E85 california

[Little Mouse]

Compression ratio can be run with E85 very tempting is it available in california easy to get. What downsides are there to it.

[In-Tech]

Getting easier all the time(new station down the street from the shop has one and at least 2 more in town) and I am converting my Tahoe to "flex fuel". E85 at the pump is not the same ratio daily or weekly. This has a sensor to detect alcohol content.(I'm still studying)

Racing folk use E85 drum fuel as it is generally accurate as I have been told by others that are checking. I'm pretty sure Gary C is a race fuel distribution guy so hopefully he chimes in with more details.

p.s. sorry for not mentioning I am in Fresno, CA...central Calif for those not familiar.

[Little Mouse]

Well i live in texas but soon to be san diego. Was reading a deal where guy had 10.5 compression 350 sbc put boost to it 9 lbs, claimed that equaled 16.1 compression had no detonation problems. Id love to have 13 to 1 in a street toy.

[pcnsd]

I live in North County San Diego. I ran E85 in one of my race bikes for just over a year. I bought from the pump at a Shell station in Carlsbad off of Palomar Airport Rd. Always tested as E82 winter or summer. I think there are about a dozen stations in the county, mostly in the coastal or surrounding urban centers of the county. Loved the way it smelled, but it did not work well in my air-cooled, carbureted machine below about 60F. It was awesome in the Perris summer heat. Between aluminum carb corrosion and pitting, the plugged pump jet, the weird jelly deposits and the black goo, I went back to race gas. Your results may vary. In a car if you run gas every few tanks, I think that will clear the deposits that E85 doesn't dissolve.

[Little Mouse]

All i know is holley sells carbs for it and your supposed to have stainless fuel lines so far. Sounds like maybe a pipe dream to use it. I suppose no factory steel fuel tank would be good, with what your describing.

[FC-Pilot]

Built a few “play boats” that ran on E85. The lowest compression NA engine was 13 to 1 with iron heads. Then there was the roots blown bbc with an 871 at 18% over that ran just fine on it as well. The pumps we used always tested at 87 to 89% ethanol. Consideration does need to be taken for corrosive issues as well as making sure all your fuel system components are up for it. If you do your homework you will be just fine. If you try to take shortcuts and cheat then just like back in school you will fail.

Paul

[n2xlr8n]

Well i live in texas but soon to be san diego. Was reading a deal where guy had 10.5 compression 350 sbc put boost to it 9 lbs, claimed that equaled 16.1 compression had no detonation problems. Id love to have 13 to 1 in a street toy.

I'll never utilize 93 octane in anything, unless I have to.

Carl is right- E85 from the pump can be anywhere from E55 to E80; use a GM flex sensor. My little stock 2.0L Subaru made 430whp on 29 psi running E85.

I have no idea what my Lima 2.3L makes (haven't taken it to the track), but it's 9.5:1 CR with 33 psi.

E85 rocks. E90 in the drum is even better.

[slo-svt]

What is the application? My z06 had 13.3 SCR has ran on aviation fuel, 110 leaded race gas, pump gas, and e85. It made the most power on e85 (to be fair I didn't try any of the others after I got the fuel system done) but there are some downsides as well. Its hygroscopic so try and get it from a reputable station (you may even put some in a glass container and let it sit overnight and make sure water doesn't separate out your first couple fill ups) Preferably one that sells a decent volume of that fuel. The other that it really doesn't detonate like gas. It just goes straight to breaking stuff so don't count on knock sensors saving your engine if it's equipped. IMO it becomes more important to have a competent tuner if you make the switch. Its also pretty corrosive stuff so I usually tell people not to let their car sit with it in there terribly long. Lets it warm up and idle for a little bit every couple weeks if you don't drive it often. I tuned a Camaro for a member here that has over 11:1 compression with 14lbs from a roots blower also. I think its a great option if its readily available.

[groberts101]

I love that stuff! Less available energy/btu but really allows you to make up for it by pushing the build spec's and tuning parameters. You can get a cheap mobile test kit to see what ratio's are straight out of the pump. I use a cheap quickfuel test tube but there are tons of others out there now.

Also best to top your tank off if sitting for a while since less tank air volume will mean less hygroscopic tendencies. Some of my toys have sat full winters without issues but there are also fuel conditioners for e85 too.

[CGT]

What is the application? My z06 had 13.3 SCR has ran on aviation fuel, 110 leaded race gas, pump gas, and e85. It made the most power on e85 (to be fair I didn't try any of the others after I got the fuel system done) but there are some downsides as well. Its hygroscopic so try and get it from a reputable station (you may even put some in a glass container and let it sit overnight and make sure water doesn't separate out your first couple fill ups) Preferably one that sells a decent volume of that fuel. The other that it really doesn't detonate like gas. It just goes straight to breaking stuff so don't count on knock sensors saving your engine if it's equipped. IMO it becomes more important to have a competent tuner if you make the switch. Its also pretty corrosive stuff so I usually tell people not to let their car sit with it in there terribly long. Lets it warm up and idle for a little bit every couple weeks if you don't drive it often. I tuned a Camaro for a member here that has over 11:1 compression with 14lbs from a roots blower also. I think its a great option if its readily available.

There seems to be a big variety of results and opinions on E85. I've looked at carbs that had it sitting in it for long periods, they look fine...nothing like methanol. Others state gelling, deposits ,etc Not doubting that it happens, it just hasn't happened to me. I even know one dumbass that stores his late model car over the winter with a topped off tank of it....no problems . Injector dynamics injectors are inexpensive anyway I mean your not gonna make it non-hygroscopic but there is so many differing opinions on it...definitely interesting.

I think the stuff in a late model car with a flex sensor is the next coming.....awesome, race gas at the pump for cheap. I guess until I break something. And availability, I was within 3 miles of an E85 pump, in the next couple weeks there will be one within 3/4 of a mile from me.

On a side note. I acquired a decent E85 carb, so we can hopefully do some dyno testing here and there. We can share that data privately though. Phuck the dyno info philanthropy here.

[slo-svt]

There seems to be a big variety of results and opinions on E85. I've looked at carbs that had it sitting in it for long periods, they look fine...nothing like methanol. Others state gelling, deposits ,etc Not doubting that it happens, it just hasn't happened to me. I even know one dumbass that stores his late model car over the winter with a topped off tank of it....no problems . Injector dynamics injectors are inexpensive anyway I mean your not gonna make it non-hygroscopic but there is so many differing opinions on it...definitely interesting.

I haven't experienced it either but go 80 miles south and I have seen multiple people get water in their e85 straight out of the pump. I got a text from a friend yesterday and he got e40 out of an e85 pump. It's going to be largley station dependent. If you go to a decent gas station you shouldn't have an issue like that.

[CGT]

I could be getting bad info, but Mustang James brother works for the company that supplies fuel to the E85 station that I use(Moscow Mills). He talks like it either is, or will be changed to a system that blends ethanol and gasoline at the pump. Therefore all E85 will be 85% Ethanol from there. But like I said, could be bad info.

On a side note, I don't think E85 smells particularly great..but it smells a hell of a lot better than regular pump gas.

[novafornow]

I have experienced corrosion and the dreaded black goo. Not a fan. I guess if you drove it often that may help. But, if hardly driven much, I would stick to race gas myself. The savings are just not there. No issues and a great smell to boot.

[naukkis79]

There was black goo problem in Sweden too, it was one gas additive which wasn't effective when blended with high ethanol blends. No problems with goo after that was solved.

There's so big price advantage for E85 that I have converted all daily-driven and occasionally driven vehicles to use it. It won't detonate so 15:1 cr for daily driver have been ok for years and ten's of thousand miles, engines and oil stay much less black than with gasoline, tuning is way easier than with gas, worn out electric quadrajet works just fine after modified to E85 as with E85 you could run it with extremely wide spread AFR ratios, there's no misfires until extremely lean or rich and newer any signs of pinging.

Too bad that E85 wasn't available in 80's and 90's, I would have saved a lot of money and time.....

[In-Tech]

I could be getting bad info, but Mustang James brother works for the company that supplies fuel to the E85 station that I use(Moscow Mills). He talks like it either is, or will be changed to a system that blends ethanol and gasoline at the pump. Therefore all E85 will be 85% Ethanol from there. But like I said, could be bad info.

On a side note, I don't think E85 smells particularly great..but it smells a hell of a lot better than regular pump gas.

That's pretty cool if correct. Mixed right there at the station.

I haven't bitten the bullet on the build but I am still leaning towards a 6L at around 11:1 for 91 octane with lean burn and still add the e85 option. The good part for me is I build myself and have the ability to tune on the fly so I plan on learning as I go.

I still have a billet capped 6L iron block on the side and would like to make a hot street/drag L86 headed 14:1 EFI monster for fun. Not for the tahoe. I have a 64 malibu(my last favorite car that I had before the divorce, sheesh 20+ years ago) in my sights if can pull the coin together. That might be fun.