What do you guys think of E85?

[rulesR4suckers]

What do you cats think of E85? Do you think that it will be the new fuel? I read that it is 105 octane which seems cool to me, but I just don't know what to make of all of this. If gas powered cars have to be converted to E85, it's going to be a pain and probably expensive. I'm about ready to throw in the towel and sell the Stang this is getting crazy.

Check this link out and watch the video. Interesting. I'm out

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12676374/

 

[Therian]

Well it's definitely not a bad thing...

I've invested in one of the larger ethanol plants to be buillt in southern ontario, and it looks like it's going to pay off. There's a lot of naysayers who claim that it takes more energy to create ethanol than ethanol itself creates, but that's bull****...

I think engines would have to be upgraded to stainless steel in order to prevent the corrosion by ethanol...should be interesting. I wonder how much the engine cost on that new ford superchief...

 

[94-302-vert]

I like it but I don't think it is evertyhing it is cracked up to be. here in the NE we use 10% ethanol... When Bush stopped the mandate that this had to be a couple weeks ago my mileage went back up to 20MPG, I had been at 18mpg for unknown reasons for a while. Now I know it was the gas I was buying...

 

[zenboy99]

Here are some interesting links.

http://www.engr.unl.edu/~ethanol/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85#Availability.

E85 capable Super Stallion
http://jwfisher.com/sec-ford/FMC-concepts-prototypes-showcars/sve_super-stallion/default.htm

I've heard lots of different things about E85, they're putting up a plant here in Wisconsin soon. I think moving to E85 is more political than environmental. My friend is the Sierra Club president for the state of Wisconsin. They have no opinion either way on E85, neither for it, nor against it.

 

[The Green GT]

If it comes to Lousiana I wll be all over it. From what Ive heard, all you have to do is change all your fuel lines to steel lines, get bigger injectors cause you will burn more of this than gas (but its alot cheaper), and possible a chip and tune if you want to get more power from it.

 

[06stangtyme]

from what I understand is that fuel mileage is lower,
and If E85 goes exclusive, Then yes older cars will have
to convert just like when leaded gas went away which
Valves and seats had to be changed...

 

[JunkyardTurbos]

Well it's definitely not a bad thing...

There's a lot of naysayers who claim that it takes more energy to create ethanol than ethanol itself creates, but that's bull****...

I've heard this nonsense too. It's actually the other way around. We only get back 84% of the energy that is put into making gasoline, and 126% for E85. With E85, we get back all of the energy that is put in, plus 26%.

"Ethanol yields roughly 26% more energy than it takes to produce it, according to a just-published study by the University of California at Berkeley. That's because corn grows using free sunlight and because farming has gotten very efficient. Gasoline provides only about 84% of the energy required to produce it, the study says."

 

[JunkyardTurbos]

from what I understand is that fuel mileage is lower,
and If E85 goes exclusive, Then yes older cars will have
to convert just like when leaded gas went away which
Valves and seats had to be changed...

Re-jet your carb or re-program your ECM to fatten up the mixture a bit and you're good to go. You can also bump the timing. That's a plus.

 

[rulesR4suckers]

It's to much politics involved in this. if the gov is going to mandate E85 they should really get the ball rolling faster, but it's really up the the gas companies. They are the ones that are being forced to put E85 pumps in their stations. I believe this E85 thing will take some years to really get going, because the oil companies aren't going out without a fight. The oil companies may even lower the price of gas just to compete and what can the gov do.....nothing IMO after all the US is based on free enterprise. Good times on the way

 

[Therian]

I've heard this nonsense too. It's actually the other way around. We only get back 84% of the energy that is put into making gasoline, and 126% for E85. With E85, we get back all of the energy that is put in, plus 26%.

"Ethanol yields roughly 26% more energy than it takes to produce it, according to a just-published study by the University of California at Berkeley. That's because corn grows using free sunlight and because farming has gotten very efficient. Gasoline provides only about 84% of the energy required to produce it, the study says."

Can someone confirm that it's only the injectors and fuel lines that need to be changed to run E85? would there be any adverse impacts on the heads? pistons? Fuel Pump? there's actually an E85 fuel station less than 20km from me...so I'm quite interested

 

[94_Teal_GT]

I don't see the savings? Unless those numbers are incorrect.

2005 Ford Taurus FFV

Fuel......City.........Highway
Gas.....19mpg.........27mpg
E85.....15mpg.........20mpg
..................................E85.... ...Gas
Cost to Drive 25 Miles.... $3.54... .$3.31
Fuel to Drive 25 Miles... 1.47 gal...1.14 gal
Cost of a Fill-up.......... $39.04 .... $47.14
Miles on a Tank...........275 miles.. 356 miles
Tank Size..................18.0 gal .. 18.0 gal
Annual Fuel Cost*...... $2126 ..... $1993

* Based on 15000 annual miles and a fuel price of $ 2.91 per gallon of gasoline and $2.41 per gallon of E85 .
Fill-up cost and the distance you can travel on a tank are calculated based on the combined MPG and the assumption that you will re-fuel when your tank is 10% full.

www.fueleconomy.gov

E85 is usually used in engines modified to accept higher concentrations of ethanol. Such flexible-fuel engines are designed to run on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol with up to 85% ethanol by volume. The primary differences from non-FFVs is the elimination of bare magnesium, aluminum, and rubber parts in the fuel system, the use of fuel pumps capable of operating with electrically-conductive (alcohol) instead of non-conducting dielectric (gasoline) fuel, specially-coated wear-resistant engine parts, fuel injection control systems having a wider range of pulse widths (for injecting approximately 30% more fuel), the selection of stainless steel fuel lines (sometimes lined with plastic), the selection of stainless steel fuel tanks in place of terne fuel tanks, and, in some cases, the use of acid-neutralizing motor oil. For vehicles with fuel-tank mounted fuel pumps, additional differences to prevent arcing, as well as flame arrestors positioned in the tank's fill pipe, are also sometimes used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85#Availability

 

[The Green GT]

lots of words

But you make more power from E85 also I believe.

 

[loudpedal99]

Any rubber (like o-rings) in the system has to be changed. E85 deteriorates normal rubber o-rings. There is a really good sticky on turbomustangs.com about a guy with a 1000rwhp stang on E85.

Edit: Got beat by 94 Teal Gt, who also knows a lot more about it than I do

 

[94_Teal_GT]

Edit: Got beat by 94 Teal Gt, who also knows a lot more about it than I do

Not really, that's just info from the Feds and from one of the links that zenboy99 posted.

 

[Therian]

The deterioration problem seems to be a mid - long term issue (3 years +) but there are always exceptions. It would be nice to see some empirical evidence on this

Looks as though fuel pump + injectors should be changed plus a chip or Fuel management system in order to properly run E85

I'd probably still get teflon fuel lines and O rings to be safe though

 

[Koniz]

definitely a problem with o rings but there is a easy way of fixing that just convert to AN fitting and stainless braided lines

 

[zenboy99]

It would be nice to see some empirical evidence on this

Click on my first link above.

 

[zenboy99]

But you make more power from E85 also I believe.

You can theoretically make more power since E85 is over 100 octane. But on a 9:1 daily driver power output differences would be small.

The local government E85 car my Dad worked on was 17:1 compression.

 

[94-302-vert]

To me it depends on the inferstructure... In the NE we have no E85 stations at all... (MA,RI,CT)... so what would be the price per gallon. If it was $1 a gallon (as some sites say it can be) and I got 50% of the mileage I get now I still save 33% in gas. At 12k miles a year on the stang that pays off pretty quick...

 

[BlackVert]

i read in the newspaper last week that we cannot produce enough ethanol right now to make it feasible

OT: that stallion engine is amazing ...