Well folks. The switch to E85 has definetly been a interesting ride. Not going to recap the switching over stuff but if you have an interest.... its here ======> http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/svt-shelby-gt500-150/905273-going-e85.html
This thread will be for anyone considering the swap and to outline my learnings thus far. They have been great. Also still have many unanswered questions.
Car was completed around 1/10/2013 and had been running like a champ until last Wednesday.
Heres a vid of doing some idle logging for Jon L.
[youtube_browser]3ws6QDKtFaM[/youtube_browser]
We tried taking the car out to the track to see what she could do....but we were denied. Attemped 2 passes and during the burnouts we noticed the car breaking up a bit and burping. Tried the pass anyway but shut down on 1st to 2nd shift because something was just wrong.
Here's a vid of the 1 of the burnouts...You can hear something is not right.
[youtube_browser]iXzB78-hSmQ[/youtube_browser]
Took the car to the infield and popped hood to check fuel pressure. It was about 7 points below where it should be... base. Jam nut loosened???? So we reset base pressure. Then we free reved the car... fuel pressure jumped down instead of spiking up. We took a short drive around the track and punched it...... watching the air fuels....sure enough we saw 16!!!!!!! :uh oh:....
I knew at that point we had a serious issue and we packed it up and went home. Fast forward a day or so and my mechanic Jack and I are tearing into the car while consulting Van, Jon, and Justin from Fore as to what the hell could be going on. Here is what we found:
Pickup filter socks full of the infamous blackish gray/silver crap!!!
And, Fuel filter completely clogged and twisted into a restricted mess!!
At this point i am pretty much beside myself. :fm: I had seen previously, all the threads concerning the "black goo" failed pumps etc etc etc etc. And for some reason just didn't think it would happen to me. You know, if you buy the right parts, from the right vendors, get excellent installation, everythings gonna be alright syndrome...But sure enough I got bit.
So with no more over dramatization and my butt hurt feelings set aside. WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?, WHAT'S IT GOING TO COST ME? AND HOW QUICKLY CAN WE GET IN DONE? I spent roughly the next 48 hours awake after the tear down, to bring you the load of crap that follows.
Noone seems to know or be willing to divulge what this crap is, there are many sources of info covering a good deal of theories but none that i am aware of..... that say...."oh, whats causing that is this, and here's what you need to do to fix it" ....soooooooooooooo....the remainder of this thread will serve as my attempt to fix mine! I will update as often as i can and have results along the way.
Here is the first update:
Step 1) I'm replacing the pumps. I got the 465's sent to me overnight to replace the 405's.....and here they are. All brand new and shiney. All $450 bucks worth. I was told in my investigating that the silver/gray sludge was most likely the brushes from the pumps...even though mine are still working to this day. Even though plenty of guys i know are running the 405's in E85 without issue. I also was told that Walbro had a bad batch of pumps around Nov/Dec 12. Sounds logical, would explain why some guys don't have issues??
Step 2) in the "fix my own sh$t" plan is to drop the tank and clean it out. I have read, been told, and its also seems logical.......that i have ran many many fuels prior to switching to E85. 93,URT 100, URT ADVANCED, and MS109. These fuels have stuff in them that may have accumilated in the tank. Could the E85 be cleaning that crap out of the tank? Who knows? Someone here said E85 is actually a poor solvent so there ya go. Whatever i'm doing it anyway.
Step 3) Filter replacement. I ordered and had overnighted to me a complete new Magnafuel filter, as well as some spare new steel mesh inserts. My plan here.... is to keep one on the car and one in the trunk along with my annodized wrenches. Then, should the need arrise, i can swap filters to a clean filter on the fly.
Step 4) Did the crap make it all the way to the engine? Going to pull the passenger side rail and check injectors screens. Just to be sure.
As of me typing this the car is running and driving great and af's look dead nuts on @ WOT. All we did to get it there was clean the filter and socks and put it back together while i was looking into this. But i am sure that the junk is accumilating again. So we'll see what happens as time goes on. We'll be back at it this Friday installing the 465's, new filter and cleaning etc. Stay Tuned!
This thread will be for anyone considering the swap and to outline my learnings thus far. They have been great. Also still have many unanswered questions.
Car was completed around 1/10/2013 and had been running like a champ until last Wednesday.
Heres a vid of doing some idle logging for Jon L.
[youtube_browser]3ws6QDKtFaM[/youtube_browser]
We tried taking the car out to the track to see what she could do....but we were denied. Attemped 2 passes and during the burnouts we noticed the car breaking up a bit and burping. Tried the pass anyway but shut down on 1st to 2nd shift because something was just wrong.
Here's a vid of the 1 of the burnouts...You can hear something is not right.
[youtube_browser]iXzB78-hSmQ[/youtube_browser]
Took the car to the infield and popped hood to check fuel pressure. It was about 7 points below where it should be... base. Jam nut loosened???? So we reset base pressure. Then we free reved the car... fuel pressure jumped down instead of spiking up. We took a short drive around the track and punched it...... watching the air fuels....sure enough we saw 16!!!!!!! :uh oh:....
I knew at that point we had a serious issue and we packed it up and went home. Fast forward a day or so and my mechanic Jack and I are tearing into the car while consulting Van, Jon, and Justin from Fore as to what the hell could be going on. Here is what we found:
Pickup filter socks full of the infamous blackish gray/silver crap!!!
And, Fuel filter completely clogged and twisted into a restricted mess!!
At this point i am pretty much beside myself. :fm: I had seen previously, all the threads concerning the "black goo" failed pumps etc etc etc etc. And for some reason just didn't think it would happen to me. You know, if you buy the right parts, from the right vendors, get excellent installation, everythings gonna be alright syndrome...But sure enough I got bit.
So with no more over dramatization and my butt hurt feelings set aside. WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?, WHAT'S IT GOING TO COST ME? AND HOW QUICKLY CAN WE GET IN DONE? I spent roughly the next 48 hours awake after the tear down, to bring you the load of crap that follows.
Noone seems to know or be willing to divulge what this crap is, there are many sources of info covering a good deal of theories but none that i am aware of..... that say...."oh, whats causing that is this, and here's what you need to do to fix it" ....soooooooooooooo....the remainder of this thread will serve as my attempt to fix mine! I will update as often as i can and have results along the way.
Here is the first update:
Step 1) I'm replacing the pumps. I got the 465's sent to me overnight to replace the 405's.....and here they are. All brand new and shiney. All $450 bucks worth. I was told in my investigating that the silver/gray sludge was most likely the brushes from the pumps...even though mine are still working to this day. Even though plenty of guys i know are running the 405's in E85 without issue. I also was told that Walbro had a bad batch of pumps around Nov/Dec 12. Sounds logical, would explain why some guys don't have issues??
Step 2) in the "fix my own sh$t" plan is to drop the tank and clean it out. I have read, been told, and its also seems logical.......that i have ran many many fuels prior to switching to E85. 93,URT 100, URT ADVANCED, and MS109. These fuels have stuff in them that may have accumilated in the tank. Could the E85 be cleaning that crap out of the tank? Who knows? Someone here said E85 is actually a poor solvent so there ya go. Whatever i'm doing it anyway.
Step 3) Filter replacement. I ordered and had overnighted to me a complete new Magnafuel filter, as well as some spare new steel mesh inserts. My plan here.... is to keep one on the car and one in the trunk along with my annodized wrenches. Then, should the need arrise, i can swap filters to a clean filter on the fly.
Step 4) Did the crap make it all the way to the engine? Going to pull the passenger side rail and check injectors screens. Just to be sure.
As of me typing this the car is running and driving great and af's look dead nuts on @ WOT. All we did to get it there was clean the filter and socks and put it back together while i was looking into this. But i am sure that the junk is accumilating again. So we'll see what happens as time goes on. We'll be back at it this Friday installing the 465's, new filter and cleaning etc. Stay Tuned!
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