Has anybody tried running E85 on their CA18DET yet?

[MeanGreenS13]

I'm curious of this, because I know there is a pretty good performance gain as well as the fact that the engine will run cooler, as it is basically the same as running Alcohol.

Was just curious. Im running a Walbro 255 and Deatschwerks 750s

couldnt find much on the Deatsch Injectors but heard that the 255 works some times.

the only thing i would be worried about is, like alcohol, ethanol is slightly corrosive and can eat up aluminum and steel parts as well as ruin rubber seals.

[21FOX21]

Don't get Deatschwerks a couple of my friends with E85 were running those and they kept getting messed up. 750cc won't get you to much with E85. I have 1200cc RC injectors right now with a walbro 255 and have no problems with them. I am at 400hp on E85 which is about the most that I can do with my single walbro. I have been running E85 for about 2 years and don't think that I have had any real problems with it.

[r34 gtr]

Giallo spyder runs his beast on E85. It appears he does quite well, that car is naaasty.

[RM12577]

Float was running E85 for a while as well, i asked this a couple months ago, i run half tanks of E85 with normal boost to fend off detonation, its like e35 or e40 like that so its not too bad. if you are running that big of injectors you should be able to get enough flow out of them but they will be close to their duty cycle limits if you want to crank the boost too much. im still working on getting my car running full e85 just low on money ATM

[MeanGreenS13]

it was just a thought for me, i usually run 116 in all my "faster" cars. I already got the deatschwerks. Ive put them in every nissan ive owned. My RB20, My SR and my KA-T all had them. never had a problem. I might just stay with the 116. Expensive, but proven for me.

[bentvalves]

if your not running 25 psi on a good size turbo why bother with race gas?

[mazikowski]

Where do you even get 116? And when found, how much more than say 93 does it usually run?

[float_6969]

I've been (or was when it was running) E85 for a couple of years. I hadn't seen any signs of damage to the system when I sold the car. I did have to change the fuel filter a couple of months after starting to use it because it cleaned all of the crap out of the system.

I was running a walbro with that setup, and didn't see any issues.

Before the E85, I was running 7psi on a T28 and was having to pull the timing back to about 5-7° total timing under boost to keep it from detonating. (I have 10+ compression). After the conversion, I eliminated boost retard under 7psi all together and was running about 30° total timing under 7psi of boost. The difference in power was incredible. The high compression and boost combo with the E85 is phenomenal.

[MeanGreenS13]

116 is almost ten bux a gal, and can only be found at the track. We have 110 at a couple of the local sunoco stations in the pumps as well. thats 5.50 gal.

[dhen]

For us newbies, if I wanted to run E85 on a stock system with 10 lbs. of boost, what would I have to do? Is there a write-up somewhere?

Thanks,

Darian

edit:

I found out that there is a conversion product for any car called FlexTek. Anyone ever try this?

http://www.flextek.com/
Modified by dhen at 8:40 AM 12/4/2008

[r34 gtr]

Yeah mean green, don't be knocking (no pun intended...or perhaps I did intend it!!!) 93 octane gas. That stuff is the bees knees. I thought about buying a drum of VP C16, but its like the ultimate ball shot, financially. You could do the conversion to e85, tune your car, AND fill it all the way up on e85 for the price of one drum of VP race fuel.

Also, e85 is cheaper than regular unleaded gas. Its definitely a plus. The only problem is nobody sells it down hurr.

[MeanGreenS13]

not knocking 93. but leaded race gas smells better, leaves a prettier burn pattern on your exhaust tip (as far as soot goes) and it seems to be less prone to detonation.

SURE id love to go with E85, but i also do not mind running race gas in the 240... its not an every day driver anymore. i got the supercharged 94 olds delta for that hahaha

[r34 gtr]

Race gas does smell amazing. If only I could two-stroke the CA. The smell of two stroke exhaust just gives me a half staff. I don't know why, but its like the ultimate smell.

[D_Stirls]

Remember people that E85 has to be tuned for, you can't just whack it in your tank and away you go. As some one has said it like methanol so it has a lower stoichiometric point and it contains a lot more oxygen than premium unleaded.

[MeanGreenS13]

everything needs to be tuned for, if its not, then leave it stock imo.

one thing im curious about is if E85 is as corrosive as standard Methanol is. ie swelling up rubber seals, eating away at the aluminum and steel parts within your engine.

I would assume it is because it still has alcohol of some sort in it right?

[float_6969]

No, it's not NEARLY as corrosive as methanol. Most people argue that since the mid-80's when the gas companies started using ethanol as an octane booster the vehicles produced since then were designed to tolerate alcohol in the fuel system. Granted they don't use more than 10% concentration when using it as an octane booster, but the possibility for corrosion is still there.

As I said before, I had 2 years under my belt with no side effects.

E85 is 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline.

[MeanGreenS13]

guess ill give it a shot. ive been told not to on the deatschwerks but we will see. Im nervous about possibly ruining a 400 set of injectors tho

[float_6969]

A valid concern. Be aware that there is still a lot of mis-information, and a very basic LACK of information regarding the effects of ethanol conversions.

For the most part, it seems to be pretty safe.

EDIT: Ethanol isn't corrosive. At least not nearly as corrosive as Methanol. The problem with Ethanol is that water will dissolve in it, which can rust the fuel system from the inside out. Gasoline can do the same thing. (Yes, you can actually dissolve small amounts of water into gasoline). This is why they invented "fuel dryer's". Do you know was the primary component of most fuel driers are? Alcohol.

There are still concerns about AFTERMARKET components being alcohol safe. Anything OEM since the mid-80's shouldn't have any problems with alcohol.

[Vetal]

I'm researching on E85 now as I want to try it very soon. If someone has good info on what needs to be done to CA18, please post Or else I will just fill the tank with it and start tuning What power will Walbro 255lph support with E85?

[RM12577]

things that need done are more fuel, about 30% more but you will need to set up something for tuning and get it dynoed to get the exact amount needed, as well as upping the boost, though it is not required, it would definitely help to make it more efficient. E85 is like 105-108 octane gas but it needs to almost flood a motor to run right. If you just want to run it in your car without mods, don't go over half a tank or your car wont want to idle and you will be running quite lean, and dont up the boost past 12psi unless you plan on getting it tuned for the booze.

[Vetal]

Of course I will tune it, I think I already wrote...I meant, what is needed hardware-wise (except bigger injectors and pump)

[RM12577]

not a lot, just have to keep the fuel requirements right, and after switching change your fuel filter a couple times and prolly the sock filter in the tank, i know ive changed mine more than once just from running a blend cuz it cleans all the crap out, other than the injectors and fuel upgrades put a bigger turbo on and crank the boost up, not really much else to do.

[21FOX21]

Don't forget to retune when the seasons change because the mixture changes from 70% ethanol in the winter to i think it was 78% ethanol spring to 85% ethanol in the summer.

[Vetal]

Ahh, i tune mine almost every day when it is not blown