Rb20 E85 Conversion

[sama1500]

also another question which has been on my mind and getting mixed results on, will i need to upgrade from standard fuel lines?

[iruvyouskyrine]

Not hardlines no. It's debatable whether or not you should change your soft lines to ethanol rated hose. Personally I would (and I did).

[sama1500]

i've also heard mixed opinions on the matter, what did you use and how much was it if i may ask?

[iruvyouskyrine]

I used aerfoflow hose, can't remember what series. And I did all my water/oil/fuel lines at the same time so I can't really remember.

If you were just to do the soft lines coming out of the fuel tank hat, and in the engine bay I don't think it would be more than $100

[Roy]

Little value in going E85 with std RB25 turbo. E85 is great at allowing you to wind boost into an engine and you are capped at 12-14 psi

Given the expense of going to E85 a HKS 2530 on 98 will be you better results

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Little value in going E85 with std RB25 turbo. E85 is great at allowing you to wind boost into an engine and you are capped at 12-14 psi

Given the expense of going to E85 a HKS 2530 on 98 will be you better results

not entirely correct, you're still able to run loads of timing around the middle of the rpm range without any knock and a few more degrees up top

[Roy]

Meh... It made my car a smidgen laggier but did allow way more ignition. But takes a better calibrated bump than mine to pick that up in back to back driving through the mid range.

But only really made more power as the engine was no longer boost and ignition sensitive so could wind both in.

With a std turbo it will be bye bye exhaust wheel. Though with lower exhaust temp maybe you can run 15-16psi...who knows

[GTSBoy]

I wouldn't try to run more boost on a ceramic turbine just because the gases are cooler. As far as I can tell, the failure mechanism is simply shaft speed coupled with mechanical loading. The ceramic can only spin so fast before the centrifugal forces win the fight.

[scotty nm35]

No problems with the M35 ceramic turbine, I bumped mine up to 19-20psi on ethanol, for 5 months in between Garrett GTX's. Perhaps the ceramic is glued better on the Stagea? They run 14psi stock.

It was a low K turbo so I suspect it's old age or heat cycles that kills ceramic turbos more than boost or shaft speed. Anyway it's not hard to shove a small highflow core inside it.

[sama1500]

I'm not going to be pushing the turbo past 14psi and I am most probably going to get a turbo upgrade in the future and wind the boost up then, I'd rather get the fuel system sorted first that's all

[sama1500]

In addition if I were to get a upgraded turbo I'd need injectors and a nistune anyway so the only extra expense I'm seeing at this stage is fuel lines, rb25 highflows are quite cheap second-hand and plenty of them around however most say they are too laggy for an rb20

[GTSBoy]

They run 14psi stock.

There's your answer. RB20/25/26 turbos were spec'd to run at 7-10 psi. So they would have been running at a certain shaft speed to achieve that. Try to make 14 psi and they have to go a lot faster. The M35, if standard is 14 psi, will be doing the same sort of sensible speed as the older ones at their standard boost. Wind it up to 19 psi and now you're probably approaching the same sort of speeds that limited the older turbos - just at a higher boost.

It's kind of like how you could get away with running a 25 turbo on a 20 at higher boost levels with less risk of it dying - because it wasn't having to spin quite so fast to make the boost on the smaller engine.

[Roy]

Well my car is about ready to be all put back together and get back on the road. Will be interesting to see how this weekends inspection of tank, lines and filters goes since it has been laying around with E85 in it for 12 months.

I mention that as my car has nothing done to it all to make it E85 compatible. Just 1000cc injectors and in tank pump with Nismo reg. Ran fine like that for 2 years but was driven every 2nd or so day with a tank a week

[sama1500]

I've heard stories of the e85 gradually breaking down the stock rubber hoses leading to gunky buildup in the injectors/fuel filter, and as in your case people have left them untouched and it's been fine, honestly if it's a cheap and simple thing to do I don't see a reason not to

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Here's an idea, just run whatever boost you run on 98RON safely, then on E85 run the same amount - however just pump in loads and loads of timing till the motor/turbo combination stops making power and back a couple if degrees.

At the end of the day, it's going to still make more power than 98RON, not a totally pointless exercise.

For reference, I tuned my mate's S15 and it made 197kW on 98RON.. when we moved it over to E85 it made 215kW - however it made heaps more mid range power as I was able to pump in heaps of timing into the notorious SR20 timing hole where max torque is achieved.

[sama1500]

That's exactly the reason I want to go e85, midrange, I mostly drive around in the midrange so if I can get a significant power boost there it will make for a better driving car

[Missileman]

....and the rot begins, e85+1k tune = 6 months later ...new turbo + 1K tune = )): 2 years later ...

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

do it once, do it right... (buy a C63 AMG) lol..

yes that was a poor joke

[Missileman]

LOL...Ive actually been following my own advice and I'm up to P14 of the RB20 turbo thread and god dam, kudos have the that HKS on special for 3.14K...http://www.kudosmotorsports.com/catalog/hks-turbocharger-kit-hks-gtrs-11004an008-nissan-skyline-r32-gtst-gts4-r33-gts25t-r34-25gtt-p-1048.html

[sama1500]

Not sure what you're on about missileman?