E85 and afternarket fuel filters

[takai]

Recently i was able to pick up a whole bunch of new tube and AN fittings from a guy who was scrapping his project, and along with the box of bits there were a pair of fuel filters, which i am now considering using for the race car.

The first one seems to be a Russell 645070 (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/RUS-645070/) which the guy had intended for the pre-lift pump to surge tank filter, and i was thinking i could use the same.

The second one is a Russell 650133 (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/RUS-650133/) which looks like it would be good for a high pressure feed filter.

Any opinions on these filters, and especially with regard to using them with E85? I cant find a huge amount around as to whether they woudl eb good for E85, although they are simply stainless/bronze filters, so i cant see anything terribly much which would be incompatible (apart from maybe the rubber seals).

[0x2DLVR]

E85 doesn't eat rubber. It's a myth

[takai]

Say that to this pre-lift-pump fuel filter which i ran for one race weekend in the race car:


Had to replace a chunk of the LP line and the fuel filter in a hurry before a meeting, was pulled out a few weekends later.

Looked roughly like this when it went in:


Was nice little chunks of black rubber from the small piece of low pressure line i had put in before it as well.

[da9jeff]

why were you using a lawnmower fuel filter in the racer?

[0x2DLVR]

You sure it was degraded from the 20 years that piece of line was in before you ran E85. Which is the usual case. And that fuel filter looks like it changed colour from heat not from being affected by the E85.

[e30guy]

Stainless element filters are fine. I bought this, claims to remove water from alcohol fuels.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/380334280...84.m1439.l2649

[takai]

why were you using a lawnmower fuel filter in the racer?

Was all i could get on the Friday before the Round 2 meeting last year, old low pressure filter broke the filter element off inside the housing.

You sure it was degraded from the 20 years that piece of line was in before you ran E85. Which is the usual case. And that fuel filter looks like it changed colour from heat not from being affected by the E85.

All of the line is <3 years old (apart from the hard line), the only reason i had to replace a piece of line was to change diameters so i could run that filter as a temporary setup. Filter being changed from extreme heat isnt really likely as the fueling setup lives in the boot and for the 2 weeks it was installed it spent maybe 30 laps on track, and the rest of the time tucked up in the garage or on the trailer.

[0x2DLVR]

Was all i could get on the Friday before the Round 2 meeting last year, old low pressure filter broke the filter element off inside the housing.



All of the line is <3 years old (apart from the hard line), the only reason i had to replace a piece of line was to change diameters so i could run that filter as a temporary setup. Filter being changed from extreme heat isnt really likely as the fueling setup lives in the boot and for the 2 weeks it was installed it spent maybe 30 laps on track, and the rest of the time tucked up in the garage or on the trailer.

You sure it didn't happen with other fuel you had in the car before hand then? I get very skeptical when people say "I used E85 once and look what happened". 98 pump fuel is harsher on lots of components than E85. Alcohol is a cleaning agent. It's not corrosive.

Plus I run it in four cars and a lawnmower from a race car to a weekend driver to a everydayer and done tens of thousands of km's over a couple of years now and no issues. And all of those cars run rubber fuel line systems.

The only other thing I can think of with your setup is that it's in an old car. Putting E85 in it has started to clean up your fuel system and pickup all the rubbish that was stuck everywhere and run it through the system. All my cars are either newer rubber speedflow systems (done in the last 10 years) or factory fuel system components that are only around the 10 year old mark with 100,000-150,000km on them.

[takai]

110% that this was a reaction with the E85. I have been running E85 in my race car for the last few years prior to this incident. Previously i have used a Falcon and Corolla filter for the lift and pressure pump respectively. All of the hose is the red high pressure alcohol safe stuff from CBC, and has been fine for ages before this, and has been fine for the last 12 months after that.

The only thing that changed from a good setup was that fuel filter, and the 100mm of line immediately before the filter (and a couple of brand new speedflow fittings). It was only in the car for 3-4 weeks at most, and came out looking like that.

I know all the theories which suggest that it should not change anything, but that was my experience. Im still running E85 now, so its not like im an ethanol hater, but ive just learned from experience to be wary.

[0x2DLVR]

110% that this was a reaction with the E85. I have been running E85 in my race car for the last few years prior to this incident. Previously i have used a Falcon and Corolla filter for the lift and pressure pump respectively. All of the hose is the red high pressure alcohol safe stuff from CBC, and has been fine for ages before this, and has been fine for the last 12 months after that.

The only thing that changed from a good setup was that fuel filter, and the 100mm of line immediately before the filter (and a couple of brand new speedflow fittings). It was only in the car for 3-4 weeks at most, and came out looking like that.

I know all the theories which suggest that it should not change anything, but that was my experience. Im still running E85 now, so its not like im an ethanol hater, but ive just learned from experience to be wary.

Well that seems extremely strange then

[takai]

Well that seems extremely strange then

Yeah, merely better to be wary and cautious than have expensive repair bills.

At this stage i reckon ill give it a go with this setup for a weekend and check afterwards. Some people have said that the bronze filters (little one with barbs) clog up reasonably easily, but that the stainless mesh ones are fine.