E-85 conversion questions

[BadWS6]

I did a search and came up blank...so here goes what are your thoughts on these products?

http://www.fullflexethanol.com/index.html

http://www.mye85kit.com/index-1.html

What would be the downside / upside to converting a basically stock LT1 to E-85 ( the car in my signature)

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Ethanol is corrosive. You can't use aluminum in the fuel system anywhere or it will corrode and fail. True it is not 100% ethanol but how much can you take before it causes a problem? I don't know but I won't run Shell regular in any of my cars because it can contain up 10% ethanol. It also takes about twice as much ethanol to produce the same power as gasoline. Again E85 is only 15% ethanol so you can do the math. I'm not sure if the fuel corrections in the computer can compensate enough for it with a stock tune. It probably can.

Now for the green side of it. The only reason Ethanol is cheap is because it is heavily subsidized by the federal government. You can buy straight Ethanol for about $.60 a gallon but it will take twice as much or $1.20 to produce the same power level as gasoline. My neighbor the engine builder has made some pretty high numbers like close to 1000 horses on straight Ethanol so it will run. You just have to do things a little differently not allowing aluminum or plating aluminum and having some huge jets in the carburetors. Also Ethanol can not be pumped through the gas transit pipes in the ground and have to be trucked in. That burns more fuel. It also has to be farmed by diesel tractors and watered bla bla bla like a crop. If it wasn't for the government subsidies it would cost more than gasoline. Some day they will go away and the buyer will have to pay the higher cost.

My opinion is there is no way I would do it. There is just to many risks.

[ExtinctBird]

Unless all that I have studied on E85 is wrong, then it is actually 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Also, E85 should actually produce slightly higher HP than gas, assuming the car is tuned properly for E85. Although E85 would get lower mileage.

To prevent corrosion from being a problem, you would probably need to change out the the entire fuel system: tank, pump, lines, injectors. It might be an issue with the exhaust too.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Unless all that I have studied on E85 is wrong, then it is actually 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Also, E85 should actually produce slightly higher HP than gas, assuming the car is tuned properly for E85. Although E85 would get lower mileage.

To prevent corrosion from being a problem, you would probably need to change out the the entire fuel system: tank, pump, lines, injectors. It might be an issue with the exhaust too.

I probably do have that backwards. After hearing all of the problems it can cause I ignored it. It does produce more horsepower but it takes twice the volume of fuel to do it. Another words if something like a boat was running at 5000 rpms making 300 horses using 10 gallons an hour switching it to ethanol it would make like 350 horses at 5000 rpms but use 20 gallons per hour. Something like that. My neighbor said he had to drastically increase the jet size in the carburetor to get it to run right.

[BadWS6]

Lots to think about ...on the corrosion issue I belive all gas sold in CA now contains ethanol (to replace MTBE) all though I dont know the percentage

[Z Ya Later]

Lots to think about ...on the corrosion issue I belive all gas sold in CA now contains ethanol (to replace MTBE) all though I dont know the percentage

Fortunately though, that's only during the summer I believe. If you'll notice, the pumps don't feature that little sticker during mid-fall through mid-spring...again, I believe. I may be wrong on that.

[MunsonGTA]

e85 is great if you can find it. most places don't even have it yet, i know there is only 1 or 2 gas stations in the surrounding area of my house (within an hour radius) that actually have it. it's great for race cars as it's 110 octane or so. the downside, you burn 30% more e85 for the same amount of power as regular gas. alot of race cars are converting to it, but they also have to run a 2nd fuel pump to supply enough fuel to the engine. and right now it's currently the same price as regular gasoline, atleast here it is. a gallon of e85 is going for 2.80 right now, same as regular 93 here. if you had a race car that ran on 100-110 octane and pay 5-8 bucks a gallon or more, then it would be worth the switch. right now for a normal car, it's not.