e85

[xbss07]

anyone ever made a buell run on e85? just something that popped in my head just asking. bad ass idea i think!

 

[xtremelow]

All that needs to be done is a proper tune.

I have a buddy who tunes cars and he has tuned multiple cars to run on E85. Silverado SS, Corvette, GTO (newer one), Buick Regal, Colorado......

I have thought about running a mixture of E85 and regular gas to run it as a 98 point octane fuel.

I know if you add 1 gallon of E85 to 10 gallons of 93 octane it bring the octane points up to 98, so I figure if you run 93 and add only 1/2 gallon to the tank it should be right around 98-100 octane.

My only concern would be burning up the O2 sensor....

 

[Buell_Cru]

Too much ethanol can eat up hoses, fittings, gas tanks, etc. The cars designed to run on E-85 have different fuel line materials, and gas tanks.

Here is an explanation from www.cartalk.com.

Can you adapt a regular car to run on E85?

Not without a chemistry degree, money to burn, and plenty of free time.

The materials in your car's fuel system, including plastics and aluminum, need to be designed to handle ethanol. Some components, such as rubber o-rings and gaskets might wear out more quickly or suffer damage, if exposed to ethanol.

Your car's injectors also need to be changed, along with the vehicle's computer.

The changes are relatively inexpensive when done on a mass production basis at the factory. But we wouldn't recommend you try to retrofit a car for E85 at this time.

 

[Buell_Cru]

All that needs to be done is a proper tune.WRONG

I have a buddy who tunes cars and he has tuned multiple cars to run on E85. Silverado SS, Corvette, GTO (newer one), Buick Regal, Colorado......

I respect you xtremelow and in most cases trust you but just because your buddy made a few bucks off some rich guys I'd tell him to be careful. I hope he didn't offer warranties or has a good insurance plan.

 

[xtremelow]

The guys weren't just some rich guys all the vehicles I mentioned were friends.

I do understand what is states above but when using general terms like added "wear", what does that mean and are they talking 100's, 1,000's, or 10' of thousand of miles.

My buddies cousin has been running e-85 for over a year now and not one problem. Also to note none of these vehicles are running e-85 to save money. They are running it for the added power. Turbos, superchargers, or just built.

In no way am I a professional with this just going off a couple things I have read and some things friends have done.

Oh and Buell_Cru [up] for calling me out, I may know a good amount but just like everyone else I am ever learning.

 

[teh Nub]

There's not really any point in doing it, other than just to do it along with replacing fuel lines, injectors, etc to properly run it. There is more energy in E85, but you have to add a lot more fuel since the stoykometric burn rate is much lower (closer to 9.0:1 vs 14.5:1 for Gasoline)

E85 is basically a cheaper alternative to race fuel and there's no reason for anyone with a buell to use race fuel unless the engine is built or turbo/super charged requiring a fuel with a greater resistance to burn.

 

[Buell_Cru]

Good explanation teh Nub.

Xtremelow, Excellent work you've been doing on the Buell's by the way. Everything I see so far looks awesome.[up]

 

[stopie20]

As far as the component wear goes, some where in the mid to late eighties the governing bodies mandated that all massproduced vehicles be buiot with ethanol compatible components such as o-rings, fuel lines, and sensor materials... i have no idea though if this encompassed the motorcycle market as well. the "big plan" at that time was to have all vehicles running on ethanol by a certian date...

As far as the e85 burn goes, to the best of my knowlege it carries racing fuel potential and if used in a high compression motor or forced induction situation can be more efficent and also produce more power..

 

[xtremelow]

E-85 = ~115 octane

 

[xbss07]

E-85 = ~115 octane WRONG

E-85 = 105 octane
heres what started this hole thing 4 me

watch this on e85

 

[shai29508]

"Thats what I said" (quoting Eric Cartman) Now for efficiency, you really need a minimum of 11 : 1 compression ratio to use the potential energy in E85 but..... then you can no longer run pump gas and there goes that smooth idle you had, now your talking gas class idle. lol [smirk]

 

[icepop77]

I know it's been said before, but E85 is corrosive to rubber components. Retrofitting a fuel system to REGULARLY use E85 means converting just about every rubber component to either stainless steel or some kind of polymer that resists the acidic nature of ethanol.

Also, just about every spark combustion motor out there isn't designed to burn ethanol efficiently. There's more power to be had in ethanol as long as your engine is designed to maximize it's latent energy. At best, the typical gasoline engine will see about a 10% decline in fuel mileage if running on E85 as opposed to typical pump gasoline.

 

[xtremelow]

My bad on the wrong octane measurment, but I plan to run E-85 for a couple tanks of fuel to see what happens.

Just need to use up what I have and go to the only local station with E-85 to fill up, or at least do a 2:1 ratio of E-85 and 93 octane.

 

[DoubleD]

"There's not really any point in doing it, other than just to do it along with replacing fuel lines, injectors, etc to properly run it. There is more energy in E85, but you have to add a lot more fuel since the stoykometric burn rate is much lower (closer to 9.0:1 vs 14.5:1 for Gasoline)"

This is not true, alcohol has alot less energy per gallon than gasoline, and gasoline has less energy than say jet or diesel fuel. This is why you need alot more alcohol to run an engine that was built with gasoline in mind in the first place.

"Also, just about every spark combustion motor out there isn't designed to burn ethanol efficiently. There's more power to be had in ethanol as long as your engine is designed to maximize it's latent energy. At best, the typical gasoline engine will see about a 10% decline in fuel mileage if running on E85 as opposed to typical pump gasoline."

Absolutely correct, ethanol requires an engine to be built at higher compression to really get efficiency and power. Added bonuses for race use are higher octane and lower combustion temps, and it burns alot cleaner.



Also I thought I would add that much of the corrosivity issue is due to alcohols inherent ability to attract water, which in turn corrodes most fuel system components.

 

[xtremelow]

I did run a few tanks last year and really didnt notice much differance I did notice a slight hesitation at 4k but not sure if it was from the E85 or not.

Also I switched backed and ran Premium before the winter due to the water issue.

 

[burton9010]

does anyone have a map for running E85 for a xb9r?

 

[xtremelow]

Thinking I need to do the tune for it on my bike, glad my Tundra runs on e85 saved me $15 at the pump, I will pay for it right back on lost fuel economy but atleast I break even and the money for the most part stays within the US.

 

[onelogue]

the money for the most part stays within the US.

Really? Thats awesome!

 

[burton9010]

so does anyone have a map for it?