Why not just ask the station guy (or gal) what they are selling? E70, E85, E(whatever)?

I'm still not getting this thing. What am I missing? I've never heard anyone looking for a gizmo that would tell what octane gasoline their EVO is running - 91, 93, 94, 95, etc. They simply fill up with whatever octane gasoline they want and are tuned for.

Is this simply an answer to a question that no one is really asking? How many of you plan to bounce back and forth between gasoline and E85 anyway?

It is my understanding that flex fuel vehicles work well simply because they are not tuned for performance at any point in their range of "flex". I presume that in order to "flex" an EVO would also need to be very conservatively tuned. Perhaps I'm simply not understanding what MrFred has in mind.

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's craving for a new gizmo. I'm just trying to understand how it would really benefit an EVO owner, over the much less expensive Tephra map swapping functionality.

 

Jim, the real power will happen when a true flex fuel mod comes to the Evo. It will interpolate between maps depending on ethanol %. Of course under or over a certain % it will most likely be 100% E85 map or 100% gasoline map.

I believe Mrfred is working on it, so let's shower him with gifts.

 

very interesting!! This would solve the problems that I am having of finding a station in the PHX area.

 

lol, i've been buggin crock for a while. So long now i think he put my email addy on his spam list...

 

Think of it this way... you tune the car on e85 (85%) ... then in the winter months many of the pumps will go to lesser concentrations of ethanol. such as E70. I am not exactly sure how different the octane levels are... but lets just assume you tune to run 110 octane. then pump 100 octane into your tank. Your most likely gonna have some issues with the car running smoothly. You may notice the same affect with E85 to E70 or even E80. Knowing the exact amt of ethanol will let you know when you can push the car, or when to dial the boost down a bit. Also, when to re-flash or switch maps...

My question... how is this different than the ethanol gauge that was recently offered in a group buy in the forums. Other than shape and brand name, dont they do the same? Are there other features that i missed?

 

Someone gets the point.

 

I do understand what flex fuel functionality is, Bryan. I'm simply trying to understand how this will improve my EVO, or improve my relationships, or make me a better person, or something.

All the people I know with a flex fuel Taurus or Tahoe, etc, only run one fuel or the other. Some owners tried E85, but "didn't like it" for some reason (usual complaint is poor MPG), so they only run gasoline. Others are dedicated conservationist types and will only use E85. I don't know a single owner of a flex fuel vehicle who actually "flexes" their fuel consumption.

 

There are two reasons why I want my tune to follow automatically ethanol content:

1) E85 has limited availability in my part of the country, and when I'm on a road trip, there may be times when I can't find E85 when I need to fill up.

2) Ethanol content in E85 varies with season and with filling station. E85 tunes are very aggressive with AFR, boost, and timing. I like the idea of having a tune that will become less and less aggresive as ethanol content is reduced so that the engine always has a good safety factor.

 

E85 E content varies a lot. It can be as low as E60 and as high as E92. This makes a very big difference in tuning.

 

The displays from the group by do not have analog outputs (unless you were one of the couple of people that got the signal converter)

 

I am smack in the middle of E85 country and there are still plenty of times where I would have to go way out of my way to get E85, so I just stop and fill up with premium. My car automatically flips to the 91 octane tune based on my fuel sensor output and I am good to go.

Even when I am filling up with E85 tho, the content changes.. usually between 68% and 82% depending on the time of year and the station I am at.

Hopefully if mrfreds flex fuel patch works out (/nudge) I wont have to run the tank empty before switching fuels, and I wont have to bust out the laptop to deal with the seasonal changes. Everything will "just work"

 

Having to wait for the empty tank is a PITA.

 

I agree. I believe this gauge is necessary because the content could change from station to station. We have several here in Columbia. I've called one of these stations before and the attendant actually told me they didn't sell E85...with the pump right outside with the big E85 placard all over it. So you can see why I wouldn't necessarily trust an attendant's word on the content of their fuel.

I had to get basically retuned coming back to SC from initially getting tuned in Ohio as the content up there apparently was waaay purer than here.

 

Looks very nice!
Are the 2 analog outputs 0-5 V?
Can you scale them as you want?

 

I am completely green to what the analog outputs do. Can you explain what additional functionality this gives me. Thanks