E85 Discussion

[adam]

With the 'lack' of content, I thought I'd make this thread..

 

So with E85 becoming more readily available at our pumps and more and more cars being tuned with this alternative, is it worth running our traditional carburetor motors with this fuel?

 

Sure, your car may consume 30% more of it, but it is cheaper, considered more 'green', and has a higher octane rating than regular pump fuel which means your motor will run cooler, allowing you to run more timing/boost and making more power!

 

With many of our cars being weekend drivers, what's stopping us from switching over to this fuel, taking advantage of the higher octane rating and making more power?

 

I understand the higher alcohol content will chew through the rubber lines, but they're easily replaceable..

 

Hypothetically speaking, what's stopping me from running E85, 'richening' my current 98 octane SU carb setting to allow for E85 and advancing my timing until it started to knock?

 

[Riceburner]

Peter Mc ran this on one of his race cars and tested extensively, PM him.

[NZeder]

I read somewhere that high Ethanol is not good for a carb'ed engine that has the fuel sitting - ie needs to use the fuel within a week or issue will happen. The article I read said you don't want to go more than E10 (10% Ethanol) - I also recall talk about how burning high % Ethanol was worse for the atmosphere than burning Petrol (sure less CO2 but more poisons for the ozone layer/smog in given temp/atmospheric conditions). I have not checked these facts I just recall reading that recently.

[dat2kman]

Very correct Mike!

It sucks water out of the atmosphere, or somewhere, like a baby.

Blowby past rings and mixed with oil is rusting out bearings.

 

CAMS and some of its Commissions are discussing the banning of its use in some race disciplines, looks like Historics may be the first.

 

Had heard of an ex Peter Mac Z having a very costly engine failure, and recently two Porsches, with same issue.

It cannot be left in a car.

Dump oil, refill.

Drain tanks, runn car dry, put in normal fuel, run car on that.

After every race meet.

Unsealed part use drums are useless after time.

 

Wank, wallet and horsepiwer queens.

 

 

 

[AussieZed]

I find it REALLY hard to believe that the oil companies would leave themselves open to the number of court cases they would face if all of these nasty things were true.

 

Unfortunately if you actually try and do research on this you get swamped by work funded by the ethanol producers (which is of dubious quality).

 

Long term research on petrol engines shows "ethanol addition to unleaded gasoline increases the engine torque, power and fuel consumption and reduces carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions. It was also found that ethanol–gasoline blends allow increasing compression ratio (CR) without knock occurrence" (Koc et al 2009).

 

Environmentally, the most recent scientific review (Niven, 2005) says "The study indicates that E10 is of debatable air pollution merit (and may in fact increase the production of photochemical smog); offers little advantage in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency or environmental sustainability; and will significantly increase both the risk and severity of soil and groundwater contamination. In contrast, E85 offers significant greenhouse gas benefits, however it will produce significant air pollution impacts, involves substantial risks to biodiversity, and its groundwater contamination impacts and overall sustainability are largely unknown".

[dat2kman]

Uuummm!

E10 -E85

Big difference there.

[NZeder]

Uuummm!

E10 -E85

Big difference there.

no kidding 90% gasoline + 10% Ethanol = E10

15% gasoline + 85% Ethanol = E85

 

Big big difference.

[Magnet]

More pain than its worth on NA

 

Got a lot of mates who use e85 for turbo track cars. They make some more power and gain response but they still blow engines. For the extra hassle and reliability issues, 98 is an easy choice.

[Wayne G]

I have used E85 in Brisbane on tuned R33 and used high ethanol fuel blends on carb motorcycle.  The main negative I found was that the fuel must be fresh and quickly goes off, drawing water from the atmosphere.  Fortunately for me I  have animals that "mow" my yard so I don't need to use the mower or sniper very often.  I tried to start my blower for the first time in six months and the E10 based 2 stroke fuel could not be lit with a match, so I now only use non ethanol fuel in anything that is not used frequently.  My 2c worth.

[my_mad_z]

I've been using E85 since I built my forged motor and I love the stuff! I ran the engine in on 98 octane and as soon as it was run in, I switched to E85 and only use it from United servo's as they guarantee 85% mix where as Caltex is between 60-85%.

 

I haven't noticed any difference in performance if the car sits for 2 weeks with fuel in the tank. The engine and plugs are always clean, little if any carbon deposits. I do notice that the oil tends to smell of E85 but I change the oil every few thousand km's.

 

One thing I really love about E85 is the cabin fumes are almost completely gone  It's not as economical as 98 but I've managed to get 5.5km's per litre with some hard driving so I'm sure I could improve if I stayed off the boost  So far I've had the boost up to 23psi and no detonation - I think I've set the timing to around 20° or so and I think it will take more but I don't want to push my luck.

 

Looking at cranking the boost up to 30psi and winding the timing down but waiting to get some decent rubber to try and get traction.

 

My long 2c 

[adam]

A few great points brought up.

 

I think the E85 'going off' much sooner than that of 98 is a good enough reason not to run these in our weekend cars. I personally try to drive mine every week but average once every two.

 

Didn't plan on running E85 in the Z, but just thought that if they're becoming so popular elsewhere, why not with these cars and the posts above clearly give a few good reasons why.