E85 What you Need To Know!

Crusher9008

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what does it take to make a terminator E85 friendly? Does anyone know of a website to look at for this answer?
Only mods are Cold Air/Ported Stock Eaton/ H pipe exuast/ Pully's
Any Help would be great!
 

racebronco2

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I was at ST Motorsports last monday with a friend whom they are tuning his car. His car is a 2010 challenger with a 3.6kb ported heads, cams, 80lb injectors, and built motor. We drained the fuel and put in 10 gallons of e85. On 20psi it was putting out 989rwhp. Ran out of injectors. He said one of the benefits of e85 is if it goes lean the power just falls off a little. Therer is no chance of blowing up the motor. We had to remove the fuel right after the run. He said it will eat thru the stock lines, he found out the hard way. My friend now needs to get teflon lined fuel lines. The car will be featured in an upcoming article about green and high performance vehicles.
 
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kbroush

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I would be interested in doing this on my mustang especially since im running 9.2:1 compression with a supercharger. It sounds like it would get rid of a lot of heat soak also possibly.
 

mustangman36578

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i have heard that E85 basically ages the internals of a motor a lot faster. Since it is only ~15% gasoline, it lacks the proper lubrication for the combustion chamber and ethanol cannot provide it. From talking with some of the people I work with they have done dyno tests on motors that have testing hours equivalent to ~20,000 miles and the E85 motors looked like they had 40,000+ miles. Have you heard anything about the lack of lubrication of E85? E85 sounds very tempting until hearing this along with here in the midwest there is a summer and winter grade. winter grade is closer to E79 which is roughly equivalent to 94 or 95 octane and the gas stations do not advertise when they switch to it. If your car is tuned on E85 and the octane of the fuel for the tune was 105 and you go to the track on a warm october day with E79 and possible 10 less octane, your going to see problems.
 

65fastback2+2

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Octane rating is only a part of the equation. You have to look at how the fuel burns.

Gasoline actually burns from the top down and when it gets to the bottom of the fuel mixture, it is a weaker burn than at the top. This is because the oxygen gets used up prematurely.

You have to remember to think of e85 as an alcohol and not gasoline. Being an alcohol it is oxygentated. As it burns, the fuel itself releases oxygen and produces a very complete burn.

Thus taking a vehicle and switching it to e85, and that being the only modification, the e85 setup will produce more torque. Usually in the range of 6-8% more.

e85 has not shown any signs of extra wear on the internals.

As far as octane rating changing, you can find the blend change chart here: E85 Mustangs.com - Regional Fuel Chart by state

And, you wont see problems with e79 at the track on a warm october day. The alcohol and oxygen factor are what makes ethanol super safe no matter the octane. Just for example, I run my Lightning year around on 17# and 20* of timing on STOCK HEADS AND CAMS. No one does this on a 2v with that much boost on stock heads and cams.

Ive spent days researching ethanol, and the stuff is flat out amazing.

ethanol also burns 200-300* cooler than gasoline as well. So you will see reduced cylinder temperatures and reduced EGT's. All better for the motor.
 
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65fastback2+2

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also, stock tune for me starts pulling timing around 105* IAT's....I have mine set to not start pulling timing until 150* IAT's :D

last track outting, I was crossing the line at 20.5* of timing still
 

mustangman36578

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alright good to know. Since my fuel system will most likely need to be redone this winter I will deffinately keep E85 in mind still and do more research so I can fully understand it before doing the switch.
 

Roushgt05

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Ive read this whole thread however we don't have E-85 only pumps in my area.. there is an ethanol producing plant in the next county over from me.

I have been noticing that most of the bigger market gas stations have been putting stickers or signs on the pumps saying that "this fuel may contain up to 10% ethanol", so my question is will this benefit me filling up with 93 octane of course?

I am running a Whipple btw.
 

ZOSO

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Ive read this whole thread however we don't have E-85 only pumps in my area.. there is an ethanol producing plant in the next county over from me.

I have been noticing that most of the bigger market gas stations have been putting stickers or signs on the pumps saying that "this fuel may contain up to 10% ethanol", so my question is will this benefit me filling up with 93 octane of course?

I am running a Whipple btw.

10% is now government mandated. They passed a law so watch it as it will now change to 15%. It does nothing but reduce emissions for gasoline. To see the full benefit you need to run 85%.
 

Roushgt05

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10% is now government mandated. They passed a law so watch it as it will now change to 15%. It does nothing but reduce emissions for gasoline. To see the full benefit you need to run 85%.

Understood, even though im running pretty much stock boost with the Whipple, will i benefit from the E85 if they ever put sole E85 pumps in my area?
 

SpeedRite

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I run a 2.9 whipple.

I made 175ish more HP with E85 and dropping one pulley size... I'm sold on this shit! Corn Fed FTW!:pepper:
 

9BABCobra8

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I remember reading somewhere that e85 mixed with 87 results in more efficient combustion vs e85 mixed with 93 and even 98. It was to the point that e85 mixed with 87 resulted in higher hp numbers when compared to the 93 blend. The idea is that the gasoline is simply mixed in to help start the ignition process and the lower octane was better in dyno tests. Also, the same can be said about the mixture for aide in cold starts…

I have not been able to find the reference though. Does anyone recall reading/seeing this?
 

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