LUV94RX7

iTrader: (3)

Anyone tried this. E-85 is big in the Midwest. It's currently about 105 octane for about $.50 less than 87 octane gasoline here in MN.

Thanx,

Ken

IronMdnX

iTrader: (1)

E85 requires about 25-30% more fuel than regular gas. If your injectors and fuel pump hand handle the additional demand, and set your lombda to scale for e85, then tune.
More info at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85

Ken, are you the guy I talked at Porkey's a couple of weeks ago?

LUV94RX7

iTrader: (3)

Ya that would be me.

You were the 20b guy from Cambridge, correct?

Hope to see you and your car again. Stay a little longer next time, your car will be a BIG hit. Big car show at state fair ground June 23-25. The place will be packed and I'll be there if I can find a spot. I'm there all the time if the weather is good.

I'm trying to get Steve Kan to tune my white FD for E85, but so far he is apprehensive. There is only one E85 station in his area. I'm willing to get bigger injectors and add another fuel pump to pull it off. I'm paying $4 a gallon for 100 octane now. He says that's what I need to get 500rwhp in my new setup. I'd like to do it with E85, I don't mind getting 20-25% less MPG.

Thanx,

Ken

setzep

Isn't there a problem with E85 corroding aluminum parts? A friend was tellimg me this a while ago. If it's 100% true or not I don't know.

I'd love to run it also for the octane bump. There are a couple stations near me that sell it.

charlies7

iTrader: (4)

i talked to someone about this also...he said you have to upgrade all the lines to ss to the tank and use a new tank along with a pump. I dont know if it is true but thats what i was told. He said it eats threw the materials of stock units. I could be incorrect but running on e85 would be awesome.

Zero R

iTrader: (1)

The concern is the types of rubber used in the o-rings as well as some of the plastics may not be compatible. And you can do alot better than 25-30% drop if you have a EMS.

-S-

moonless

Not for sure if e-85 is the same as bio diesiel as far as the corrosion aspects and rubber seal break down. I know they are both a bio product. I drive a truck and from what I;ve been told the bio desiel cleans out the full system so you end up haveing to change fuel filters for the first couple of tanks. and the rubber seals need to be changed to viaton seals. I've been entertaining this same idea as an affordable octane booster.

therotaryrocket

i've read biodiesel only affects cars probably 93' and older, the hoses need to be changed to a newer type of rubber (or neoprene). if it is used as B20 (20% biodiesel/80% diesel) it won't do damage. similarly, i've read E10 will not damage any components. If you have some land or know someone to buy a sugar crop from you could make your own ethanol, i read it can be done for 70 cents per gallon, but the 'ethanol still' (this is what makes the ethanol) costs around $650-$1000 bucks to make(...so i've read). I've made biodiesel, i made a biodiesel processor ($150) and could use it in my mercedes 240diesel (that i traded my 83' rx-7 for) but i messed up the transmission(stupid automatics!). nobody seemed to mention the advantage of lowering emmissions, but it certainly is an advantage. some engines get better fuel mileage and power from ethanol, mostly because of increased compression ratio (but i don't quite understand because ethanol has less btu than gasoline). also i've read before that ethanol only decreased fuel mileage 2%, resulting in a loss of less than 1 mpg, which isn't bad at all except that may have been E10. i hope you do it, and everyone else too.

frode

we have had great results running turbocharged piston engines on E85 locally. Exhaust temps drops 100C and everything is superclean with a little red shine on the inside. If you have a high compression engine it will need a very powerful ignition system to be able to fire the plugs.

setzep

Have you had to change anything in the fuel system itself in order to run E85?

frode

We run aeroquip braided line and an fittings everywhere. No problems there. Over here it looks like racefuel is harder on the fuellines than E85.

rarson

What about the tank? I heard that alcohol isn't compatible with standard gas tanks. I suppose a fuel cell would remedy that problem. I'd be worried about injectors as well.

abefroeman

E85 is not alcohol, nor is it methanol. What you heard about these fuels does not apply to E85.

Roen

iTrader: (2)

ethanol is alcohol......

So is methanol, but we don't really refer to it as alcohol, Chemistry 101: things ending in -ol are usually alcohols

rarson

Exactly, it's 85% alcohol. Just because it's mixed with gas doesn't mean it's no longer alcohol.

SuIcIdeKiNg-

I have some buddies that run a(91octane) 4 : 1 mixture of E85 and its seems to work great u just have to richen it up a lil bit with a tune. They said by mixing it its not as corrosive to the lines as well and that mixture is about the same as 101 octane.

mono4lamar

iTrader: (32)

jesus you guys sound like alcoholics... i couldnt help myself

out there

according to plenty of things that i've read on using alcohol based additives to increase octane... try not to exceed 30% alcohol for extended periods of time. alcohol can damage various types of rubber and eats aluminum.
as has already been mentioned, it does contain less energy than gasoline, so you will need more of it. in the long run (money wise), you'll probably spend about as much on e85 as gasoline because you'll need more of it. on the power end... i've read of turbo charged "_____" making 1000+hp with little problems.
do some searching around on www.dsmtuners.com and www.wrxtuners.com - i've seen a lot of discussion on dsmtuners and links to discussions on wrxtuners

Kyrasis6

Ethanol although it has less energy output per pound then gasoline, because of its chemicle make up puts out more power at stoichiometric ratio. I think its about 6% have to find my book. Its like Nitromethane has less than half the BTU output per pound then ethanol but at stoichiometric ratio shows a 230% gain!!

Ethanol will corrode both on contact and through electrolysis. It may be wise to run ground wires to some of the metal components to prevent damage from electroplating. The corrosive properties are somewhat questionable, one because E85 still has 15% gasoline in it, two because many people don't use E85 exclusivly their tank often has a lower content of ethanol then E85, three because car manufacturers had to anticipate oxygenated fuels containing possably 20% ethanol so they had to safeguard their products against possably running more.

It is often said that 30% is a good number not to exceed in cars not designed to run on ethanol because it will keep the corrosive properties low and within design limits for the parts. Another reason is because personal findings from other people have found that 30% is about the max many OBD II system will tolerate before throwing codes due to enrichment values maxing out.

To get optimize the system for E85 it would be ideal to have a higher compression of around 9 or 10:1 to completly burn the fuel to optimise power and fuel economy for ethanol. Also since ethanol burns slower it may be nessesary to advance ignition timing, or if you want to be safe leave it alone.