E85 Rod!?

Last Thursday I found myself flipping channels on the boob-tube and came across American Chopper, Though I’m not a huge fan of the Tuttles (or their bikes), I did become interested in their project. The were building an E85 bike.

I quickly browsed around on line because based on the episode, the bike for the most part was mechanically the same with the exception of the carburetor. If I understood correctly, it sounds as if with a modification of widened inlets and the jets and possibly a float, one could run E85 on just about any engine. (I’m no engineer, but this was the basics of what I found)

So, this got me thinking. If it looks like our country is going to try to deaden our dependence on foreign oil, would it make sense to start looking to build an E85Rod? (ERod, that sounds kinda stupid now that I typed it)

I know this kind of thinking is either going to be embraced with open arms by folks here, or rejected as quick as you can finish reading this post, but I was looking for opinions. If you consider that most Hot Rodders are innovative and crafty, then making the change to E85 may be natural. This coupled with the fact that our ways of life are changing, and would you rather have your rod sit with no fuel, or keep it going? However, just as easily, there is a long time tradition in gasoline; it’s practically our own brand of cologne. I think there are probably a good number of folks here who wouldn’t dream of switching over to any fuel but the mainstay.

So, I opened the door. I am of the mind that I’d be willing to give it a whirl. The only other fact that I found in my research that is of note is that E85 burns faster than gasoline, which in some folks cases, we’d need a bigger fuel tank!
(*I did a quick search on this topic and didn’t find any results. If this is a repeat of another conversation, lemme know.)

 

Ethanol is really a bad alternative to gas, it's more polluting, and there are price controls on how cheap you can sell it (read a while back where a gas station owner in Munroe, Wisconsin tried to sell it for $2 a gallon and was fined for it). Ethanol is a bad economic and environmental investment.

Read more here: The Many Myths of Ethanol

 

I say “go” for it! All the new Stromberg parts will work fine with E85 plus I have 50+ jets in stock now. I believe fuel choices are a good thing; I’m not totally for or completely against any of them. (Don’t forget about biodiesel). There will always be pros and cons to any fuel choice. In the upper Midwest it’s very easy to plot all the E85 stations for a 400-600 mile trip in an E85 only hot rod.

As to the Stossel article referenced above, there’s one big misleading part, this quote, “Except for that fact that ethanol comes from corn,”. This statement is not entirely true. You can make ethanol from corn but it’s a really bad plant to use for ethanol production. There are much better plants to use like sugar beets. Brazil runs the whole country on sugar cane.

Right now there’s a lot of research and development going on to overcome the ethanol production problems. For example, this company, Virent, just raised $21 million in venture funding for their BioForming process – making fuel from sugar. (No, I don’t work for them or know anybody that works there).

http://www.virent.com

 

We are all being sold a bill of goods on all this alternative fuel jazz, like global warming (now called rapid climate change).
We've let the whackos stop us from building refineries, stop us from drilling for our own oil, stop us from building nuclear plants, and what have we gained. Almost total dependence on outside sources for oil, a ludicrous dreamworld waste of billions on "wind" energy (but not in the Northeast or offshore near politician's homes), and rules and regulations and laws and ordinances and on and on.

 

I ran the ''E'' in the hot rod VW with no modification .I was told that hydrolic valve cars may have trouble though it may be the type of metal the valves and seats are made of.VW's and Vtwins have chromoly valves i think.

 

This is the car i ran the''E'' in.Though it is true that only maybe 30 % of carbon or co2 comes from cars the rest is from factorys and the such... Isnt carbon ''plant food''?

 

I for one can't wait for my town to get E85, though it may never happen even though some sort of E85 plant is planned here.

E85 has an octane rating og something like 107! Hell, tou could run 14:1 compression with that and really pick up the mpg! I've been thinking about a 283 bored to 301(1/8" over) with power pack heads for there small chambers and some small domes on the pistons, might be around 12:1, and to make up for the small heads, a little port work and a fairly mild solid lifter cam(more area under the curve). I think this little motor in a 3000# hot rod w/ 5speed and about 3.31 gears should pull down over 20mpg on the highway and still run very respectable.

 

Sorry for all the mispelling, my proofreader got hammered last night!

 

Ethanol has both good and bad characteristics, to try and say that it is anything more than a bandage for the current situation would be a gross overstatement.

It is good to see that an alternative fuel is getting support and that in some places may be economically feasible (read the WSJ about how production margins are being squeezed due to excessive growth and falling prices: supply vs. demand)

 

Good gawd folks.....................do a search! There is a current thread already going about this not to mention the other 30 in the last year! WTF? Over.

 

How come anybody with the "ol' skool HAMBer" "status" has to be a prick and regulate and judge others posts??? WTF is right! They have moderators here already. Are you that bored? Move on...

 

How come newbies double post a lot?

 

That is a bunch of bullshit, ScottyDoesn'tKnow is a fitting title for that post. its all crap get a life.

 

LOL. If that's the best argument you can put up, I must have a pretty good point.

All I'm sayin' is that Ethanol isn't what it's being billed as, at least not yet. Go ahead, make an E85 rod, but I think biodiesel is a better bet for an alternative fuel at the moment. I just hate to see someone waste money and time because they were sold a bill of goods.

True, but the problem with sugar is that it is so heavily protected and subsidized in the US that it would be a far more expensive alternative to corn.

Brazil, on the other hand, had to FORCE their population to accept Ethanol, and spent tax money to do it. Stossel has a very good point when he states that if Ethanol is so great, people will switch on their own.

I'd like to hear how an engine has to be modified to accept Ethanol or biodiesel, and this really isn't a political board and I'd hate to make it one.

 

The only problem w/ the Biodiesel is that we wil have a lot of noisy rods between the motor and loud exhaust. Good thing I don't have neighbors.

 

I run my hot rod on E85....needs lots of compression to make it worth it,but yea.....we've been over this many times, do a search

 

It is true that CO2 is plant food. The problem is that the oil is putting CO2 into the air that hasn't been there for millions of years, very quickly.

 

The vast majority of CO2 comes from wetlands. If you want to lower it, you might think about paving the Everglades.

Except there's a problem, there is some science that says that CO2 increases follow warming trends, instead of preceeding them, causing doubt on its role in global warming.

What's worse is that CO2 is only about 8% of what goes into "the greenhouse effect" the majority of it (70%) is caused by water and water vapor.

 

I'm what's known as a "late adopter," because there are few advantages to jumping on any bandwagon early.
If E85 starts being sold widely around where you live, THEN convert. Until then, why even bother?
It doesn't matter if ethanol is any good or not if you can't buy it. (Because if I understand you correctly, with a carb it's one or the other, so if you convert then you can only run the e85, right?)
And regardless of whether or not it's a "good" fuel, I'm pretty sure it's never going to be widely available.

 

I run 100% methanol. This is in a drag car. So it's not E85, and it's not a street-driven hot rod, why post? Perhaps the extreme postion of 100% alcohol can shed some light on the realities of what
you're facing running E85:

Pros: has the potential to run more compression, engine runs much cooler, seems to make more power.

Cons: changing to high compression pistons is expensive (so I never did it), it condensation-fouls the oil quickly, you have to run twice the fuel volume (this is why there's less MPG), and because it's corrosive, I drain the entire system after every meet.

I originally switched to get the cooler temp benefit. Too many downsides, so I'm switching back to gas.

 

How the Heck did that Kool-ass VW get wet in Vegas?

Anyway, We've got E85 at one station here in Wooster, in the largest dairy county in Ohio. My tenant has a Flex-Fuel Taurus and he's happy with it. There is a company, Genahol, here also that is working on an ethanol plant. I was at a 'green' seminar last fall and the owner said he dreams about getting the fruit waste from the Smucker's plant in nearby Orrville!

 

Come on now, if all you can do is make personal attacks, then Stossel must be on to something.

I really don't care if he is an asshole if his facts on the matter are correct. Can't really say that for other "biased" assholes like Al Gore. LOL.

The link works on my end. Try going to the "Tools" menu of your Internet Explorer, click "Internet Options", select the "Advanced ", scroll down and make sure "Use TLS 1.0" is checked. Then close out the window, open a new one and try again.

 

E85 is 85% ethanol, not 85% methanol....big differance. Ethanol isnt nearly as corrosive as methanol is. I ran alcohol compatible fuel lines and pump to be safe anyways.
It will draw moisture, so you just have to be concience of possible ways of moisture entering the fuel system when its parked/stored. Not that big of a deal when you look at the overall picture of things. If you plan for it in the beginning, its no hassle at all. Trying to convert to it later.....your gonna get frustrated.

 

The Many Myths of Ethanol link is crap, maybe try a less biased source.
And thank big oil and their political clout for the price controls, they don't want Ethanol competing.

Yep, the search function is super duper great, you'll find all kinds of neat stuff with it.

Piss off... bandwidth is not free, though there are ways to help with it, Alliance membership, auctions, actually having a clue. You think this is bad, this is light weight... It's times like this that I miss the old HAMB. Maybe pay attention, read, respect.

Corn is much more protected than sugar, that's more of a problem in my eyes...

and no Stossel is very wrong, those in control of the markets are trying to dictate what you get, heavy political influence and lobbying are what is getting the attention and not really what is best...

wow, I think that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard... wtf?

E85 does not take twice the fuel, the average increase in jetting is about 20%, please try again....

thank you for an intelligent addition to this thread...

 

-I was considering running the new Edelbrock E-85 carb on my Pontiac, but I didn't want to wait this summer for it to be released... so, I bought an Edelbrock Performer instead. Eventually, I probably will convert over to E-85 if enough stations start selling it around me. I would love to not have to retard my timing to run on crap gas...

 

Any major tuning questions contact Andy at E85 Solutions. he will make your car run on flex fuel. andy@dynotuneusa.com. Serious this guy runs the stuff in everything. He is so good the big three know and don't like him because of what he know and how he found it.

 

I dont know shit, just several years of experience running the stuff.