E85 for and against

[takai]

Just remember that it absorbs water out of the atmosphere, like brake fluid. Always best to get fresh stuff.

[Rona]

Mate we can't even get it in Sydney in anything resembling widespread availability. It will be a long time before WA becomes the next most profitable site for united or caltex. Nearest servo to me is a good 45 min drive away, going to be a long time before it is a daily driving alternative.

[Mr Ed]

We've got 2 outlets in Canberra

[Mr Parts]

the united servo in Hoppers Crossing (vic) is currently closed for undertermined period of time due to when the area flooded during recent rains.

[Greg Rust]

Cool stuff fellas, so looks like a 205L might be the go, could always store it at a mates factory.

I like the idea of an E85 Clevo

[nitrane]

It'll love comp and timing and help (a little) with the dreaded Clevo operating temp issue.

I'm building a boost motor and I'll probably keep the flat tops @ 10.5:1 comp with the EFI

[Typhoon]

My Volvo is on it's fourth tank of pump E85 over 4-6 weeks. All smiles so far. Nothing is leaking, nothing has melted, seized or blown up. I've had no issues with E85 pump supply down here in Canberra.
Interestingly, in a semi daily driver, fuel economy seems to be no worse than 10% higher, which surprised me. I was fully expecting up to 30% worse.
I'm really impressed with it as a fuel. Doesn't burn my eyes when the car is idling in the garage (actually it smells friggin great). Cold starts are the only minor issue, it will catch and run for a second or two first start of a day then stall, and then needs a second start, after which it's fine for the day. It's just an alcohol fuel thing, it doesn't vaporise as well at low temps as "petrol".
I've also had a half litre of E85 sitting in a cupboard in the garage for 3 months now, the level hasn't increased (indicating taking on atmospheric moisture) nor has it gone cloudy.
So I'm pretty happy with the pump stuff sitting in my tank for extended periods.
The other bonus is the car will still run O.K on 95-98 if I can't get E85, it just uses a little more fuel than normal on that fuel. That is a modified stock Bosch system though and is known to be quite adaptive,.
If E85 was a little more widely available, I'd convert the nopics Magna in a flash.

[brasher]

yeah I'm getting mid 12's/100 on 98 and only mid 15s/100 on E85 so it's definately economical.

[10sec rx7]

the 30% comes from the internet heros that have ZERO exprience in using it... i found in a late model commodore 15-18% difference was the norm..

[wardy]

We've got 2 outlets in Canberra

This is interesting.. at least i dont have to drive 5 hours to sydney or melbs to stock up!

[Typhoon]

And don't forget, Ethanol fires can be fought with plain old water, so if you are concerned about storing drums, just put them somewhere you can get to them with a garden hose.
I also forgot to mention, the tailpipe on the Lolvo had a lot of carbon buildup when running 98 (also used to get a little black soot on tailgate after a few weeks), it's all disappearing on E85, much cleaner burn.

[Captiva Fan]

It's been messing with my mind a little, but ... if my turbo's the current limit on power, but my injectors are a little undersized, I won't gain anything from E85 will I?

I mean to get more power I need more air, and even though I've got heaps of injector available that won't help unless I get more air - yeah?

There's an E85 servo not far from here, but only having about a 40L tank & without a closed-loop ECU I'm thinking it probably isn't worth getting the car tuned for E85 ... even though that smell's rather smurfy.

[200MPH]

I understand e85 is the go for turbro, but are there realistically good gains with a n/a v8? My car has dual fuel tanks and the wolf v500 has dual spark/fuel maps so I am thinking it should be simple enough to use one tank for 98 to drive to track or street cruise, then switch to e85 from other fuel tank and e85 ecu maps when at track. Being in wa, as previously mentioned we not going to get e anything soon at the pump. Plus the pump stuff can vary from e70 to e85 or so I understand, depending on seasonal variation to assist with cold starting. Not so good if tuning close to the limit I'm guessing.
So steve, (supashake) I'm looking at you here for some sort of advice regarding my application, seeing as you tuned my motor originally! It's a 380 or so rwhp 347 ford, solid roller cam, victor jr Ali heads and IR 8 stack induction. Power still climbing at my self imposed 7000 rpm limiter. 10.5:1 comp ratio.
Or if anyone else has some thoughts or experience with e85 in similar motors I'm all ears!

[Typhoon]

It's been messing with my mind a little, but ... if my turbo's the current limit on power, but my injectors are a little undersized, I won't gain anything from E85 will I?

I mean to get more power I need more air, and even though I've got heaps of injector available that won't help unless I get more air - yeah?

There's an E85 servo not far from here, but only having about a 40L tank & without a closed-loop ECU I'm thinking it probably isn't worth getting the car tuned for E85 ... even though that smell's rather smurfy.

You won't gain anything if your injectors are currently the limiting factor. If they aren't, you will, but you'll have to tweak stuff.
The advantage to E85 is you can advance ignition timing and get into boost earlier and not worry near as much about detonation. So you can advance base ignition timing if you have a distributor and get off boost/low boost torque gains. Likewise if you are restricted by knock under boost, E85 will help you there.
As you may know, my car has the teeny Mitsubishi turbo, I have noticed good improvements in midrange power and with the stock injectors I had before, I think I was close to maxing out and the ECU was retarding timing (knock). I've never chased peak power with my car, always gone for big torwue/mid revs gains. So E85 really helps me there.
If you're talking about a 240 Volvo, you should consider swapping up to LH2.4, it's very adaptive and you can then chip the ECU's to take full advantage of E85. Of course, if you have aftermarket ECU, go crazy.

[Captiva Fan]

You won't gain anything if your injectors are currently the limiting factor. If they aren't, you will, but you'll have to tweak stuff.
[snip]
If you're talking about a 240 Volvo, you should consider swapping up to LH2.4, it's very adaptive and you can then chip the ECU's to take full advantage of E85. Of course, if you have aftermarket ECU, go crazy.

I am talking about a 240, but it be MoTeC'd. The injectors are actually a bit large, and the resulting eensie-weensie duty-cycle at idle exacerbates the somewhat flaky idle-control that my model ECU's known for.
It needs the busted speedo fixed first, but when that's done, it's due to get properly dyno tuned. Hence it'd be a nothing-lost time to do the E85 thing, if I were going to.

However, due to me getting Bad Advice from people who I suspect heard me say "Volvo engine" and hence assumed I'd be lucky to get 12hp, the turbo's a bit too small. It's a 320hp-max GT25 in a size which I think they currently sell as a GT28, but I probably should've got a GT35 of some description ("next size up" bb-turbo back then).

So I'm thinking that if the turbo's the current limit, then to be making more power I'm going to need more air, regardless of the fuel. Don't you get about the same power for about the same amount of air consumed, the issue being you can turn the boost up & consume more air if you're running E85?

On top of that, no closed-loop means I can't really get lean-cruise ultra-leaney, and if I've only got a 45L tank or so, the range is going to be pretty short. I doubt I could even get to the Hunter Valley & back, and Old Pac thence Macquarie Pass thence Kangaroo Valley wouldn't be doable. Not much E85 around.