Just wrapped up our Flexi-fuel powered Evo IX. On Sunday, it's being transported down to Mitsubishi for the LA Auto Show where it will be the main feature car in the Mitsu booth. Then it will go on the magazine tours and be beaten on ruthlessly So we detuned both the 91oct and E85 ethanol maps a bit. On this dyno, a stock EVO IX puts down approx 215-220whp.

Mods on the car:
XEDE w/Xedeflash
Standard exhaust with 49 state legal cat
680cc injectors
255lph fuel pump
Girodisc 2 piece brake rotors

Dyno results (straight 91oct vs. straight E85):


Those numbers are temp corrected for the 60F weather we got today. Uncorrected, they are approx 10whp/10lb-ft higher.

What is really remarkable is the E85. It just begs to make power. Seems to be slightly more knock resistent than running 100oct race gas. Plus, it has a great cooling effect on the charge which also improves power and makes run-to-run consistently just about perfect. When we get the car back from the show and all the magazine flogging, we'll push it a bit and see what kind of power E85 can support. I wouldn't be surprised if we see 350whp and 380lbft at the wheels with the stock turbo. And it even smells nice too. Unfortunately, gas mileage kind of sucks

-shiv

 

Oh, I'm kind of in!!!!!!!!!!

 

Awesome! So, the only injectors and fuel pump needed the upgrading? I would be very interested in an upgrade consisting of only those two parts.

Willing to post those Xede maps?

d

EDIT: And how much worse would the mileage that you've been getting? I get the impression that people who actually drive around with E85 are only losing about 10% which the energy content differential would suggest a much higher penalty.

 

It's really hard to read the chart.

What did the E85 tuner put down there?

Great work, I'll be at the auto show next week!

 

I'd be running E85 if it were available in my area.. I'm glad someone is showcasing E85.. the more people know about it, the more people will want it. My car was pieced together specifically for E85 when its available.

 

looks like 285 and 335 tq. not too shabby for a car with a legal cat on it.

 

I'm very geeked up for E85. I have two fuel pumps and 1000cc injectors, so my fuel system is waay beefy enough to get every last pony out of it. My dad's work supplies E85 in Riverside, CA. It isn't a public supplier, but I'm hoping to get access soon...

Cruzin' around on biofuel would be fun at only $3.00 per gallon, especially since I should be able to make some pretty huge power with it.

 

That’s awesome! Time for an E85 tune.

It would appear that the folks at Mitsubishi believe that the Evo’s fuel system is apt for running 85% ethanol/15% gas without any adverse effects from long term use...nice!

 

I was thinking the same thing. If Mitsu wants the car for display, then they must think running E85 is fine for the fuel system (pump & injectors changed of course) and won't cause any problems.

Shiv, do you have any insight into this?

 

After going over the components in our Evos, and working on dozens of other cars that are fairly new, the real thing preventing cars from being flexible fuel is the ECU's ability to adapt to these fuels. All new cars will not have any problems from ethanol like older cars, in fact, all new cars are designed for gasoline with ethanol content as high as 30% and they will still run fine, its really the tune that is affected by it.. Injectors and ECU tweaks are really all that is needed.

 

Initially, the Evo IX that Mitsubishi gave us was going to be used as a time attack car. But the car came a couple months late which threw a wrench in the build-up schedule. The next idea was to make an alternative/flexi-fuel Evo and showcase it, as Mitsubishi's main feature car, at the LA Auto Show. So I'll be driving it down to LA (6hr drive) tomorrow morning. I should have an accurate report on fuel economy.

Next step in the build-up is to incorporate xede logic that will allow the user to use any combination of gasoline and e85. Using an alcohol sensor in the fuel tank, the Xede would read the mixture and will actively adjust fuel/timing/boost in realtime. Hope to have that working by xmas.

Cheers,
shiv

 

You have to think that its possible to make near race gas horsepower numbers on E85, yet still be "Green".. The lower MPG is something I'm willing to tolerate for that..

 

E85 is available in my area!!!! Im extremely interested. Will it work with an evo8?

 

Hiya--- When tuned for max power, we should be seeing power numbers greater than what we would see on race gas. Not only do we get the octane with e85, we also get a huge VE bump from its charge cooling effects. It's like tuning with meth injection-- only a whole lot better in terms of consistency and cylinder-to-cylinder distribution.

-shiv

 

It should work on the evo 8.