E85

[Stixy]

Hey all,

 

I have been doing a bit of research on E85, I’m sure all of you know what E85 is if not here you go , I’m very interested in finding out some feedback if anyone has had it running in their car, more so the 16v and 20v people and the turbo/supercharged peeps, I’m not expecting too many replies as there is allot of work involved to get it running in your car because of its corrosive nature.

 

Now with E85 becoming more readily available on the pump has anyone noticed it at the bowser yet?

[ke70dave]

http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/showthread.php?t=62301

 

this is pretty interesting.

 

just remember that 4age engines are nothing special. an engine is an engine.

[Stixy]

Go back to work Dave, shou8ldnt you be engineering something? LOL

[philbey]

I've looked into it reasonably extensively. Even the corrosion issue isn't that big a deal, change some hose. My main concern was finding an FPR and Electric fuel pump that will handle it.

 

There was a servo in Adelaide selling E85 as well, but it was only selling if you could demonstrate your car was tuned and capable of running it.

[Raven]

There are 3 Caltex servos in Adelaide that have it on pump ;)

[LowVp]

its common for LS powered and tuned commodores to run it when they race

[rob83ke70]

new commodore (veII) can run it - probably means its going to appear everywhere...

 

Robert.

[kangaroosa]

I used to run it in my rotary during the early period of EPA testing. Its great for getting lower emissions. Back then there was only 1 Servo in Melb that stocked it, and that was out at Hoppers Crossing. I used to drive from the SE Suburbs with Jerry Cans and fill up. These days there are a few of them around.

 

You have to tune roughly 1/3rd more fuel into your tune over regular unleaded. Alot of Turbo Rotary blokes use it and swear by it. They had substancial power figure increases from just switching to E85 and dyno tuning their cars to suit.

 

I wasnt fussed with power figures, as my main intention was to lower my emissions and get my car engineered. So i just drilled out a few jets to get it idling and drivable.

 

E85 = $1/L You use 1/3rd more, so effectively its costing you $1.33 to travel the same distance as 1 Litre of Unleaded at roughly $1.33 would get you.

Thats the way I see it anyway.

 

Rotaries don't have the best fuel economy, so i'm in no rush to go switching fuels and reducing my mileage by 1/3 from each tank.

Theres plenty of debate on Ausrotary if you want to read others opinions.

 

Not sure if its just coincidence, but my Elec Fuel pump and pressure regulator both developed weeping leaks after about 5 tanks worth of fuel. They were both still fuctioning, but the fuel was weeping from the seals and fittings.

I replaced the pump and reg after engineering, and switched back to Unleaded.

Edited September 27, 2010 by kangaroosa

[philbey]

Yeh the first e85 counter argument is the reduced calorific value, but the higher RON value allows you to run higher compression and more timing advance, so a motor built and tuned for it should be comparable efficiency wise.

 

Only problem with stocking up on e85 like kangaroosa is that ethanol attracts water so it doesn't take long before you get water in the fuel.

[kangaroosa]

Yeh the first e85 counter argument is the reduced calorific value, but the higher RON value allows you to run higher compression and more timing advance, so a motor built and tuned for it should be comparable efficiency wise.

 

Only problem with stocking up on e85 like kangaroosa is that ethanol attracts water so it doesn't take long before you get water in the fuel.

 

 

Not debating the water in the fuel thing, as i know its true. But i drove my daily car out there to fill up the jerry cans. They then got poured into the corollas tank when i got home.

[philbey]

Yeh for sure Darren, if you use the fuel within a week or two I wouldn't expect problems but there are reports of people leaving their cars for 6+ weeks while on holiday and they wont start when they get back!

 

I imagine people in the tropical regions have even more trouble with it, although the Brazilians seem to deal with it easily enough.

[ke70dave]

on a side note, normal petrol will go off as well.

 

my mate has his car (st162 celica, with 3sge) un started for a few months (engine conversion etc)and although it did run, it didnt run very well...and the fuel (maybe 1/4 tank) in it smelt weird as, like it had gone off. refused to rev and kept misfiring, ended up just filling it up with 98 and it went ok after that.

 

prolly should have just drained out the old stuff, but diluting it seemed to work.