E85
Just because ethanol has higher Octane ratings does NOT mean you'll instantly get more power. As mentioned in other discussions, Octane ratings do NOT indicate power delivery. Octane ratings indicate the fuel's ability to resist "knock", or detonation (the air/fuel mix exploding before the spark plug ignites it).
Ethanol has LESS stored energy per unit compared to gasoline. Without extensive modifications to the fuel management system (and the rest of the engine for that matter), you won't get "huge" power gains from using it in a naturally aspirated car. The best you can hope for is the same power with higher fuel consumption.
With that said, a gasoline powered engine will always deliver more power per unit fuel consumed than an equivalent Ethanol powered engine (i.e. stock for stock, mod for mod, etc).
Ethanol has LESS stored energy per unit compared to gasoline. Without extensive modifications to the fuel management system (and the rest of the engine for that matter), you won't get "huge" power gains from using it in a naturally aspirated car. The best you can hope for is the same power with higher fuel consumption.
With that said, a gasoline powered engine will always deliver more power per unit fuel consumed than an equivalent Ethanol powered engine (i.e. stock for stock, mod for mod, etc).
Last edited by nunyas; Sep 22, 2008 at 11:23 AM.
Ok I'll rephrase... Since E85 has a higher octane value, you would be able to run more boost because there will be less knock than if you used 91-93 octane gasoline...