has anyone tried e85 yet?

noco · #1 09-22-2009, 04:33 AM

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 · #2 09-22-2009, 08:24 AM

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 · #3 09-22-2009, 09:14 AM

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 · #4 09-22-2009, 09:35 AM

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 · #5 09-22-2009, 10:42 AM

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/...ticles/556.pdf

foureasy · #6 09-22-2009, 06:07 PM

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.

HoughMade · #7 09-22-2009, 06:14 PM

Kinda doubt it will do that in a 4 stroke.

Kevlarr · #8 09-22-2009, 06:39 PM

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 · #9 09-22-2009, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevlarr

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.

HoughMade · #10 09-22-2009, 08:47 PM

E85 harmed farmers....by driving up corn prices?

All this ethanol hate is about 1/2 accurate 1/2 propaganda.