Since Vishnu seems to be on the bleeding edge of Evo performance with the SMART feature, I was thinking you guys might be the first to offer a new feature for the XEDE to enable the use of ethanol instead of gasoline. It would be cool to have an XEDE constantly monitoring oxygenate levels in the fuel and adjusting timing and injector pulsewidths accordingly. Then maybe I could just order 102 octane E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) from the midwest and laugh at the people paying nearly $3.00/gal for 92 octane. Imagine the possibilities! Imagine the power you could get running 102 octane fuel all the time!

 

Would anyone else be interested in this?

Shiv

 

I bet you anything others would be. Would enthanol work basically the same as race gas? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using that type of fuel?

 

i too would like to know the advantages/disadvantages...and cost.

 

I'd absolutely be interested.

Machron: Remember per the earlier discussion that E85 has a lower energy content than gasoline. You'd have to buy more of it. Mile for mile, I'm not sure it'd actually be cheaper.

EDIT: https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...&highlight=E85


d

 

I'd be interested, seeing how it's readily available in my area.

 

I agree that it may not be cost effective w/ the amount of fuel that an Evo needs at WOT. Plus, their would be alot of fuel getting into the oil w/ a real rich AFR. Either way, I think it would be a neat experiment.

 

I know methanol can be pretty tough on rubber fuel lines with prolonged continuous use. Does the same apply to ethanol? If so, all the fuel lines would have to be upgraded appropriately.

I ethanol is safe and feasible to run in our cars without any substantial hardware changes (other than perhaps larger injectors), I'm totally game for making a map for it. Might not start up as cleanly as normal pump gas. But it looks like it will make helluva lot more power, have lower emission and add a lot of cool factor I'd be most curious as to what kind of fuel efficiency we would get with the lower energy fuel. Certainly worth experimenting with. Anyone game??

Shiv

 

I'd definitely want to get that on my car! I was gonna get xede anyways, but this would make it a must!

 

I recall reading on NASIOC a while ago someone, I believe HOTROD, said they had been using it for almost two years fairly regularly without any ill effect.

 

I'm in the midwest and have that stuff. It's complete ****. You LOOSE power with it, not gain it. May as well pay more money for the real stuff and get the extra power. (went into my daily driver, not the evo btw.)

 

Was your car set up to support both E85 and regular gasoline? Most reports I've seen indicate that in order to really take advantage of it, your car needed to be tuned to use E85 exclusively.

For those of you who are getting overly excited, let me remind you that this stuff is pretty hard to find. How many people would honestly drive 100+ miles just to get gas?

However, in metropolitan areas the stuff can be quite accessable. I remember there was an E85 pump like two miles from my apt in chicago -- but of course, I lived downtown...

d

 

Sure it has a lower energy content, but the higher octane should let you run fairly lean (in as far as stoichiometric for alcohol) and let you run high boost levels. I don't know of any FFV that are turbocharged and/or run high compression. They are normally tuned for E85 and 87 octane, which I'm sure nets awful fuel milagle on E85.

 

They were using it on an STi?

 

Methanol is super harsh and corrosive. Ethanol is not corrosive, but it can dry out rubber seals and lines that aren't designed for ethanol. I looked in my owner's manual and it says my Evo is warranteed for fuel up to 10% ethanol, which I'm assuming is only because of the tuning and not that it would damage parts. I could be wrong though.