ethanol

[bferg351]

First-time user here, so be nice o.k?
Last night i filled up my '89 LTD 6pac. with e85.
Ran like a pig! I havent even had it tuned recently and just got back from a good run to perth . There is about 340,000 on the old girl as well.
Tonight i sucked 40 lt. out and added 20 lt of unleaded to bring the ethanol % back to about the 50% mark. My maths aint so flash but i think i am about right there.
It runs like a charm now and at $1.28 Lt. seems like a good idea to me. I have been reading a lot about it and a lot of what is said sounds like crap but if you searh around the facts are easy enough to find supporting the use of ethanol.
Any-one else played with the stuff yet.
there is some interesting stuff coming from some tuners here (adelaide) about good power and acceptable economy from modded cars( turbo and supercharged).

[Airmon]

Ethanol isn't recomended for use on Carby cars. It works fine with most Fuel injected cars but not so much with Carby's. Even then, not all EFI cars, there is a list on a Govt website somewhere listing which cars E10 is compatible with.

E85? I didn't know you could even buy that in Australia yet.
I wouldn't touch it unless I had a massive overhaul of my fuel system.

[dom_105]

E85 or E10?

You would need to undertake a fair bit of work to get a car running anywhere near normal on E85.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Airmon

E85? I didn't know you could even buy that in Australia yet.
I wouldn't touch it unless I had a massive overhaul of my fuel system.

United rolled it out in NSW and will be moving it down to vic and up to qld.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by bferg351

First-time user here, so be nice o.k?
Last night i filled up my '89 LTD 6pac. with e85.
Ran like a pig! I havent even had it tuned recently and just got back from a good run to perth . There is about 340,000 on the old girl as well.
Tonight i sucked 40 lt. out and added 20 lt of unleaded to bring the ethanol % back to about the 50% mark. My maths aint so flash but i think i am about right there.
It runs like a charm now and at $1.28 Lt. seems like a good idea to me. I have been reading a lot about it and a lot of what is said sounds like crap but if you searh around the facts are easy enough to find supporting the use of ethanol.
Any-one else played with the stuff yet.
there is some interesting stuff coming from some tuners here (adelaide) about good power and acceptable economy from modded cars( turbo and supercharged).

E85 is for cars converted to run E85. I'm sure if even says on the sticker on the bowser of one I pulled up next to, to not put E85 in your vehicle if it hasn't been converted to run E85.

[bferg351]

has anyone actually got any facts on it or are you all guessing about it ?
Most new cars are capable of running it straight out of the box, it will run well in carby engines with minor jetting changes( a lot of early speedway cars ran it apparently), it has been in use in usa and brazil in up to 100% for about 25 years in factory standard cars supplied there. What i would like to know is what is necessary to do to run 85% or will i need to just go half and half for now and see what happens?
cos it seems to run good on 50% so far.

[nugget378]

More than a minor jet change needed,

Changes need to be made in the metering block and elaswhere in the carb,you really need the carb converted to run that high a mix of ethanol,there are conversion kits available for holley carbs..

[73gscoupe]

Originally Posted by bferg351

has anyone actually got any facts on it or are you all guessing about it ?
Most new cars are capable of running it straight out of the box

No ones guessing, but it seems you are confused or have not done your homework.

All the above replies are accurate.

Your car will not run on E85. As you have found out. Most new cars will not run on it either. They will however, run on E10. if you want to run E85 then you will need your car retuned to suit.

[vztrt]

Well here's a site that is talking about converting EFI cars to E85.

http://www.flexfuelkit.com.au/articl...ths/Page1.html

http://www.flexfuelkit.com.au/articl...e-1/Page1.html

http://www.manildra.com.au/e85/

Please note: Take the advice of this site at your own risk.

Also an article on drive.

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...rticleID=53738

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by vztrt

http://www.manildra.com.au/e85/

Please note: Take the advice of this site at your own risk.

Also an article on drive.

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...rticleID=53738

I wasn't aware of the 10% increase in torque. For $400 and cheaper petrol, sounds like a decent mod. I might actually look into it, there's an E85 station not that far from my place.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by bferg351

has anyone actually got any facts on it or are you all guessing about it ?
Most new cars are capable of running it straight out of the box, it will run well in carby engines with minor jetting changes( a lot of early speedway cars ran it apparently), it has been in use in usa and brazil in up to 100% for about 25 years in factory standard cars supplied there. What i would like to know is what is necessary to do to run 85% or will i need to just go half and half for now and see what happens?
cos it seems to run good on 50% so far.

first off the carby car's that us ethanol are methanol carby's fitted.
ethanol is a corrosive full stop !!
the government web sight is joke when cross referencing the same engine fitted to different manufacturer's car's theirs a problem,
IE:RB30 can use E10 in holden but not in a nissan.

[Justin@]

On the turbo mustang site they did a dyno test run with a 5.0 twin turbo.
on E85 it made more power BUT it hade to have bigger injectors and stuff put into it.
I would use it if i could get it but i am stuck to using the E10 blend.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Rodp

I wasn't aware of the 10% increase in torque. For $400 and cheaper petrol, sounds like a decent mod. I might actually look into it, there's an E85 station not that far from my place.

I thought about doing it to an old falc taxi and see how it holds up, mind you when you can pick up a BA I6 motor for less then 1000 with not that many k's you wouldn't be too worried about trying it on one of them. Well except for stuffing the fuel system up.

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by ZC-383

On the turbo mustang site they did a dyno test run with a 5.0 twin turbo.
on E85 it made more power BUT it had to have bigger injectors and stuff put into it.
I would use it if i could get it but i am stuck to using the E10 blend.

Yep here's the link..Some tuning info ...
http://www.theturboforums.com/smf/in...?topic=47094.0

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by ZC-383

On the turbo mustang site they did a dyno test run with a 5.0 twin turbo.
on E85 it made more power BUT it hade to have bigger injectors and stuff put into it.
I would use it if i could get it but i am stuck to using the E10 blend.

http://www.unitedpetroleum.com.au/media.asp?pgID=203

Well apparently its in small qty's in syd and vic.

[xtremerus]

Never ever use e85 in a car that is not modified to use it.

As the United press release says
"e85 is not suitable for use in any other motor vehicles other than those designed specifically for e85, such as the new SAAB BioPower 9-3 and SAAB BioPower 9-5."
They must think that there are a lot of those model Saabs in Sydney and Melbourne.

[Hunter]

I avoid ethanol fuels, not because I don't think they're a good idea but because I get bloody awful mileage when using it!!

I get around 17-18L/100KM in my Falcon doing purely city driving - ran E10 in it and got 28L/100KM!!!!! Noticed worse economy in my brand new Mazda 3...

If the price difference was FAIRER I'd use it but I really get po'd when BP sell E10 fuel the same price as regular ULP is at other joints.... yeah they're not ripping us off at all!!!!!

Oh and I believe there's like 2 particular vehicles available in Australia which are 'designed' from factory to run E85. One is a Saab I think. You're asking for trouble putting it into a car that isn't designed or modified to run it...