E85 and Boost

[393Bird]

I have been trying to decide on which way to go with my Bird. I am running a 393 with a Vortech YSi at 15 psi now. It does great on 93 octane by pulling a lot of timing as the boost goes up. The YSi is extremely good at making boost with out high heat (95 % of the NMRA Renegade cars run it because there rules do not allow any type of cooler, and the YSi does the best with out adding excessive heat). I want to up the boost, and be able to drive it on the street in the Summer, so needed to add meth, or a big cooler, or both, or look at E85 closely.

My Bird is a weekend play car, and we have several E85 stations in Tn, so I am going with E85. Here is some information I have put together.

http://members.tccoa.com/392bird/e85.htm

Read it all, and watch the video with Dale Banks and Jay Lenno at the bottom.

If I was fuel injected, I would get a flip chip to be able to use either. Since I am carbed, I am completely converting to E85.

 

[SSKillerF150]

With E85 you will have to use about 20% more fuel to get the same amount of energy as gasoline. That means bigger injectors, pump, ect. Plus you will have to have one tune for corn and another for gas.

 

[SSKillerF150]

Didn't read all of your post. With a carb I am not sure of the fuel system requirements but you will still have to use more fuel with the E85.

 

[393Bird]

This is not for Grannys that are buying it for saving a few pennys. This is for guys that are running Boost, and would like to either run it with out having to retard the timing because they do not have enough octane to do it, or those that want to really crank up the boost. You can run 30 psi of boost with E85 with no pronlem. To do that on gas, you would need $5-6 a gal race gas.

Listen to this video.
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=190247

 

[SSKillerF150]

I wasn't refering to fuel economy, I was talking about the amount of fuel used vs. the amount of energy expended from said fuel. It takes more E85 to make the same power as good ol' gas. Why run 30 psi and corn when you can run less boost with gas?

 

[fst86410]

I,ve had good luck with it, but I don't run that much boost. And I've only ran it for one summer, and on cold nights I have to let it warm up a little more. As far as a gas tune and an E-85 tune I have both, but I never run on the gas tune because when you switch back to e85 you need to have the tank very low or the car is going to run real rich. See my sig for the set up.

 

[AllanB]

20% more fuel at partial throttle and 40% more at WOT. E-85 is 105 octane, meaning you can run more boost and more timing as long as you have the fuel to keep up with it. here is a example. if you want 600hp on e-85 then you will need a fuel system that can make 840hp on normal gas. my plans include a 3.4 whipple at 23lbs 83lb squirters dual gt pumps, dual fpdm, dual BAP. if i run out of fuel im going with a big return system
_Allan_

 

[vortech96cobra]

what is the percentage of unleaded gas and ethanol in e 85

 

[AllanB]

well on paper it should be 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, but it is usually 80 - 20. then in the winter it goes down to 70 - 30. ethanol does not evaporate correctly in the cold temps so more gasoline is added to help with starting the engine