E85 Anyone

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bobscuda67

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I noticed a lot of gas stations have E85 around me now and I was wondering what it would take for our beloved Mopars to run on this stuff. What would be the performance advantage and what would the downside be. Would it require higher compression, alky carb, stainless fuel system, fuel cell? Has anyone ever done this before? Just thinking outload. Bob
 
Yeah I think you got it. I just worry that as soon as us hot rodders all start doing it, we will not be allow to pump it in our old cars, really. I allready seen that some papers were talking that is only for new cars that are made from the factory for it. Heck, that gas is 100+ octane, you can run 11, maybe 12-1 compression. On the race track alcohol cars are faster than gas cars, so it should work out the same on the street. I think you need to burn more of it, maybe alot more so it cost more than gas even though it be cheaper per gallon. But as soon as you and others start pulling in with your 11 second cars the cops will put a stop to it. Maybe it take a few years for them to crack down, maybe nobody will care but it seems like every time a good thing happens the party is soon over. You need a special motor to do it right and then you can not use plain gas. Even if you put racing gas in it the carb jetting will be way off. If you want to do it get books and stuff for racing motors that burn alcohol, you just need to lean the alcohol carb out a little cause of the 15% gas and run maybe 12-1 compression unstead of 14-1.I just hate to spend $3000 or so then can not be able use it but maybe nobody will notice a 40 year old car at the pumps.
 
I think its a crap shoot. I have an air port right down the street that is about as far away as the gas station. Hmmmmmm. 100LL avgas. I can live with that. Expensive but works.
 
i have no experience with e-85, but i have heard that if you use it in older cars or cars that aren't set up for it from the factory you risk haveing an engine fire. the fuel is supposed to be very hard on rubber lines and internal carb parts. it will basically eat it up. lines and tank i belive need to be changed along with jetting to be able to run it.....
 
But I believe alcohol can burn richer than gas thats why those alcohol racing cars are so fast. If you look at the track records the fasters more powerful motors all use something other than gas. Gas motors are the weakest, then I believe its alcohol then nito, not spell right sorry.


Yes everything has to be change, might cost way more than $3000
 
here is a followup from an e-85 site.......

IS IT POSSIBLE TO CONVERT A VEHICLE THAT WAS DESIGNED FOR GASOLINE TO OPERATE ON E85?

Yes. However, there are no conversions or after-market parts that have been certified by the EPA as meeting the standards to maintain clean exhaust emissions. Technically speaking, converting a vehicle that was designed to operate on unleaded gasoline only to operate on another form of fuel is a violation of the federal law and the offender may be subject to significant penalties. No after-market conversion company has successfully certified an E85 kit that would allow a gasoline vehicle to operate on 85 percent ethanol.

The differences in fuel injector size, air-fuel ratio, PCM calibrations, material composition of the fuel lines, pumps and tanks are just a few of the components that contribute to making an E85 conversion extremely complex. It is our understanding that at least one company is working to obtain EPA certification. We will monitor the situation closely, understanding the certification process can be time consuming, difficult and expensive.
 
If you have a 11 or 10 second car that is licensed (as I do) then you have already violated federal law, so like me who cares. Plus a regular city, county or state officer has no jurisdiction in this matter it has to be a "Fed".

If your state has emission laws then possibly State law enforcement could give you some greif.
 
Our cars were not made to burn unleaded fuel, so we have already changed the type of fuel we use once. Is that an EPA violation? The future is E85, as it is mandated by our goverment. I don't remember when the new rules take affect. In about ten years or so. I am not talking about a 10 second car here , just a street car that runs low 13's.
 
The change from leaded to unleaded is not an EPA violation because it was not our modification it was theirs. But putting leaded fuel in our leaded cars now is a violation.
 
So when they change to E85 it will be their modifacation, not ours. Either way, we will have to change some time in the future.
 
Yes, some day we will have to convert. If they take as long as they took to get rid of leaded fuel we have about 15 years. Not that big of deal, Bigger jets and possible metering blocks in the carbs (or just change whole carb), change fuel pumps and rubber lines to be alcohol compatible. All of the metal parts like tanks, lines, etc have no issue with alcohol. Alcohol has no lubricating qualities so we may have to run a top end lubricant in the alcohol.
 
But nobody is talking about changing all the fuel to E85 at any time, not 15 or 20 years. In fact the most right now that the gov. thinks they can change is around 15%. Alcohol comes from corn and the cattle need it too, unless some way can be found there is no way all the gas can be E85 because we can not make that much alcohol.
 
Yes I agree if all the gas sold is E85 then no problem, the problem is theres now way-for right now-to make all thats needed. What we might have in 15 years is all gas having 10% alcohol, which if the motor is tune right would be fine.
 
I have heard that E-85 has a nasty tendacy to attract moisture and as such can cause all kinds of issues with old cars that are not set up for it. As for the legal points, everything is legal here in New Hampshire so please excuse me while I warm up the milling machine and start upping the CR on my 340! Wooooo-Hooooooo!

-LY
 
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