im switchin the evo over to e85 this spring. wondering if anybody else is running straight ethanol. theres an e85 pump in monroeville like 2mi away from me so figured id take advantage
you need a high flow fuel filter or kernels get clogged in it
thats just one down side
I would be there in a heartbeat if there were an E85 pump by home and work… there is one neither.
Our government Impala uses E85, which isn’t bad…it just seems to use it way faster than good ole petrol. We averaged 19 mpg on gas and only 17 on the E85.
I hear it works well with N20, but not sure how acurate that is 
I don’t plan on tryin it on the LT1 anytime soon
what happends when you take a trip and no e85 wherever you stop? gas is gettin cheaper dont see the benifit in a daily driver considering the costs to convert. e85 is corrosive to lines that werent intended for it. turbo buick guys have been converting to it for its performance advantages while others have gone to a more economic solution and installed alcohol injection.
a GM tech told me they’ve had all kinda problems with it and internally they were told to just run regular gas and the problems went away.
good for lawnmowers
i heard of performance issues related to PURE e-85.
i can use stock ecu and have more than one map on hand to flash. so if i need pump gas i can use it. im not really interested in e85 for its price but rather its performance advantages.
the corrosion part concerns me however i have read mixed information, much of which says that its not a problem for newer cars.
with alky, i think theres just too many reliability issues, even with failsafes. i think im set on e85 simply because of the availability for me so i have the luxery of atleast experimenting with it.
thanks man any feedback appreciated
For sure you are looking at it for the right reasons, but a few comments I have learned as I’ve looked into E85 as well.
I have the same ability to have multiple tunes via my TwEECer so haveing a pump gas, race gas, E85 tune is possible. Gping from race gas to pump gas is no issue as it’s still fuel. That transition with E85 to gas or the other way is critical to a performance car. I’m sure you have figured out the fueling differences required, now how do you transition with a partia ltank of either without a meltdown?? The flex fuel cars use a sensor that tells the ECU the mixture.
The quality of E85 is rather suspect at best right now. Becasue cars don’t like to start on it in cold weather, they play with the ratio of gasoline in cold weather, and by location. I have seen guys get a tune spot on, refuel, and then be lost again because of the ratio changes. At a minimum, this is an issue spring into summer and summer into fall. There isnt a lot of control on the actual ratio of gas to methanol. Again, for the flex fuel vehicles, they sense it and get on with it, for a chip tuned combo, you are going to be messed up. It seems the situation with that is better out west where E85 is turned over more. I know some guys in Colarado that are running it exclusively.
I was all about switching to E85 myself to get away from Torco mixing. I’ve resolved myself to a tune that will run on no lead 100, and another for 93 pump gas and living with that until guys get the sensors sorted out to work with Megasquirt or something else (I know some are working with it). That, and it;'s not taking off around here like it has other places (mid west).
My random thoughts on it…
Bob Myers
very nicely put man.
I read a lot of conflicting information on this topic and its rather hard to determine what is legitimate or not.
Granted, I dont have all the bugs worked out yet, but here’s what im thinking.
If im caught up with a partial tank of one fuel or the other and need to swap it i guess ill disconnect the fuel return line and let the remaining tank idle out.
as far as cold start issues, my car isnt my daily driver, got the beat ass cavalier for the winter months so im not concerned about issues related to that. i know e85 comes in different blends as the seasons change, but i think the change is subtle enough for the ecu to compensate not to mention my car only gets driven in the warmer months. I may be wrong though. worst case scenario: run 93 in the fall and winter.
im gonna have buschur do the tune as he’s done several e85 conversions and just hope for the best. i was hoping someone on this site had already done the conversion and let me know if it was problamatic or not.
appreciate the feedback
E85 is garbage, and proves how out of whack our priorities are as a nation. While millions starve, we use a food crop for inefficient fuel.
i have read (from a performance standpoint) it has similiar issues as a biodiesel conversion, in that it looses efficiency at high rpm applications. there are a lot of tuning issues that need to be addressed.
I only mention the “cold start issue” because they adjust the fuel to try and help it along. I know of two guys in eastern PA that had fits with it into late May this year because the change over is not clear cut (station fill to station fill), and then there is at least some speculation that they are over 15% gas a lot of the time (when they don’t have enough alky available). Possibly not a show stopper for you, but ran me away from it for now. Keep in mind the bulk of the E85 market is intended to offset gas usage, and they arent real concerned about those of us looking to it for octane. (more gas = less octane).
I’m not sure how the strategy is set up in the Mitsu stuff, but mine will not compensate enough for the fuel differences at WOT / high load situations. It can be tuned for closed loop, but above 3500 rpm or a specific load value I’m in open loop and running off tables only, so that is what stopped me. Without know what the fuel make-up is, I could never get the tune “right enough” to take advantage of the octane.
I keep watching others conversions myself, I tend to follow these types of things once the kinks are discovered rather than pioneer myself on something like this. I still hold out hope someone is going to make a more stand alone / affordable fuel ration sensor we can plug in to make this easier.
Good luck if you go this way, I will be watching for your results too.
Bob Myers
a couple well known universities who are researching the efficiency issues associated with the overall performance of these conversions proved that VVT(variable valve timing) engines compensate for some of of the tuning problems. all in all it comes into effect that octane is an issue in a modern powerplant. octane specific formulae set ignition standards by the ecm(electronic control module), which will change performance of an engine. i.e. 87 vs. 93 octane will effect engine efficiency in a modern system.
thanks guys,
i think im going to continue as planned. if i cant get the kinks worked out with the e85, then ill just run 93. ill definately do a thorough write up when im done, but for now im going to continue reading up.
comments always welcome
I Just tuned my civic on E-85 it made 600WHP and 450TQ I maxed out my rc 1200 injectors. It ran 10.3. I really like the fuel. It wasent to bad to tune. and my EGT’s droped. If I had 1600CC injectors I would have prob made 700whp.
IDK
****in right^^
so what volatility class did you get tuned with? in other words summer, fall, or winter blend? as martin noted previously in this thread there are three classes of ethanol %. curious to know how people are compensating for the % change.
you runnin double pumpers to max out those 1200s?
I have no idea what grade of fuel it was. It dident say. I dident care really
I am running an Aeromotive A1000