Switched from E85 to 91 for road trip

[702GT]

Car feels dull. Not near as much spark advance in the bottom end. It should be illegal not to sell e85 at every station.

 

[rcm90]

Car feels dull. Not near as much spark advance in the bottom end. It should be illegal not to sell e85 at every station.

I agree. Hopefully I will not have to take my car off e85 as I enjoy the torque down low.

 

[WJBertrand]

85% ethanol? Didn't know our cars could use that.

 

[stkjock]

85% ethanol? Didn't know our cars could use that.

With proper mods any modern car can.

 

[WJBertrand]

With proper mods any modern car can.

OK, so we're talking about a modified car in this case. Thanks

 

[JUSTA3V]

For me. 2007

Fuel pumps
Fuel filter
Fuel injectors
E85 tune

 

[rcm90]

I just retuned the car for e85, but I'm high in elevation. Since its been getting cold at the da has dropped, I've been running out of fuel and installed fuel system and injectors.

 

[702GT]

OK, so we're talking about a modified car in this case. Thanks

Only fuel component modified is my stock fuel hat. Modified to fit a walbro 405, S&H's wire upgrade kit, and PPRV delete.

The magic for running E85 is in the tune. I did initially change my oem fuel filter once a week for the first 3 weeks I ran e85. Ethanol is going to clean your fuel system. As it does, all the petrol shit that buids up in the tank will build up in the filters. I went overkill on changing the fuel filter and sock but it's better than dealing with a potential fuel restriction.

105 octane fuel for $2/gal is the business.

 

[JUSTA3V]

It got down to the 50s here this week and my car wouldn't start on the e85. It's a trade off I guess

 

[702GT]

It got down to the 50s here this week and my car wouldn't start on the e85. It's a trade off I guess

It's been high 30's low 40's in the morning in Vegas and I haven't had an issue.

 

[rcm90]

It got down to the 50s here this week and my car wouldn't start on the e85. It's a trade off I guess

Your tune needs work then. My car starts in the upper 20's but idles like shit(lopes super hard) until cylinder temps get up. Part of it is because the injectors are so big and fuel control at idle is pretty difficult to achieve.

 

[JUSTA3V]

Ya Lito has it sorted out now

 

[Riptide]

In Brazil I've read that they actually inject regular gasoline in to get the car started when the temps get "low" which I'm assuming for them is in the 50s.

Wish they sold E85 everywhere but lots of places still don't have it. The demand just isn't there and you know how it is. 95% don't care about "cheap race fuel". They just want to get to a->b and couldn't care less how much safe power they make getting there.

 

[BruceH]

85% ethanol? Didn't know our cars could use that.

A tune change is all that's needed with a stock car. A stock 3v motor will pick up about 10/10 rwhp/tq. E85 really comes to life with more cylinder pressure either through higher compression or boost.

Keeping all things the same a 4.6 3v making around 500rhwp will gain 35rwhp just on the fuel change and changing only the stoich in the tune. More gains are possible with more spark advance and more boost. Boost can be added to the limits of the motor because E85 won't detonate. Spark can be added until it starts making less power for the same reason.

E85 or even E50 or E30 are game changers for internal combustion engines. Ethanol reduces the threshold for detonation and cools the combustion chamber. It can't really be compared to gasoline with gasoline metrics like btus.

The oil companies go to great lengths to demonize ethanol. You can find plenty of people on here who have had great success with it. In fact it is my belief that having 10% ethanol is part of the reason we can have stock motors with 12:1 compression that run on 87 octane. There are other factors but the cooling and anti detonation effects of ethanol are part of the equation imo.

I've seen a few oil company advertisement that are made to look like news stories. Their only purpose is to demonize ethanol. Why? Because only one oil company has invested in ethanol production, the rest of them see it as something that cuts into their profits. This is the same reason they fought to have MTBE used as an octane booster. They knew how dangerous it was but they ignored that and said they just couldn't put ethanol in their product (MTBE is made from refining byproducts that are hazardous).

Sorry for the soapbox, it wasn't directed at you. I come from a farming background in corn country and get somewhat excited when ethanol comes up because most of the info out there just isn't correct. Have a nice day.

 

[BruceH]

It got down to the 50s here this week and my car wouldn't start on the e85. It's a trade off I guess

I've been able to start mine in 20's with E85. I had to mess with the cold start fuel tables and spark advance a whole lot but it will start. It's not really driveable until it's ran for a little while though.

Since you are in Minnesota I'd be willing to bet that you have blender pumps available. If so have you thought about trying E50 or even E30? It would require a different tune but only one parameter has to be changed. Although it would probably be best to knock the spark advance down a little, lol. I've read papers that claim gasoline with 50% ethanol won't detonate but I'd still take some off of the spark advance for piece of mind.

 

[JUSTA3V]

Im not in Minnesota, that's where my tuner lives. I live in Phoenix Arizona.

 

[lito]

In Brazil I've read that they actually inject regular gasoline in to get the car started when the temps get "low" which I'm assuming for them is in the 50s.

They use E100.

 

[weather man]

When its colder my car will usually fire and die first try. Always fires and runs 2nd try.

 

[Unreal]

Im not in Minnesota, that's where my tuner lives. I live in Phoenix Arizona.

Zero issues here starting on e85 when it is cold in the mornings.

I wish fords could do flex fuel. My vette is running flex fuel and it is great just having the car adjust fuel/timing based on the percentage of e85. Winter e85 right now is ~70% but it automatically adjust for that, and can blend as much e100 or 91 in and car just takes care of it.

 

[JUSTA3V]

Do you park your car in a heated garage? As for the e85 . Where I get mine it is testing at E95 right now so there is a difference.

I take it your vette is the car on E85?

And finally, is your vette red with Weld RTS rims?