12 replies to this topic

[Corrupted]

I see a lot of guys using E85 tunes over c16 and from what info I find on E85 it seems to be over hyped. Question is do you get more out of c16 than E85?

[Andy@PWR]

E85 for me one day

[ostmike]

E85 is the "bomb" if it is readily available to you. You will need a fuel system designed to handle the corrosive nature of the ethanol and capable of flowing the appropriate amount of fuel. Other than that the "tuning window" provided by E85 is broader than gasoline and the cost is substantially less.

 

If you have a high compression or high cylinder pressure engine ethanol is your friend

[Jerseyboy]

Alcohol is for Drinking, Gasoline is for washing parts and Nitro is for Racing ;-) I'm personally not a huge fan of E85 just because of the variation from pump to pump, let alone the availability (or lack there off). You want race gas, buy race gas, you want pump gas, buy pump gas. I've seen too many E85 engines blow up because of lack of octane that I'm willing to spend a little extra for piece of mind. Maybe one day but not for my street car.

 

J

[ostmike]

Alcohol is for Drinking, Gasoline is for washing parts and Nitro is for Racing ;-) I'm personally not a huge fan of E85 just because of the variation from pump to pump, let alone the availability (or lack there off). You want race gas, buy race gas, you want pump gas, buy pump gas. I've seen too many E85 engines blow up because of lack of octane that I'm willing to spend a little extra for piece of mind. Maybe one day but not for my street car.

.

 

An E85 tester costs $14 from Summit or Jegs and should be used every time you buy E85 from a pump. You can also buy E85 or E98 in drums like you buy your race gas. The cost of E85 is still substantially less and is safer to tune with for high cylinder pressure engines. Too many of my customers with high dollar race engines are making the switch (even the carb guys) to ignore the fact that this is a great alternative fuel that produces some serious power safely.

 

I agree with you about the street car aspect though. If you don't have E85 readily available it's probably not an option.

 

However, there are quite a few stations around me that sell E85 but I don't know of any that sell C16 out of the pump.

 

My jeep will be running on corn!

[TheBeej418]

You're going to look a little funny at the pump trying to get 0.05 gallons from a 1.5" nozel in to a .5" test tube.  

 

What would the expected Ethanol content be in order to be considered good E85?

 

This is something I've wanted to do for years and have a station a block down from my office. Wouldn't be bad to give it a test! Now if I could ever find that knock to finish tuning 93 octane before moving on to E85....

[MoparManiac]

I've been running E85 for almost 2 years and like it.I can drive to the track on the same fuel and tune and race with 18lbs of boost.Just turn up the boost controller.Like Mike said, you can use the cheap tester to check the fuel.I would not recommend E85 for a daily driver with no stations nearby.I've seen plenty of Hemi engines blow up on race Fuel over the years.I have heard many tuners say F**k race gas!I saw these Mustangs race in Bradenton,they run 8's and 9's on on E85.http://www.dragzine....ng-street-cars/

[Tim@MPH]

I tune E85 almost daily, sometimes two cars a day. You cannot beat the fuel imho.. We do have it readily available around us so its used a lot in higher HP cars in this area. I've been tuning it for 5 years and I love it. I have never had an engine pop on it, but my customers understand they have to test it. I give them an additional tune to use if for some reason they can only get E-70- E-75 instead of E-85. 

[MoparManiac]

You're going to look a little funny at the pump trying to get 0.05 gallons from a 1.5" nozel in to a .5" test tube.  

 

What would the expected Ethanol content be in order to be considered good E85?

 

This is something I've wanted to do for years and have a station a block down from my office. Wouldn't be bad to give it a test! Now if I could ever find that knock to finish tuning 93 octane before moving on to E85....

I usually go to the station with a gas can or a 14 gallon gas caddy.Easier to poor into the test tube from a gas can.In the southern states the e85 stays around 85%,I've tested it a 90% a couple times.

I tune E85 almost daily, sometimes two cars a day. You cannot beat the fuel imho.. We do have it readily available around us so its used a lot in higher HP cars in this area. I've been tuning it for 5 years and I love it. I have never had an engine pop on it, but my customers understand they have to test it. I give them an additional tune to use if for some reason they can only get E-70- E-75 instead of E-85. 

Cool.Have you ever used the Sunoco E85R race fuel?Might be a good option for an all out race car?http://www.racegas.com/fuel/18

[TheBeej418]

I usually go to the station with a gas can or a 14 gallon gas caddy.Easier to poor into the test tube from a gas can.In the southern states the e85 stays arouind 85%,I've tested it a 90% a couple times.

 

After posting, I  thought I'd get a smart ass comment about needing 85% ethanol, duh! Haha. To your point, didn't know if the ethanol needed to be minimum 85% or what tolerance there was. Probably worth picking up a tester and seeing what my local offering is. It's actually a locally owned Shell service station with full service like the old days. Being a local station like that, I almost wonder if they do or would test it for me.

[BuckeyeGuy]

Corn- FTW

14.5:1 CR with no issues. Running Sunoco E 85 R

[MoparManiac]

After posting, I  thought I'd get a smart ass comment about needing 85% ethanol, duh! Haha. To your point, didn't know if the ethanol needed to be minimum 85% or what tolerance there was. Probably worth picking up a tester and seeing what my local offering is. It's actually a locally owned Shell service station with full service like the old days. Being a local station like that, I almost wonder if they do or would test it for me.

Usually the octane will stay the same,E70 will make your tune richer.Summer months should be E85 and in the colder months  E70, E75.

[Corrupted]

Next month I'm redoing my fuel system, shooting for 20psi seems so I'm still up in there air whether to remain c16 for my race tune . I have easy access to both but that C16 is $15.70 but I do like the results I get from it. Thanks for all the input guys.