Tell Me All About E-85

sneaky98gt · Feb 25, 2010

Well, the thought has crossed my mind. As you have probably seen, I'm going supercharged here in a few weeks, and am of course getting a dyno tune afterwards. Well, I was thinking: While I'm at it, and if it's worth it, should I get a tune for E-85, along with a regular premium tune?

I ask because I have a few friends who are running E-85 that made HUGE improvements. One of them, has a mostly stock Saturn Ion Redline (which is actually a surprisingly fast car, trapping 109 in the 1/4 ) at 15 lbs of boost. He converted over to E-85 and made over 50 horsepower. And I know of a few people here (04sleeper) that have made the swap with huge improvements in power.

Now for me, I would only run the E-85 for racing and whatnot. I'd still run premium on a regular basis. That's what the guys I know are doing. Now for a couple of questions:

1. Is it worth it/how much power would I make with my set-up? (I'm running full bolt ons, Eaton S/C at 6 lbs of non-intercooled boost, hoping for low 300's hp)

2. How big injectors and fuel pump would I need for that much more horsepower made with E-85? (However much that is) With my current (future) set up, I'm going with a Focus fuel pump, and either 39 or 42 lb injectors. If that's not enough, then the E-85 will definitely have to wait for the time being.

3. Is there a problem with corrosion or anything like that? I was reading somewhere that you had to have all new fuel lines and rails and whatnot. Is there any truth in that?

All I can think of right now.

Thanks Stangnet!

bhuff30 · Feb 26, 2010

Fuel lines and rubber components will be fine. If you were talking about methanol, the story would be different.

I've been running E85 in my 88 for quite a while. It has the octane of race gas, but costs less than 87 octane. I've had E85 in my tank for well over 2 years and no issues with the fuel system. You'll probably want to talk with 04sleeper about fuel pumps, but I would think dual 255hp pumps would do the job for the cheapest. Go with bigger injectors than you think you need. It doesn't make tuning any more difficult and gives you plenty of room to grow. I'd say 60lb/hr would even be a reasonable choice.

Personally, I think think it is even worth keeping a gasoline tune with a blower. To really make it worth while pumping E85 in your tank, you need to increase the boost which means a smaller pulley. Then, it makes it very difficult to tune for 91 octane. So if you want to switch to E85, plan to run it full time and plan on running a bunch more boost to put it to good use.

When tuning, be aware that E85 often doesn't audibly detonate. However, with the cooling effect of alcohol, you can really push the envelope. On my 88, I was running 25psi of boost from an inefficient turbo, with 8:1 compression... and threw a 35 shot of juice on top for good measure. No detonation issues, but the block wasn't up for the cylinder pressures and cracked. I'll post up something soon about my new combo.

Tell Me All About E-85

sneaky98gt

bhuff30

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