has anyone tried e85 yet?

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noco

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Sep 9, 2009
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fort collins colorado
i was looking at the gas prices today 2.09 for e 85...its more corrosive than gas so ill probly have to change some o rings and fuel line...but im not worried about that since ive ordered a new carb anyway...i was more worried about my bottom end...does it mix with oil well like gasoline?...it does not have as good of a combustion temp either which will cause a slight lack of power but it is about 115octain so if i could advance the magnito abit i should be able to take advantage of this long burn time...has anyone tried this???if its not gonna mix with oil than forget it... but the ethonal is mixed with 15% gas so if it can mix with gas than is it too much of an assumption that it will mix with oil???
 

Retmachinist

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Oct 21, 2008
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Urbandale Ia
I wouldn't even try it. If you are thinking of the little bit of money you will save, your performance will suffer greatly. Everyone I know that bought an E85 car or truck tried it once and said they would never buy it again. Performance, and gas mileage was terrible. Huge loss of power.
I guess I haven't figured this one out, cheaper but worse gas mileage?

John
 

camlifter

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May 4, 2009
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acme labs marion ohio
i ran it for awhile in one of my jet 80 motors, mixed it 50-50 with 87 octane, ran very good. leaned out the over rich stock jetting just right. i don't know how much it affected gas mileage but it must not have been much because i didn't notice any loss of mileage or power. e85 is the hot thing for turbo hot rods now. = cheap race gas. i'd have to say that running the 50-50 mix was just as effective as rejeting the carb. i now have a smaller jet and it runs real smooth. about the same as the mix did.
 

Sydneysider

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Mar 20, 2009
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thats quite good Camlifter, impressive how you mixed it with the cheaper fuel and got similar performance.. E85 alone suits the higher compression engines more and you would need to have a compression ratio of atleast 10:1 to take advantage of high octane fuels like ethanol
 

HoughMade

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Apr 15, 2008
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IF the engine is set up for E85, and I am talking about 4 strokes as I do not know about the lubrocation issue, it can make more power- still will use more fuel though. The problem is vehicles that are designed to use both. Alcohol has less BTUs per pound, but it takes less air to combust the alcohol meaning you can jet the engine a whole lot richer and still fully combust the mixer. Because of the ability to jet so much richer, you can burn more fuel per stroke and make more power.

http://aaae.okstate.edu/proceedings/2005/Articles/556.pdf
 

foureasy

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Jul 9, 2009
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tucson
you will also make more power because of the cooling effect of the alcohol. it will rust your crank, rod, and bearings if you don't run regular fuel through it after use.
 

Kevlarr

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Jul 22, 2009
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Cars get 30% less mileage from E-85 then regular gasoline. This is why the whole E-85 boon failed, the E-85 producers couldn't get the price 30% lower to match the reduction in mileage, all they ended up doing was drive up food prices.

They built an E-85 plant nearby two years ago and their big thing was they were paying 10% more then anyone for corn. Well around here corn either goes for livestock feed or food production (biggest buyers are Kellogg, Post and Jiffy Mix Co.) so pretty much things like milk, beef, bread, cereal, etc. DOUBLED in price overnight.

Pre- E-85 milk $1.99-$2.50 a gallon, ground chuck $1.30 - $2 per lb.
After E-85 plant was running milk jumped to nearly $5 a gallon and beef went to over $4 a lb. for chuck.
This is farm country folks, the milk we drink and meat we eat comes from farms within 50 miles away. With a family of 5 I was paying more per week for milk and beef then I was for gas even at $4.50 gal.

After one season of production the E-85 plant went bankrupt, thank God! Food prices have been pretty much back to normal ever since. Actually bought milk for $1.40 this week. lol
 

spad4me

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Jan 20, 2008
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Arizona Bullhead
Cars get 30% less mileage from E-85 then regular gasoline. This is why the whole E-85 boon failed, the E-85 producers couldn't get the price 30% lower to match the reduction in mileage, all they ended up doing was drive up food prices.

They built an E-85 plant nearby two years ago and their big thing was they were paying 10% more then anyone for corn. Well around here corn either goes for livestock feed or food production (biggest buyers are Kellogg, Post and Jiffy Mix Co.) so pretty much things like milk, beef, bread, cereal, etc. DOUBLED in price overnight.

Pre- E-85 milk $1.99-$2.50 a gallon, ground chuck $1.30 - $2 per lb.
After E-85 plant was running milk jumped to nearly $5 a gallon and beef went to over $4 a lb. for chuck.
This is farm country folks, the milk we drink and meat we eat comes from farms within 50 miles away. With a family of 5 I was paying more per week for milk and beef then I was for gas even at $4.50 gal.

After one season of production the E-85 plant went bankrupt, thank God! Food prices have been pretty much back to normal ever since. Actually bought milk for $1.40 this week. lol
I agree totally that e85 failed miserably it harmed many American farmers for years to come most were not able to fertilize their farms this year.
I am cautious about food prices next year.

In Arizona the GREEDY crooked oil company's put so much Alcohol in every type of fuel it was dissolving the in tank pumps on GMC vehicles.
My happytime ran fine with a jet change.
It dissolved the paint or coating on the inside of my tank.
 

Kevlarr

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Jul 22, 2009
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Oh the corn farmers loved it but the livestock farmers didn't. Think about it, just about every livestock (and pet) feed is corn based. The price of cattle, chicken, pig, sheep, etc. feed skyrocketed right when the price of gas was at it's highest.
Making fuel out of food is just plain dumb no matter how you look at it. E-85 made out of switchgrass, wood waste or the like is great but taking food away to turn it into a poor gas substitute is not right.

Worst part is the State of Michigan and our lovely governess/queen backed the E-85 plant to the tune of 50 mil. and guess who pays for that great investment.
 

HT2005

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Aug 23, 2008
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E-85 didn't work when government subsidized (the government pays subsides to corn farmers. When you subsidize something, you get more of it) ethanol production. It can't work (be cost efficient to the consumer) as long as the manufacturing costs are so high. Ethanol manufacturers need to be more cost-efficient to bring a shift in the main stream market.
 

noco

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Sep 9, 2009
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fort collins colorado
In Arizona the GREEDY crooked oil company's put so much Alcohol in every type of fuel it was dissolving the in tank pumps on GMC vehicles.
My happytime ran fine with a jet change.
It dissolved the paint or coating on the inside of my tank.
really 10%ethanol is taking your paint off...may be its cheap paint...gasoline is also a solvant...as for the gmc thing well you said it GMC...these guys never made a quality product... even though half the tanks from them in the last 10 years are plastic...
 

camlifter

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May 4, 2009
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acme labs marion ohio
ethanols not going to ruin your fuel pump or rot the rubber, thats all hype, the mason jar at grandpas house with the clear stuff in it, thats ethanol, you don't see the seal on that jar being ate up do you. meth might do some harm but thats a whole differant fuel.
 

noco

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Sep 9, 2009
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fort collins colorado
my question is if the alcohol can mix with oil though...just trying to be one step closer to being carbon neutral...i know it sounds kinda funny especially because the bike was before i put a motor on it...ive been toying with the idea of making my own fuel from grass clippings and other organic wastes...i saw some info on people doing this already and it doesn't seem very hard...basicly i got some daydreaming to get me though work...please help give me some more thoughts
 

Kevlarr

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Jul 22, 2009
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Mi
Only way to tell is to try it. Mix up a batch of E-85 and your 2 cycle oil in a jar, let it set around for a week or so and see if it separates. One problem with alcohol as a fuel is it readily mixes with water (why it has to be moved by truck and not underground pipelines like gasoline) so whatever you store it in has to be sealed pretty well to keep out moisture.

Biggest emissions from a 2 cycle engine is the oil though, without the oil a 2 cycle actually puts out more energy for the fuel used then a 4 cycle.
 

noco

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Sep 9, 2009
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fort collins colorado
its not about emmissions its about me being cheap...that mason jar experiment is a great idea...ill try it this week...thanks....i guess this is what this forum is about...we can share our ideas and experiments....way cool