E85?

[tangomatt]

Hi all,

I am contemplating conversion to E85 in search of more power. I have a few 'dumb' questions for those who re using E85. Yes, I have done a 'search' already and found no objective information.

Besides bigger injectors, fuel pump and dyno re-tune, what else is required to convert to E85?

My tuner told me that E85 may 'foul' in the tank if left unused for extended periods of time and that the fuel lines may 'corrode' prematurely due to high ethanol content. Is that true? The tuner says its not worth changing just for a little bit more power.

"PowerPlus E85+ is a renewable fuel source that is also environmentally friendly. Its performance is comparable to 110 octane race fuel. Your engine will run cooler and your ETs will be less affected by atmospheric changes.

PowerPlus E85+ is not corrosive like methanol, it includes all the anticorrosive's and lubricants found in PowerPlus 98+ and does not leave carbon deposits like petrol so maintenance is reduced across the board. Your spark plugs and oil stays looking like new."

Are the above claims true in 'real life' situations? Less carbon deposits??

If tuned well, what sort of power gains are expected? My car yeilds 400+rwKw (on Racepace dyno).

Any drawbacks on using E85? I guess one is limited availability at servos? higher price per litre? If there are no other major drawbacks, then why aren't every power hungry GTR owners using it?

Any comments appreciated.

Cheers

Matt

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

hey matt... I was one of the first people to convert to e85, just over 2 years ago now.

it provided me with 323rwkw, up from 280 which sounds impressive, but the real gain is in the midrange. where I hit full boost at 3400 revs on 98 i am making 180rwkw, but with e85 I hit full boost at about 3600, however the car is making 210rwkw

have a look in my thread over HERE

it covers everything I have encountered so far, including:

different tuners

multiple dynos

direct comparison graphs

which oil to use

how long it can sit there for

powerplus vs csr vs caltex

and heaps more info

your car should make an easy 450rwkw and probably more, while keeping the phenominal response it already has... if you do this I NEED A RIDE....

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

If there are no other major drawbacks, then why aren't every power hungry GTR owners using it?

there are heeeeeaps of cars running it now

[R31Nismoid]

Go have a chat to Chris first Matt.

He is doing some testing on his car in the coming future

[boostn0199]

the only drawback it lowers your fuel consumption by about 30percent which means youll probably need a few jerry tanks of the stuff with you when heading up to a trackday and thats all I can think of. After going on it ill never go back.

[tangomatt]

Thanks guys. I have read Hamish's thread.

[GTRNUR]

If E85 were everywhere it would be great, but because it isnt it limits your ability to drive any kind of distance with the car.

My thoughts are, add a boost controller to give you two specific boost levels. Keep one lower boost level as a 98 octane tune, and run the 2nd boost level a little higher and have it trigger activation of a water/methanol injection system. This provides a power boost and detonation suppression at the same time, so the tune can be made more agressive for more power. If you run out of meth/water you just run the lower boost level.

The whole fuel map doesnt need to be re-worked for another fuel either so you save on tune time. It will drive exactly as it does already, but just have more power when its leaned on. No extra fuel system changes need to be made. This is basically what skylinesky has done with his monster 500+kw R34 to keep temps down and allow the engine to be really leaned on. Other bonuses are that it lowers your EGT's and also steam cleans the inside of the combustion chambers, much better than the alcohol would.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/340632-ultimate-gtr-r34-in-australia/page__p__5594627__fromsearch__1#entry5594627