E85 What you Need To Know!

04sleeper

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Since this topic is still fairly new to the performance world and there is not a lot of information out there on this subject, I figured I would make a thread on "What You Need To Know" about E85.

E85 is still one of those things that people in general don't know much about. Ask 100 people to tell you about what E85 is and 90% of them will not know. The 10% might remember seeing something at a gas station, but not understand what it is or the benefits it provides.

For gear heads such as ourselves, the benefits are HUGE! Especially on todays boosted engines such as the popular 03-04 Cobras and 07 and up GT500's.

Being an owner of a 2004 Cobra with an upgraded Whiple Supercharger I am always looking to learn about how to get the most performance out of my car.
This means tuning the car for optimum performance. Running a safe amount of boost and timing to keep the engine alive while increasing it's performance can sometimes be tricky. One of the limiting factors of how much boost or timing you can run comes down to fuel. Octane limits, depending on where you live, can range between 86 an 93 and limit the amount of timing and boost you can run. Thus you have to tune accordingly to what fuel is available in your area.

The more Octane you have, the more boost and timing you can run without detonation. This means More Power!!!!!

Since a lot of us drive our cars on the street, we are limited to what fuel we run due to availability, price and ease of aquiring the fuel.

Race Gas has been used for many years and there are tons of brands and types out there, but the availibility and price tends to turn most people away because it is not convenient enough to run on a regular basis. So most cars are tuned for what we call "Pump Gas". And if you are the street/strip type, then you get 2 tunes. One for "Pump Gas" and one for "Race Gas". Which has been the way for many years for a lot of racers.

But what if you could run "Race Gas" all the time? What if it was CHEAPER than regular gas and you could buy it at the pump? Would you be willing to switch?

In comes the answer!
Ethanol.gif


If it is available in your area and you are running High Compression or Boost, then this is the fuel for you!

Here is some good information sourced from the members.tccoa.com.
Using E85 for Performance Improvement
in Non Flex Fuel Vehicles


This is for the guys running high compression ratios or super chargers, looking for more power, and getting it using a cheaper fuel. It is not directed to the use of E85 to get more miles for less money.

First off what is E85? E85, is a motor fuel blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline to be used in flex-fuel vehicles. Ethanol is alcohol used in transportation fuels. It is a high-octane, liquid fuel, produced by the fermentation of plant sugars. In the United States, ethanol is typically produced from corn and other grain products, although in the future it may be economically produced from other biomass resources.

Benefits:
It has a motor octane rating of 104-108, it is also quite cold to the touch. It drops air intake temps dramatically, which is GREAT with boost. It is currently about 2.05 per gallon, while 93 Octane is approximately 3.10 a gallon. E85 is cleaner burning, emitting a lot less greenhouse gasses. It is also a renewable resource. To top it off it is made 100% within the confines of the USA.

Cons:
It takes more of this fuel to create the same energy as regular gasoline. Therefore your car will use more fuel and you will see a decrease of approximately 15-20% in fuel economy. To make big horsepower you will need more fuel pump, bigger lines and more injector, or a modified carb and larger jets. Many people state that the fuel is corrosive and it could have adverse effects on aluminum fuel rails, injector o-rings and fuel lines. But so far in 9 months of testing we have seen no such side effects.

There are many Myth's floating around about Ethanol not being good for an engine. These are primarily from people who own oil companies and do not like to see profits decline. One thing to remember is that the petroleum industry is the largest money making industry on the planet! Take some of the Trillions of dollars away from the oil companies and rumors start to fly!!!

With that being said, here is a good example of what you would typically find when running E85 VS Gasoline.



Hope this helps some of you. Feel free to ask any questions I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Kevin
 

saleencobra

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Thanks for posting kevin. this will surely help lots of people!

Sadly i checked my local E85 station and it was 2.85 a gallon! only 10 Cents cheaper than 87!
 

04sleeper

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Thanks for posting kevin. this will surely help lots of people!

Sadly i checked my local E85 station and it was 2.85 a gallon! only 10 Cents cheaper than 87!
Yes, but you don't run 87 in your Cobra do you? And you can't really compare the two fuels, E85 is far superior.

Still alot cheaper than 93 lol, good post 04Sleeper!
True. Thanks. :beer:
 

skaarew04SVT

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Excellent write up Kevin. Both you and I know about this fuel. Others as well. I'm glad to see we now have a section on SVTP dedicated to what we refer to as "liquid gold".

I am a firm believer in this fuel. So much so, that I am running 10:1 compression, 21 psi, and full MBT spark without a hint of detonation.....making monster power, and the engine / fuel loves it.

Great post!

I hope that people truly catch on to how amazing this fuel really is.
 

saleencobra

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Yes, but you don't run 87 in your Cobra do you? And you can't really compare the two fuels, E85 is far superior.


True. Thanks. :beer:


i wasnt comparing the 2 at all besides price i remmber when it was like 2.15 and i was just surprised that itd gone up that much.
 

Black Sex

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Excellent write up Kevin. Both you and I know about this fuel. Others as well. I'm glad to see we now have a section on SVTP dedicated to what we refer to as "liquid gold".

I am a firm believer in this fuel. So much so, that I am running 10:1 compression, 21 psi, and full MBT spark without a hint of detonation.....making monster power, and the engine / fuel loves it.

Great post!

I hope that people truly catch on to how amazing this fuel really is.

i wasnt comparing the 2 at all besides price i remmber when it was like 2.15 and i was just surprised that itd gone up that much.


Supply & demand
Good post though. I would like to do the swap but the checkbook wont allow for it right now.
 
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Black Sex

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Is the inconsistancy in E85 octanes that big of a problem? Is is better (cheaper) to piece together your fuel system or just buy one from Lethal or another company? I live in Iowa and it seems like 75% of the stations have E85. Everyday I think more and more about doing the conversion but the price for the fuel system hurts.
 

Black Sex

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Is the inconsistancy in E85 octanes that big of a problem? Is is better (cheaper) to piece together your fuel system or just buy one from Lethal or another company? I live in Iowa and it seems like 75% of the stations have E85. Everyday I think more and more about doing the conversion but the price for the fuel system hurts.
 

Grant Theft Auto

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it says in the vid description that they probably used a E85 conversion kit, i wonder if they did or not, didnt say anything about it in the video

makes me wonder why people waste there money on a fuel system then just for E85, not important things for high HP cars
 

Mudd92

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I think I know this answer to this but just want to ask, cant you still run 93 safely mixed? Because we only have one station close that sells E85 so I would probably have 93 more often in the tank.

Thanks
 

low12lightning

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I am a believer in e85 but it does have an adverse effect on fuel systems. The stuff is really corosive due to the fact that it absorbs moisture. I have replaced one weldon regulator already that was totally rusted out. It is a small price to pay for the price and performance of the fuel. I worked for a team that was sponsored by Pontiac for awhile, that ran e85 in all our race cars. One was a 14 to 1 compression ecotec that ran 16 PSI and used e85 right out of the pump. The only issues we had is letting a barrel sit to long 50% full that absorbed a lot of water and the car would not run correctly. You should never let a e85 car sit with a half tank of fuel. With that much room to absorb moisture the fuel will have enough water to rust anything steel. We also would fog the cylinders if it sat for any amount of time, as recomended by our GM racing engineer. I would definatly recomend alcohol compatable fuel parts, but regualar fuel parts will work, BUT THEY WILL EVENTUALLY FAIL. NEVER use paper element fuel filters, they become water logged and will eventually not let any fuel flow and damage pumps. I'm not saying this becuase i read it on a post somewhere on the internet. I learned the hard way and have replaced 2 weldon pumps becuase of this. Make sure you use a stainless mesh filter.
 

DaveHutch

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I am a believer in e85 but it does have an adverse effect on fuel systems. The stuff is really corosive due to the fact that it absorbs moisture. I have replaced one weldon regulator already that was totally rusted out. It is a small price to pay for the price and performance of the fuel. I worked for a team that was sponsored by Pontiac for awhile, that ran e85 in all our race cars. One was a 14 to 1 compression ecotec that ran 16 PSI and used e85 right out of the pump. The only issues we had is letting a barrel sit to long 50% full that absorbed a lot of water and the car would not run correctly. You should never let a e85 car sit with a half tank of fuel. With that much room to absorb moisture the fuel will have enough water to rust anything steel. We also would fog the cylinders if it sat for any amount of time, as recomended by our GM racing engineer. I would definatly recomend alcohol compatable fuel parts, but regualar fuel parts will work, BUT THEY WILL EVENTUALLY FAIL. NEVER use paper element fuel filters, they become water logged and will eventually not let any fuel flow and damage pumps. I'm not saying this becuase i read it on a post somewhere on the internet. I learned the hard way and have replaced 2 weldon pumps becuase of this. Make sure you use a stainless mesh filter.

This is also what i have been hearing from the few machinists locally that have a good knowledge base/experience with the stuff.

What about running E85, and 93 off and on to keep the very bad effects of E85 and corrosion to a minimum?
 

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