I know a guy that is bigger in the Honda world (Tony @ T1) and he has been tuning cars on E85. It burns a little faster, about 30% i think, but it is only 1.80 around here right now. There is a hatchback (B18 maybe) that he tuned out here that is making 620 or 640 on this pump E85 fuel. I don't think you can just pump some in and go, there are some pretty significant turning changes that need to be made. I have a friend that was making around 400 at 8k and now with this he is making 475 @ 7k. I don't remember too much about his setup.

Basically i just wanted to see if any of the guys here are running this in their cars, forced induction mainly.

 

Well in theory it would make a great fuel for forced induction. 100-105 octane. I've read that becuase of it haveing less energy content your fuel mileage would suffer but the upside would be more power on boost or advance timeing.
I would love to hear more info on what upgrades your fuel system may or may not need. As far as tuneing goes it would probley not be that big of a deal at all just like adjusting for race fuel.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85

Here is a sample of the best part

E85 has been repeatedly shown to produce more power than a comparable gasoline fuel, especially in engines that need high octane fuels to avoid early detonation.[4] Ford Motor Company found that power typically increased approximately 5% with the switch to E85 [5]. Researchers working on the equivalent of E85 fuel for general aviation aircraft AGE-85 have seen the same results with an aircraft engine jumping from 600 hp on conventional 100LL AV gas to 650 hp on the AGE-85. Recorded power increases range from 5% to 9% depending on the engine. [6][7]

Due to pressure to remove leaded fuel even from racing environments, several racing organizations are looking at ethanol or E85 fuels as suitable alternative fuels for high performance race engines.

In 2006, the National Street Car Association is adopting E85 as an approved fuel for both their American Muscle Car and Street Machine (racing class) eliminator racing classes.

The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) currently allows ethanol as an approved fuel in several of its racing classes. NHRA approved ethanol is allowed in their bracket classes, Hotrod, Modified, ProFWD, and ProRWD classes to name some of the more popular. At this time NHRA has not announced any plans to include E85 as an approved fuel in the classes that are currently limited to "pump fuels".

The Indy Racing League is likewise moving to ethanol based fuels in 2006, with 10% ethanol 90% methanol fuel blend, and switching to a 100% ethanol fuel in the 2007 racing season.

General Motors Performance Division's GM Student Cobalt driven by Mark Dickens went 172.680 mph at Bonneville Speed Weeks August 2006, setting a new record for G/FCC class on E85 fuel. This run broke a 19-year-old record of 152.626 mph set by Doc Jeffries in 1987. [8]

There is much discussion of NASCAR also making the switch to an ethanol based fuel in the future. During selected 2006 Craftsman Truck Series races, the Chevrolet Silverado pace truck, such as the one in the GM Flex-Fuel 250, will be fueled by E85, and a marketing campaign with Morgan-Dollar Motorsports resulted in one of their trucks' numbers changed to #85 to promote E85 fuel such as the one used in the pace truck.

In 2006, Shell announced V8 Supercar will use Shell Optimax Extreme, a premium unleaded fuel blended with five percent ethanol.

Interest in E85 is high enough that there are now competitions for engine builders to develop winning combinations for both power and fuel economy on this fuel. One such competition is sponsored by the AERA Engine Builders Association. [9].

 

Good post mc556, thanks.

I remember hearing that there was a point where you would take a car back to c16, but with the same boost the e85 made more power. (I think)

 

From the same wikipedia site:
"After-market conversion kits, for converting standard engines to operate on E85, are not legal to manufacture in the United States without EPA approval. Converted vehicles also usually require emissions certification, which is often not economically feasible."
I wonder what a conversion kit would include and cost?

 

Well there are a lot of "off road use only " parts on street cars I do feel for you Cali guys out there.

I talked this over today with a few friends "engine builders" and we agreed after christmas that we would try this out on one of our cars. I'm not sure what car we'll use but it will be a FI car with a factory tank and the use of a surge tank.

 

E85 won't become widely used unless the US government supports it. Some countries don't even tax E85 and its 1/3rd the cost of gasoline.
E85 is pretty good for nitrous i hear, along w/ FI. For NA too I guess.
Would you have to increase the amount of fuel flow to offset the difference in energy density?

 

this always get me mad because all cars trucks that are made in USA and shipped to Brazil have to be able to run on gas , any mixture of gas and ethanol OR STRAIGHT ETHENOL. the big 3 lol auto makers have done this for about 3 yrs and all it takes it the chip ti distinguish between the mixtures [air fule] . Reason is that brazil make almost all their fule from sugar cane . then reuses the used cant either to heat the next batch or feed to livestock. Gas there costs like $4 a gal i think and there home brew costs $.50 or somewhere there.
Do you think oil companys want us to know this? they keep saying it costs more to make . well if thats the truth then how cheap can they make gas?
also there is no tax on import oil but up to triple tax on ethanol . but politics do not play any part of this lmfao.
Check it out and you will see this is true .

 

Interesting...

subscribing.

 

I didn't think about it but I guess alot of you still don't have it at your local pumps. It's not at every station but with a little planing it's at enough stations that I could use it on a daily driver in my area.
It's not just a chip that has to be changed the fuel system needs some upgrades to prevent premature failure and most likely larger injectors to supply the extra fuel demand .
Plumpzz. Yes the BSFC would be higher so at least for me it's about safety in a FI or high compression motor not economy.

At $2.25 a gallon it's a very cheap insureance policy over 93octane.

 

I know that ford chrysler ,gm, have been making these engines for 3 yrs as far as modification the valves have to be hardned also but they run the stock out before replacing them. the fule system was said ti be basicly the sam so I guess you would have to ask them just what they do . should be more or less easy to find out. Oh forgot to say that it takes 3 days to make from start to finish. and no expensive refining