To E85 or not?

[enyawix]

Hmm I hear this cons against a pure ethanol powered engine. Lets remember a few facts abotu it that seem to be getting over looked. Current gas engines need a 14 to 1 air to fuel ratio, alcohol needs 7 to 1, you are correct that you need 2 times as much fuel to run

Not true

Current gas engines target mix at "14.7:1" air to fuel ratio, pure alcohol target mix is 9:1 E85 is 10:1

 

[93 LX]

Not true

Current gas engines target mix at "14.7:1" air to fuel ratio, pure alcohol target mix is 9:1 E85 is 10:1

Well maybe I should have said roughly......

LOL ;o)

 

[twistedwankel]

If you missed the story, my '99 GT made the cover of Mustang Enthusiast last month about the conversion. You can read the whole article here if you're really serious about doing the switchover:
www.rearseatdelete.com/MEcover/MEcover1.html

That is a very interesting story. Makes a good read.
Thanks,
doug

 

[Shakerhood]

Hmm I hear this cons against a pure ethanol powered engine. Lets remember a few facts abotu it that seem to be getting over looked. Current gas engines need a 14 to 1 air to fuel ratio, alcohol needs 7 to 1, you are correct that you need 2 times as much fuel to run however you do not need to have 4 inch fuel lines you just need to make sure you have a good fuel pump and larger injectors to amke up for the difference. In carbed applications you just need to jet up your carb to make up for the difference. Fuel lines should be replaced since alcohol tends to corrode standard metal lines and will break down rubber lines.

My neighbor has a 57 Chevy with a 502, 6-71 roots blower and runs 100% alcohol. The engine makes 650 HPs and its a weekend car however the engine never overheats and at 3000 miles the oil looks like it did when it came out of the bottle. His stainless exhaust is also very, very clean.

Another note: F1 cars have been using it for many years and they get plenty of power so that shouldn't be an issue. Gas does have more energy potentail then alcohol but diesel has even more potential. All these come at a cost, more pollutants, more carbon deposits and more dependance on imported oil, Oh another myth about oil, the US #1 oil imported is not any arab country, it's a counrty right here in north america so once again the media skews the truth.

One more item, Henry Ford never had in mind to run the Model T on gas, he designed the engine for alcohol, remember he was trying to sell the car to the masses and most of the masses were farmers. He could never see the reason why cars ran on gas anyway. Maybe we should revist this and get the hell off OIL! If Barzil cn make the switch in 10 years how long do you think it would take the US, really?

Ok off my soap box! ;o)

E85 produces the same pollutant volumes per pound as Gasoline plus the compound Acetaldehyde! It takes 9 to 12 Gallons of water to produce 1 Gallon of Ethanol, versus 1 to 2 Gallons of Water to produce 1 Gallon of Gasoline. There are 19 Gallons of Recoverable Liquid Fuels from a Standard 54.5 Gallon Barrel of Crude, the other 35.5 Gallons produce Plastics, Medicines, ect, and anything left after that goes into what we use to pave the roads with so petroleum is almost 100% useable. Many Byproducts from Ethanol Production end up in Land fills, not a good choice for fuel.

 

[NKau]

It takes 9 to 12 Gallons of water to produce 1 Gallon of Ethanol

Most of those 9-12 gallons are recycled; at least in dry fractionation type facilities.

Many Byproducts from Ethanol Production end up in Land fills, not a good choice for fuel.

What byproducts, and in what amount?

 

[bditty50]

I lived in Brasil last year with my wife and all the cars there are flex fuel. They are the only country that is self sufficient on fuel. There ethanol is usually .25 cents cheaper then gasoline a liter. All you have to do to use ethanol is get either a programed box that alot of companies make that plug into your injectors. Which Brasil has been doing for like 25 years to their cars. So, you know its proven technology to run flex fuel. Which give you the ability to run e85 or gasoline or a mixture of the two. Also, you could program a MegaSquirt to have your injectors have the correct pulse for the setup. It doesn't have to be e85 or gasoline just have flexfuel.

Also, the ethanol production is not raising the cost of beef from more use of corn. Actually I've been reading alot about ethanol and they only use the parts of the corn for the production of the fuel and leave the leftovers for the cattle. The gasoline prices are making a jump of price for milk and beef.

 

[NKau]

Also, the ethanol production is not raising the cost of beef from more use of corn. Actually I've been reading alot about ethanol and they only use the parts of the corn for the production of the fuel and leave the leftovers for the cattle. The gasoline prices are making a jump of price for milk and beef.

Good points. Most people don't realize that corn isn't essentially 'used up' when making ethanol. It still retains much of it's feed value for cattle/swine/poultry after ethanol extraction.

Gas prices in addition to $5 corn are having a large impact on beef prices. With the cost of transportation, you'll probably see a lot of feedlots move into the midwest closer to high ethanol production areas.

 

[mjjj04]

I use e85 in most of my vehicles. I do suggest adding a bottle of gas treatment as I would with AV gas or methanol. e85 isn't corrosive like methanol. It doesn't get very good mileage in fact you can even check out ethanol sites and they say even at a lower cost it'll cost quite a bit more to run vs. gasoline. I saw gasohol mentioned, most gas sold in the US is "gasohol" about 10% blend. E85 is great fuel system cleaner and I'd suggest running a tank then a new filter because of what you will be cleaning from the system. Environmental concern should be a mute subject as we are a glutenous people(USA) and really only pretend to care, most is propaganda anyhow(IMHO). A tune is very important to e85 as injector pulse and many other things need to be changed. Make sure to let your cam guy know that you plan on using e85,I think the right cam would make a huge difference for an e85 engine. E85 is great for high compression or forced induction as with most alcohols. This isn't a new concept (alcohol dragsters and funny cars have been around for a while right) I find e85 is actually more forgiving than gasoline when tuning. I say good luck and don't be swayed against or for anything because of what someone makes up or theorizes about from a couch or where ever else some of these people come up with the $hi# they do. OK , I'm ready for the flames to start!