E85 thoughts and questions

[RM12577]

Been looking through some of the E85 information on here as well as on a few other sites regarding boosted engines running E85... planning on running this setup in my car when i get my backup car tagged and get it to stop smoking so it will pass an inspection... for the time being I am thinking about getting one of the kits that extend the pulse duration of the injectors, its a simple install and i should be able to run the boost up to 12-14 i think, has anyone done anything with these or do you always go all out and just run 555's and a tune? just want something temporarily until i can get my other car rebuilt and cleaned up, i guess i just wanted to find out if anybody had a setup for E-85 or had any thoughts on things i could do to run it on the cheap for now, the kit to extend the pulse duration of the injectors is 369 and it has a cold start setup on it so it shouldnt start too hard on the low compression pistons... not sure what i should run for boost with just the kit installed, thought about just raising fuel pressure but that would cause a lot more fuel usage compared to the injector thing.... the only CA i know of running this is float's but if anyone else is running it and has some input go ahead and shoot, not sure what all i should go for first just trying to keep it quick and fairly cheap if i can....

[ca18detgabby]

the stuff loves timing and is nearly race gas in quality. it takes MORE E85 to produce the same overall output compared to regular fuels as it has a lower burning point so you use more.....

from what Ive seen, it only makes sense if you are trying to run a car that needs race gas on the street as it is cheaper fuel.

Tuning is the last thing you want to skimp on..... PERIOD.

[RM12577]

with a properly configured car with everything set up specifically to run E85 it will get at least the same if not better gas mileage while producing a higher horsepower, when I do get everything set up to have my car tuned I will be testing all of this out, I will be building my car to be optimized for E85 eventually, right now Im just going to set it up to run it without having the optimal settings but having settings that will run it without any issues. I do plan on tuning it when i have the money to get my ECU chipped and take it in for a tune though

[21FOX21]

I have been running E85 for over a year and love it. If you are planning on chipping it why not just save the time and money and just get it done right the first time. You could even get a nistune so that you don't have to deal with pulling the chip when you want to change something and retune.

[r34 gtr]

^ Those are some impressive numbers in your sig man.

[iliketocrash]

with a properly configured car with everything set up specifically to run E85 it will get at least the same if not better gas mileage while producing a higher horsepower

i'm about 99% that you're wrong about this. I'm only pointing this out because i don't want people getting the wrong idea and thinking E85 is a magic fuel or something.

[RM12577]

well the higher horsepower i can prove, the better gas mileage i cant prove yet but back in 1993 my family was part of an Ethanol study and we had an F150 that got over 20 miles per gallon, it was designed to only run E85, i never saw a V8 F150 get that for mileage in 93 otherwise.... the only reason that everyone assumes that E85 is bad is that all of the flex fuel cars are compatible with it not optimized for it, and for the horsepower thing check out the euro saab's and the koenigsegg CCXR both produce considerably more power on E85 than on pump gas, Ill look around for the fuel mileage info though see if i can find anything on E85 only cars...

[21FOX21]

^ Those are some impressive numbers in your sig man.

Thanks going back to the dyno today hopefully to see if I can make some more.

i'm about 99% that you're wrong about this. I'm only pointing this out because i don't want people getting the wrong idea and thinking E85 is a magic fuel or something.

You do make more power with it depending on what fuel you were using before. I made power going from 100octane to E85 and changing the tune. My gas milage did go down but not to much.

[float_6969]

I ran my car on E85 for about a year. Once I get it back into the S14 it will run on E85 again.

My motor is high compression and turbocharged. This situation creates a large demand for high octane fuel to prevent detonation. E85 is the most economical and practical route for me. I have a standalone and can easily tune the car to accommodate the differences between the fuels.

E85 will make more power if your engine isn't running optimal timing and boost due to the constraints of the pump gas available.

E85 will get poorer gas mileage. How much will vary based on your tuning. Since it has a higher octane, you can run leaner AFR's without detriment. Compared to gasoline in our particular engine, with a proper tune, you should get about 10-15% less miles to the gallon. The leaner AFR's increase NOx emissions. If emissions are of concern to you, then 2 catalytic converters in series will probably alleviate this, or you can tune the motor for stoich. for the sniffer test and then change it back.

If properly designed, an ethanol only vehicle should make the same power, with better fuel economy than it's gasoline counterpart. Ethanol's higher octane rating allows for designing an engine with higher volumetric efficiency. This mean an engine specifically designed to run on ethanol, can utilize a smaller engine, with higher compression, and possibly forced induction that would never be possible with gasoline. This allows for decreased fuel consumption at the same power levels.

[RM12577]

thanks, guys def going to have to start saving up more to get this accomplished, plan on building my other car into an E85 only vehicle, its a little more disposable than my 240 so i dont worry about blowing the motor or destroying anything on it, Not too worried about emissions really, dont have to have them checked and i dont really drive the car much anyways, I ride my motorcycle to work to save gas, cant beat 65 mpg... especially on a 60 mile round trip to work. good responses guys will work on getting a different backup car going so i can get the nistune set up on my ECU, cant take the car down for long cuz it is my only backup right now if my bike goes down. when i get everything set up and working ill try to do a post of everything ive done so far with some pictures and everything

[davidricardo86]

I ran my car on E85 for about a year. Once I get it back into the S14 it will run on E85 again.

My motor is high compression and turbocharged. This situation creates a large demand for high octane fuel to prevent detonation. E85 is the most economical and practical route for me. I have a standalone and can easily tune the car to accommodate the differences between the fuels.

E85 will make more power if your engine isn't running optimal timing and boost due to the constraints of the pump gas available.

E85 will get poorer gas mileage. How much will vary based on your tuning. Since it has a higher octane, you can run leaner AFR's without detriment. Compared to gasoline in our particular engine, with a proper tune, you should get about 10-15% less miles to the gallon. The leaner AFR's increase NOx emissions. If emissions are of concern to you, then 2 catalytic converters in series will probably alleviate this, or you can tune the motor for stoich. for the sniffer test and then change it back.

If properly designed, an ethanol only vehicle should make the same power, with better fuel economy than it's gasoline counterpart. Ethanol's higher octane rating allows for designing an engine with higher volumetric efficiency. This mean an engine specifically designed to run on ethanol, can utilize a smaller engine, with higher compression, and possibly forced induction that would never be possible with gasoline. This allows for decreased fuel consumption at the same power levels.

What the?! You've been running e85! That's pretty cool Ryan. I've missed out on a lot of things here on the forum ever since my computer and camera died. I'd like to see some pics of the setup and the s14!

[bentvalves]

David your still alive!

how come we never hear from you anymore, is everything cool?

[davidricardo86]

David your still alive!

how come we never hear from you anymore, is everything cool?

Yeah i'm still alive. I dont have a home computer anymore so i dont get a chance to get on here as often as i'd like. Also the camera i was using for my build finally broke (i sat on it). I do have a PS3 that i use to go online but i dont have a keyboard and it basically sucks as a regular computer. I'll be buying a camera and laptop in the near future so i can start updating and posting again. I still lurk and read what people are posting though!

I havent done too many things to my car but have been working on getting the last few bugs or problems i do have. School, work and social life take up a lot of my time and whatever little money i have left i try and spend it on the car. I've spent too much of my own money and time on all this but i havent given up! The (short)times i did get to drive it made it all worth it. Good thing i have patience.

[ca18detgabby]

dam david I would have though you were rolling by now....

(To float)yall have alot of E85 sources in town? we have 1 station and it is 4 dollars in tolls to get there and a good 45 min drive.

[float_6969]

I think we're up to 5 stations in a city with a population of about 130K ppl. The physical size of Topeka isn't very big either. I can drive through town and cover the city end to end in maybe 20 min. That's not using any highway's.

So yes, it's readily available here, LOL.

[ca18detgabby]

I think we're up to 5 stations in a city with a population of about 130K ppl. The physical size of Topeka isn't very big either. I can drive through town and cover the city end to end in maybe 20 min. That's not using any highway's.

So yes, it's readily available here, LOL.

thats crazy we have one station and its out in the middle of fing no where..... and costs a **** load of money to get to it.

[21FOX21]

We had 23 a month or 2 ago but now the Rebel gas stations are getting rid of the 100 octane pumps and switching them to E85 so there is a crazy number of stations with it here in Vegas.

[RM12577]

yea only one station here in town but its only like a mile from work for me so whenever im at work ill just fill up, the only time it might be an issue is when i go on vacation but i have another car and my motorcycle so i should be fine. I'm going to see if i can get HEB to put in more E85 stations than the one they currently have because usage has gone up quite a bit....

[dhen]

yea only one station here in town but its only like a mile from work for me so whenever im at work ill just fill up, the only time it might be an issue is when i go on vacation but i have another car and my motorcycle so i should be fine. I'm going to see if i can get HEB to put in more E85 stations than the one they currently have because usage has gone up quite a bit....

I've been curious about the fuel for a while. Do you have a link to some more info about making the swap?

[RM12577]

well there are two sites that talk about it, one a little more in depth on how to convert the car itself and the other with one of the kits i was talking about being installed, http://forums.turbobricks.com/...73061 that is a site for volvo's but it talks about the concepts, and http://e85vehicles.com/converting-e85.htm that is a site that shows how someone "converted" an explorer to flex fuel, with a small unit that shoots in more fuel