Switched to Ethanol

[WRX Harvey]

I have been planning to do this as an experiment for a while.

Today I did it. I drove out and filled up from a very empty tank on E-85. I switched my afr guage over to lambda and started with a fresh fuel map. The car runs great. I can now say that if you are using under 70 percent duty on your injectors, and have a standalone, you are in business.

I helped Efini-RX7 smooth out his FD earlier this week with the PowerFC. I am using ECUTek, but can do any system. The car definitely has more torque. I will get it on the dyno for some real verification of this but the driveability is much smoother.

[Brian]

I am so tempted to do this to my car.

[turbo022]

Just make sure you have a WB, enough injector, and fuel pump to make it safe.

[HONDA GHANDI]

Rumor is there is an E-85 filling station opening up 2 blocks from the shop. As soon as it does I will be converting a experimental car for some practice and raw data.

[dauss]

how's your gas mileage?

[Brian]

the guys on corvette forum seem completely against it (most seem to know little about it as well though). I need to get some tuning software and see what kind of injector duty cycle i'm running.

[Brian]

keepus updated as you drive with it more. (mileage and such)

[Pang]

I keep hearing good stuff about e-85. Keep us posted!

[WRX Harvey]

after going through a tank, mileage has dropped from about 20-22 to 15-17 but price dropped from 3.19 to 1.99 so I will stick with it for a bit.

[J.Dub]

holy Sh%t 1.99 a gallon?

[mopsi]

Did you have to mess w/ the timing?

[HONDA GHANDI]

You dont have to but to utilize the fuel to its potential you should. It s basically 105 octane and can handle lots of timing.

[STIBungy]

Hrm, I might have to switch mine over after the new goodies get installed.

[-=[Juztin]=-]

I would love to switch over to this but what are the real determining factors with this? I take it any normal gasoline engine has adequate materials to resist ethanol corrosion or something? But what about the fuel system/lines/pump/etc?

[turbo022]

=-']I would love to switch over to this but what are the real determining factors with this? I take it any normal gasoline engine has adequate materials to resist ethanol corrosion or something? But what about the fuel system/lines/pump/etc?

At a minimum you have to have an upgraded fuel pump, bigger injectors, a wideband, and some way to tune your car.

[HONDA GHANDI]

Corrosion is not a factor like it is with Methanol Justin. You wont need to flush the system and replace lines and the tank after a year like Meth.

[servion]

On the last car I tuned on both gas and e85, it saw a significant benefit from 4* more timing than with gas. The rest of the e85 cars I have done since then have not been on both fuels... just e85, so I can't say how much
"more" timing it wanted.

[Hellified SH]

I was running E85 on my truck that I just traded in, and the HP drops your MPG drops the price is $1.99, but after doing all the calculations with HP MPG and cost per gallon it is not worth it.

Do you have questions about E85, than check this site out http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/faq.php

[Hellified SH]

There's not that many stations and all the prices are different, the only station that is $1.99 is the one on Alemeda and Broadway.

Acorn
13690 East Colfax Avenue
Aurora, CO 80011
303-344-0445

Shell
12410 W. Alameda Parkway
Lakewood, CO 80228
303-989-7820

Acorn Food Store
305 South 8th Street
Colorado Springs, CO 80905
719-633-8423
<!-- View Map (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?city=Colorado+Springs&state=CO&address=305+South+8th+Street&zip=80905&country=us&zoom=5)
-->
Silco Conoco
295 South Broadway
Denver, CO 80209
303-765-5580
<!-- View Map (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?city=Denver&state=CO&address=295+South+Broadway&zip=80209&country=us&zoom=5)
-->
Roggen Farmer Elevator Assoc.
555 Colfax Ave.
Bennett, CO 80102
303-644-3251
<!-- View Map (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&countryid=US&addtohistory=&searchtype=address&cat=&address=555%20E%20Colfax%20Ave&city=Bennett&state=CO&zipcode=80102%2d8803&search=%20%20Search%20%20&searchtab=address)
-->
Peterson Air Force Base
Building 1232
Colorado Springs, CO 80914
719-556-8461
<!-- View Map (http://www.e85fuel.com/database/private.php)
-->
Tomahawk Truck Stop
1695 N. Watkins Road
Watkins, CO 80137
303-261-9677
<!-- View Map ("]View Map[/URL]
-->
Cenex Ampride
16th St. Plaza
Greeley, CO 80631
970-454-3391
<!-- [URL=")
-->
Acorn
1041 N. Colorado Ave.
Brush, CO 80723
970-842-3122
<!-- View Map (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?city=Brush&state=CO&address=1041+N.+Colorado+Avenue&zip=80723&country=us&zoom=5)
-->

[ComputerJLT]

after going through a tank, mileage has dropped from about 20-22 to 15-17 but price dropped from 3.19 to 1.99 so I will stick with it for a bit.

that means you can add a lot more timing and pull some more fuel.
Ethanol can run leaner than gasoline; it doesn't have to be at stoich since it burns cooler than gas; you won't melt anything.

Lean the mix and bump the timing to get your economy back

[Mario]

Can I run it on a stock car?

[velocity]

think they said you need bigger injectors, fuel pump and a stand alone with wideband?

[WRX Harvey]

So for testing I took it out to the track on two consecutive Wednesday test and tunes. Once on E-85 and once on pump 91 octane gasoline.

I haven't been to the drag strip in over a year in this car. Previously I had run a 13.0 with a smaller mitsubishi 18g turbo and smaller topmount ic versus my new front mounted intercooler and 20g turbo.

I only did 2 runs the first night and it was 91 degrees farenheit out at Bandimere speedway in Denver at 5800 feet of altitude.

The first run was poor and I simply tried to remember how to drive on the strip.

On my second run I ran a 12.44 e.t. at 112.7 mph. I was very happy about the results and beleive the ethanol allowed me to run well in the intense heat.

I went back to the dragstrip a week later. I was there to see if I had gained, lost, or retained the same power with 91 octane gasoline.

I only did one pass, but it was as perfect as the ethanol pass.

I should also note that trap speed is a very good indicator of horsepower and relatively independent of the quality of the pass.

But needless to say because the pass was excellent. Same 1.85 sixty foot, same good smooth shifting.

I ran a 12.6 at 107. It was only 85 degrees farenheit this time. The car weighed the exact same.

I also heard audible ping during the run on the gasoline, despite cooler temps.

On gasoline the car was running .75 lambda and on E-85 it was running .79 lambda. That was the only difference. Amazing that the car would knock even though it was relatively richer.

This indicates a large loss in power versus ethanol. I haven't even started to tune with timing. I am awaiting local availability till I invest the time for that.

There is even more good info in this month's Scientific American.

I am very pleased with the car on either fuel. I used to need nitrous and race gas to get results that weren't even as good as the current state of tune on either fuel.

[bigacuralvr]

E-85 is said to eat any rubber hoses/gaskets/o-rings. That is why there aren't any (large) manufacturers of e-85 conversion kits. I don;t know if this is true, but I read it on more than one website/articles.
Brett

[kevino002]

E-85 is said to eat any rubber hoses/gaskets/o-rings. That is why there aren't any (large) manufacturers of e-85 conversion kits. I don;t know if this is true, but I read it on more than one website/articles.
Brett.


This has been covered many times and the same thing comes up its not corrosive with ethanol..

Corrosion is not a factor like it is with Methanol Justin. You wont need to flush the system and replace lines and the tank after a year like Meth.

[marcrx5]

Shell
12410 W. Alameda Parkway
Lakewood, CO 80228
303-989-7820


This station want's almost as much as regular unleaded, at about $2.70/gal.
I've wanted to do this for a while as well, I just wish the closest station to me wasn't the most expensive.