Reply With QuoteDaaaaaaaaaamn Martin! I wish you the best of luck on you build! Sorry to read about what happened!
When you say this, I immediately think this:Originally Posted by monjarassi
Daaaaaaaaaamn Martin! I wish you the best of luck on you build! Sorry to read about what happened!
What's required to switch to e85 and what are the overall results? Negatives?
Chemically speaking, ethanol (C2H6O) when compared to gasoline (octane C8H18) has less stored potential energy. It's been approximated that when switch over to E85 from regular ~10% oxygenated octane that most internal combustion piston engines will require generally ~30% more fuel than what they previously consumed with octane. This usually means using about 30% larger injectors and adjusting for this on the fuel maps for the tune.
Negatives? I hope E85 is available close to you. Also, something to note:
Ethanol is hydroscopic. In chemistry, that means it likes water and will mix well with it. If you don't properly store E85, be it in your gas tank or whatever, it will mix with moisture in the air and dry out your fuel.
Because of this factor, I have HEARD of people having rust issue with the inside of their engines. Remember, cylinder wall linings are made of steel and so are piston rings.
Just some things to look into and research about before just plunge straight in E85. By no means am I wanting to deter you guys from it, but I do want you guys going into it understanding it and why people are choosing to use it as a race fuel alternative, not because it's the new hip thing to do this week.
Thanks. So, is mpg impaired by 1/3, 33mpg down to 22mpg? What about cost per gallon and what is the avg. percentage of gain?
I haven't really done enough research to look into that type of information. The benefits for costs comes from that ethanol is widely available (which it really isn't here in the US when compared to Brazil), if you could produce your own ethanol (pretty much moonshine, look into fermentation/distillation) it would very profitable and you would be indepedent from the oil companies.
The real benefit here for enthusiasts is it's cheap pump race gas. The price varies from state to state, city to city and locally here in St. Pete, FL the price is usually just below the price of premium 93 octane. Ethanol has the equivalent octane rating of around 101-105 depending on the batch you get, so that means more ignition timing and that means more power!
DW 1000's but with the return line it should help on the duty cycle.
Very well put... e85 can still get great gas mileage its just when you start getting on it will the needle move, a lot lol. Also rule of thumb is after the 3rd tank of e85 switch it back to unleaded to purge the system.
Last edited by 1GR8EP3; 09-11-2013 at 12:30 AM.
Very good info brotha!!! Thanks man if i could rep u i woud!!!
BTW RBC has been sold injunction of the vac block.
BTW e85 around me is 2.95-3.10 depending on the area ur in.
And from my house the closest location to fill up is 10min away
Worth the drive if u ask me
Good stuff and well explained, USAF. I don't think I'd be interested in using it with a stock a3, just curious.
-I imagine e85 lends itself better to higher compressions or forced induction. Would the stock compression of the K20a3 be enough to make it viable?
-Ballpark changes to hp? 5, 10%?
-GR8EP mentioned purging with unleaded. Without changing timing and other brain activities? Can you use unleaded some of the time without damaging? For instance, driving to an area that doesn't have E85?
-Transferring some of this to it's own thread would make a good tutorial.
Last edited by Hasbro; 09-10-2013 at 11:55 PM.
hmm custom intake mani in the works???
I would not recommend running unleaded on a e85 map, e85 makes it power from the timing that can be added. So in turn I would just load your original map that you were tuned on before e85. You will just have to keep your laptop with you just in case. My self, i will have my 91 tune and an e85 tune.
As for the a3 with turbo... it would benefit from e85, allowing you to make 300whp more easily but remember the a3 rods are not as strong as the a2 rods so anything over 300whp will start to play with the life of the motor. yet there have been a3's that make 330whp and last a long time. when I had an a3 turbo I also had two maps for that, 91 making 254 and a 100oct map making 305. The 100oct map was for playing haha.
and for the power difference from 91,93 oct to e85 would be a lot. I have seen gains in the 50whp ball park.
well worth it for sure!
When I switched to e85, I made 100whp over 93 octane since we could run more boost and timing, so very good lol
Also, when dealing with the internal engine rust concern...every fall when I put my car in storage for 5+ months of winter I put in Stabil http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/ with a full tank of 93 and drive it nicely 30 min to my storage area on my e85 tune. Then in the spring I drive it nicely home and remove my return line to drain the fuel system with the fuel pump powered with the engine off. Reconnect the lines and fill with fresh e85 ;)
Last edited by mario543k20; 05-08-2009 at 12:46 PM.
^ i can vouch for the gains as well- every one of my friends with boosted cars made about 100whp more when switching to e85. Im looking into it as well over the winter... but with meth too
Good info guys
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