Corn Powered Corvettes- results are in!
 

We've been working on R&D with E85 on some LS1 corvettes for quite a few months now, and it's time to let the cat outta the bag. The price @ our hometown here is $1.66 a gallon for E85. The cars in this link have various parts from stock bottom end (good pistons and rod bolts) on a 200 shot to a TPIS 427 on a TNT 150 shot. We have done 300+ corn powered vehicles (including everything from stock pick-ups to a twin turbo 427 mustang), and have had NO detrimental effects to this day. We are heading to Great Lakes Dragway this weekend to get some time slips. The C5 with stock crank and rods will be treated to a 350-400 shot this weekend. The rods and crank will probably say :barf: , but it's getting a new heart this winter...

www.rune85.com/cornvette

twin turbo cobra (900 RWHP)

www.rune85.com/turbocobra

what changes are needed to an LS1 equipped F-Body to run E-85? Just different injectors?

I am VERY interested in this kind of information. We just got our first E85 station here in Portland, OR. I'd like to know what is involved with converting my 2004 Vette to E85. Please post links for contact numbers.

Thanks,

greg

:stupid: I already posted about this on TCS though. We have E85 stations all over the place, im also a farmer. :)

Smug D!!!

I might have one of those cars??????

I can dispell MANY myths that have came about with this fuel... We have been working with this for quite some time. There are many advantages as it is 105 octane (depending on time of year) and we still retain 25-29 MPG on the highway
i will probably post up some more info later... we have alot of stuff going on at the shop (going to milwaukee racing tomorrow!)


andy

105 octane, sounds great!!

wow awesome! very interested in this...can it be applied to older motors like LT1 and the TPI L98/LB9 ??

Some questions:
-Won't gas mileage drop about 30% with the burn-rate of ethanol?
-What happens to the price of Ethanol when the gov't stops subsidizing it?
-What are the effects (long term) of the water-retention principles of Ethanol, as far as fuel tanks, fuel pumps, fuel filters, fuel lines, and other internal parts?

I'm not sold on it yet...

isnt it a little early in the E85 world to be spraying? especially a 200 shot :eek2:

explain the depending on what time of year please :)

1. Fuel economy will NOT suffer by 30% with PROPER tuning. There are MANY other variables that influence this, but the LSx platform seems to do extremely well as far as consumption rates go. WOT will require more fuel however.

2. E85 costs about 2-4.5 cents per gallon more to produce than regular gasoline. There are various subsidies including a $.51 per gallon "blenders credit" The industry will be subsidized for sometime to help ramp production and also to keep prices down initially to keep the consumer interested. The oil/ gas industry is one of the most subsidized industries in the country, with not too many people knowing this. They receive MANY tax breaks and still declare record profits... :bs:

3. Long term effects- E85 is nowhere near as corrosive as methanol- Your fuel tank is already plastic, your hoses already have nylon linings, and most all OEMs have been using Viton seals since 1996. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. As far as water retention, I do not condone putting water in your fuel tank, no matter what fuel you have! Jokes aside, condensation could cause problems, but we have not seen any effects of this. If you extract a fuel sample before and after a freeze/ thaw, there will be very little water if any (in a pressurized/ sealed enviroment such as your fuel tank)
these are the facts as I know them, others may have different stories. I am interested in facts if someone else has insight, but I am not interested in what your buddy heard from the local mechanic. Some of the first vehicles we converted were 6.0L chev pickups that had 190,xxx miles on them and now have into the 210,xxx and 215,xxx miles. No fuel pump failures. I can show you pics of a 1999 Tahoe NON-FLEX FUEL that had 100k on e85 (with no tuning or anything). Crosshatching is still present in the cylinder walls, fuel pump was ORIGINAL (how many 96-00 chev pickup guys can say that?) I will try and post those pics up, I do not have them in digi format, though.

andy

E85 (depending on your area) is only 85% ethanol for approx 3-4 months out of the calendar year. They change fuel blends as cooler weather comes to combat the cold start issues that are present with the fuel. In January, if you live in South Dakota, you will be getting a 70 percent ethanol and 30 percent gas mix. If you live in texas the change is not this adverse. It slowly progresses up and down the blend as the year passes. Yes, this does affect the tuning but no I will not divulge all info about that at this time.

I understand that transporting Ethanol (in large quantities via pipeline) isn't happening yet, due to the moisture it picks up in the pipe, which leads to corrosion inside the pipeline itself. I guess they have to truck it, or send it by rail for now?

Why is there no picture of the heads/cam Chevette w/ the 200 shot that you mention in the www.rune85.com/cornvette ?

It's the white one... I just jammed a pic on my web to get one on there. I know more about selling corn than the internet, I guess. :jest:

There are multiple reasons for the pipeline issue not happening, alot of it has to do with politics. You are correct, most of it is trucked right now, and I am not in total belief on the corrosion factors. The fuel is stored in MASSIVE tanks for periods of time at the ethanol plants, so I would guess if it was true they would have water problems in the storage tanks as well. I have not researched that fully so I will not declare I know the gospel on this matter.

I liked the way this sounded til this part. Tuning is expensive. I don't want to be constantly taking my car in for tuning my DD in Chicago.

No- it does not need to be constantly tuned... I will explain more later. We are leaving to go racing @ Great Lakes and I may post up tonight (fri)

andy

this is very cool technology. I am curiuos to read more about it and possibly converting my 01 z28 over as well.

sadly we still dont have e85 gas stations around here!

ditto. E85 is the truth