.
An interesting sidelight relative to our cars, however, would seem to be biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from soybeans. Farmers rotate soybeans with corn every other year. Alot of research is being done at the moment on making biodiesel fuels. Performance gains with this fuel can be significant. An experiment recently demonstrated by a technical school class in PA. recently produced a biodiesel fueled car (I'm not sure of the chasis) that did 0-60 in five seconds yet ran an efficient 50 miles per gallon. I would think that a rotary engine in our 7s could be adapted for this application.
What you all think?
An earlier post stated that there isn't enough ethanol production to become widespread. I would agree, living in a corn producing state. Indiana is gearing up to be the top ethanol producing state of the country, but their production will still be limited by the amount of corn that can be grown to fuel the ethanol plants. Right now, there isn't nearly enough to make a dent. It is unlikely that corn production can be increased to offset any signigicant quantity of oil imports. It requires ideal growing conditions and there's not that much more ideal land available in this country to have that sort of impact.
An interesting sidelight relative to our cars, however, would seem to be biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from soybeans. Farmers rotate soybeans with corn every other year. Alot of research is being done at the moment on making biodiesel fuels. Performance gains with this fuel can be significant. An experiment recently demonstrated by a technical school class in PA. recently produced a biodiesel fueled car (I'm not sure of the chasis) that did 0-60 in five seconds yet ran an efficient 50 miles per gallon. I would think that a rotary engine in our 7s could be adapted for this application.
What you all think?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel