Im about to swith...Get a good tune and run the tephra patch so you know if your knocking. Also, someone here builds guages that you hook into your furl system. It gives you a read out of the percentage of Ethanol that in the fuel.

 

I was considering having my local tuner make me a nice tune to E85 and then keep my current dynoflash map to 93 and make it my altmap with tephra mod so i can switch between 93 and E85 when i please.

 

That's what Scot Gray did on my car. E85 tune is my Alt Map. 91 tune is the normal map. That way the dash light lets me know I'm on the Alt Map and Alt Fuel, since normal fuel for an EVO is gasoline. Either way it works great.

 

If you were going to use that 55g drum as fast as that girl ok, but if you expect to fill a drum and use it over a normal time frame you might want to consider just how much moisture it will pick up. That is tough enough with stored gasoline and it isn't hydrophilic like ethanol is. Consider just how much trouble water absorption is for ethanol distribution that they have to install driers and separators and can't pump it through long haul pipes like they do with gas. I'd think long and hard before filling a drum to use in anything less than a few days and even then I'd be very careful about keeping it sealed tight and away from moisture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85_in_..._contamination

 

I live in Minnesota so it gets cold around here

Cons:

-Cold starts in winter, it will start just takes a few cranks

-Fuel consumption

-Fuel blend is sketchy but I had my car tuned on spring blend, it seems the differences in the increase and decrease of ethanol content from the spring blend the ecu is able to compensate for through fuel trims. I don't push it or go WOT in the winter as its icy and roads are friggen cold. My tune will lean out by almost a half a point form the initial 11.25 AFR tune in the summer depending on the blend and how the LTFTs have effected WOT. I have my car dynoed somewhat regularly (3-4 times a year) and things have always looked great so far over the last couple years.

-Availability if you live outside of Minnesota (We have over 300 stations with e85)



Everything else is gravy.

I have a 95 Eagle Talon I switched to E85 back in 2005 20,000 miles 30psi daily on a gt35 and the fuel system is fine.

My 06 IX MR has had almost two years of e85 and 30,000 miles with zero issues. Tons of fun!

Bottom line is just about everyone that is into performance turbo or supercharged cars around here is running e85/e98 or is thinking about switching soon. :-)

 

Good to know no issues after driving your Evo after 2 years on E85! I've been on it for 7 months.

 

Yeah, the only part I am concerned about is the Walbro pump as I have heard they don't last as long in ethanol (info from rep at Walbro) but so far so good. I have a Supra TT pump in the Talon and that has had ethanol sitting in its tank for a few years and no issues so far.

 

Anybody here have a vaccum line pop off their EGR valve from running high boost? I know this happened to several people here including myself running E85 and high boost. I would try to zip tie this hose down, but its a total PITA to reach it. Not really E85 specific, but guys running high boost specific...

 

yes, we have had a bunch of evos come through the shop with the line off or have it come off on the dyno.

Ziptie the ****.

 

A company called Rockett Brand sells what they call "racing E85". I believe it is ~$7 a gallon, though. . . What I would do is call a VP fuel distributor and see if you can buy an empty 55 gallon drum off of them. Load that sucker into the back of a truck or on a trailer and go fill'er up!


CONS
Cold start - on actual E85 my car will NOT start under about 45*F. I have to pour hot water on the intake manifold and intercooler (in this case interheater!) to get it to start. There is a reason they mix down to 70-75% in cold temps. . .

Variability - during the summer my local station's mix is very stable, but in the spring, winter, and fall it varies. From what I've heard it runs 80% in the spring and fall, and 75% in the winter here. . .


SUGGESTIONS - Get the GM flex fuel sensor and the ETOH gauge that has been sold on here. It take a bit of wiring, and is not cheap, but it costs less than a drum of VP C16 (of which I went through 3 the year before I switched to E85).

When fall rolls around watch your AFR at WOT. When it goes from your normal 11.xx:1 to 9 or 10:1 you know the mixture changed. Either mix the pump E85 UP to 85% with the barrel of pure ethanol you bought from VP, or have a second map tuned to lower boost for 70-80% mixtures. . .

 

How do you get a zip tie into that area? Its hard enough to get a hand in there, can't imagine tryin to zip tie it. Easier to access it from underneath car with under tray removed?

 

I did it by reaching behind the intake manifold. Its tough but doable. I think what I would do is make the ziptie loop somewhere higher up but not tighten it down until I moved the ziptie into place.

 

Which is something you should do anyways whether it's 93 pump, meth, or C16 in the car. That's not really a "downside". The only ones for most is availability, cost of upgrading the fuel system if your current setup is close to maxed out on pump (double pumpers, injectors, etc), and crappy mileage. Of course, even these three can be minimized.

A pump gas map for road trips.

Upgrading fuel system will lead to more power anyways so it's kind of a "mod" instead of just a negative cost.

Cost offsets the poor mileage in most cases.

If they had it around here I'd be running it in a heartbeat.

 

Thanks, i asked Dr. Gray and he said the same exact thing. Thanks!!!

 

I've wondered if any of the ignition amplifier units or a COP setup would help with E85 starting in cold weather. I've asked this before and apparently there is no one running E85 in a cold climate with an ignition amplifier units or a COP setup. Perhaps as more EVO owners convert or experiment with E85 we'll get an answer.