Has anyone ran a street rod, hot rod or high performance engine (street use) on E85 or on staight ethanol regularly?
My blown 354 will be running on it. I also use it in my '95 F150, '95 Lincoln DOHC and my wifes Cavalier. Usually I use E20 in the dailys and E85 on road trips. The E85 lights the check engine light occasionally but not the E20. Fuel economy is about the same... maybe a tad lower. But the 351 in the F150 doesn't get good mileage no matter what. When gas was $4.00 plus the E85 was 90 cents per gallon cheaper... now it's about 20 cents cheaper.
PROS + Renewable fuel + Uses up to 85 percent less imported petroleum + Less money goes overseas + You don't have to pay a premium for a flexible-fuel model CONS - Gets fewer miles per gallon than regular gas - Environmental benefits unclear - Possible effects on global food supply so why would you want to??
Most of the corn that goes into the production of E85 goes back to the farms as cattle feed. there will be alternatives to corn for the production of E85 very soon... there are now but they aren't economically feasible right now. I haul feed out of a couple different ethanol plants here in the midwest. They keep us busy, put $$$ in the farmers pockets, help the sales of farm equipment, put lots of money back into the rural communities. I know ethanol has it's detractors but it's been real good for me.
My Fiat Topolino drag car runs on E85. It is cheaper than alcohol. My local dyno shop buddies can do a tune on cars to run E85. It has very high octane. We are now building a 301 Chevy that will run on E85. http://doneriteautomotive.com/
Another pro to E85 is it runs cooler. May not mean a lot to most guys, but I like to see the intake manifold frosting up after a run down the strip when I don't run a water pump. And it's a lot cheaper than alcohol.
I was running e-85 in my late model truck, but since the price of gas went down it is not available in Las Cruces anymore. I had planned to run e85 in my 39, so much so that I bought a e85 prepared carb and fuel pump.... el ****o.... Kind of built my engine for it also. I built 11 to 1 compression to use e85, but to still have an escape route back to gas if needed, needed it sooner than I thought... would have built 10 to 1 if I knew it was for gas for sure... If anyone wants to buy carb/pump I will sell it for -10% of my cost and I will pay shipping to 48 states........ It is brand new, never even got to put it on...
Please do a search, those of us that have a TON of experience with it have posted 20?+ time? Really, please search. zman has a comprehensive thread.
One of my client decided to run a fleet of Hyundai’s on E85... What a disaster. The damage it caused to the fuel system was out of control. Older cars are all good... They would run on any fuel
There are quite a few threads on here just search "ethanol" and you'll get quite a few. It definitely shows promise. As long as you don't look at the "flex fuel" vehicles for your answers, they're just regular gas engines with a wider mapping for timing and jetting to accept the E85. It really needs lots of compression to make it work well. Uhhhh... Octane, dude Octane... Growing switch gr*** is economically feasible. Also ethanol can be made from just about any bio m***. I'm tired of paying farmers to NOT grow. And yes the gov. does that. Not quite but close... Jetting is jetting and you should match the jetting to the car.
Why do you have to "put your two cents in"... but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?
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