I have heard some very good stuff about e85 and it's resistance to detonation. I was wanting to hear some feedback from guy's that are currently using it. I am also wondering what it is like in comparison to c16, cost not being a factor. If anyone has any experience with e85 and a stock motor that would be right up my alley. Thanks.

 

i hear you can run more timing with e85 than you can with race gas.

also requires about 30% more fuel than normal gas

 

I run 10.5-1 and 30 deg of timing and 15 psi boost

 

You have any comparison to gas or did you go straight e85? 10.5:1 with the wideband still in gas mode?

 

For some reason I got knock around 25-2700 rpm with e85. Had to back down the timing at those rpm's. Def more torque though

 

Widebands work off Lambda, O2 content. So stoichiometric with E85 is still going to read ~14.7 on the AFR gauge (like you said, set up for gas), unless you have a wideband controller that allows you to select different fuels:

Lamda . A/F Gas . A/F E70 . A/F E85 . A/F E100
1.027. . 15.1 . . . .10.89 . . . 10.03 . . . .9.25
1.014. . 14.9 . . . .10.74 . . . .9.90 . . . .9.13
1.000. 14.700 . . 10.600 . . .9.765 . . .9.0078 Stoichiometric
0.986. . 14.5 . . . .10.46 . . . .9.63 . . . .8.89
0.973. . 14.3 . . . .10.31 . . . .9.50 . . . .8.76
0.959. . 14.1 . . . .10.17 . . . .9.37 . . . .8.64
0.946. . 13.9 . . . .10.02 . . . .9.23 . . . .8.52
0.932. . 13.7 . . . . 9.88 . . . . 9.10 . . . .8.40
0.918. . 13.5 . . . . 9.73 . . . . 8.97 . . . .8.27
0.905. . 13.3 . . . . 9.59 . . . . 8.84 . . . .8.15

So you can tune very similar to using gas. I am switching to E85 with the new motor and will start my tune at 11:1 and gradually lean it out until it's around 11.6:1 under WOT or anything above 5# of boost. The Buick turbo guys are pretty happy around 24-25 degrees of timing, but like above, you can get more aggressive if you know what you are doing and have good knock detection/correction.

Jim

 

Ummm.... NO you can't run as much timing, and it requires 15-20% more fuel. I will not make the power it can on race gas...

 

E85 does not compare to C16! C16 is a race fuel, and you can run full timing and have some room for error.....not the case will E85....and E85 will NOT make the power that C16 can, cause the tune up has to be so safe/lame or not so aggesive to run E85 that it can really robb a lot of power from the combenation.....

 

We run and tune some FI cars on E85. It is not as good as c16, but pretty close to being as good as 110. I tune it like 100 oct fuel. We have a twin turbo viper here on it and it makes 1060/1145 to the tires. I run about 17 degrees of advance up top at 17psi vs. 23-24 with c16. I would only go to about 900whp on 93 oct.

 

Those are sad numbers for a boosted viper. Mine made 400 more rwhp at 12 psi on e85.
In my opinion e85 is great for forced induction. Just as good as c16. And if you add methanol or water injection you have a almost limitless amount of boost to run as long as you can get the fuel there.

One thing to look out for is when the weather changes like it does here in the Midwest. They change the mixture of the e85 to more petrol so it easier to start on those cold mornings. Just some thing to watch if you do make the switch.

 

Is this setup going to use a whipple?

 

Will the EGT'S be lower on a turbo car running E85?

 

I've heard they are..but I'm just starting on my research.

 

The good thing about E-85 is it cools substantially better than race gas, but the benefit isnt' enough for me to change.

 

you guys talk about the good parts of e-85 but your not talking about the best part.

c16 is what $5.00+ in most places

and e85 is $2.00- in most places.

^^^ that is the best about e85. 105oct gas for under $2. it doesnt get any better

 

More like $15 retail for c16 around here, but I did state money not being a factor in my origional post.

 

I agree, I pushed it to 24* on E85, and it did not like it with L92 heads.

 

I have heard people say with e85 the car just lays over and stops making power if it is too lean or too much timing...did you have motor problem's?

 

well ok you did. but that much price difference i would hate to build a car for c16 only.

 

Good for you, you had a Viper that would make 800whp on the engine alone then. We were working with something that would make 450 to the tires on motor alone. No bogus numbers numbers here 2 atmospheres generally doubles hp output.

I would like to see your Viper that made 1450+ to the tires on 12psi though, must be one hell of a build.