my latest project switching to E85!

[jetta2.5L]

well long time no see!
what have i been up to besides stomping on my stupid kiwi mpg? switching over to E85!
well so far so good. i've been mixing it in with my Regular gas (87 octane) couple gallons here and there the best mixture is around total mixture of E40 the car runs beautiful better then new E40 is about 5.5 gallons to a 14 gallon tank. i did 7.0 gallons which breaks down to around E55 the car didnt like that at all ....so ive been keeping it @ E40 total mix.
pros
E85- $2.32 gas $2.81
helping farmers ...and the car runs great!

Cons ....
one E85 station within 50 miles of me gotta love philadelphia! lucky its 4 miles away! limited in areas
if you mix the e85 wrong you will clog your fuel filter ....ease it in start with one gallon then add a gallon each fillup if your car starts to run rough burn out the tank if possible then run some premium you should be good my dad this he has a 21 gallon tank he put 16 gallons in first shot didnt cause a problem just ran a little rough.

overall i am happy the 105 octane keeps me happy within a month it will be converted then bye bye 87 octane!!!!

[theycallmeebryan]

It may be cheaper, but you need to use more E85 to make the same amount of power. Kind of ironic eh?

If E85 is $2.32 and gasoline is $2.81, gasoline is 21% higher priced than E85.

But, you need to use atleast 30% more E85 to make the same power....

do the math.

[jetta2.5L]

i know the last figure i saw E85 was like 15,000 BTUs under gas (dont quote me on it) so the power is lower but i plan to upgrade the spark plugs and new wires so the mpg should be close to same.

[theycallmeebryan]

Originally Posted by jetta2.5L

i know the last figure i saw E85 was like 15,000 BTUs under gas (dont quote me on it) so the power is lower but i plan to upgrade the spark plugs and new wires so the mpg should be close to same.

I don't mean to sound rude, but you need some education on this stuff my friend.

E85 is more like 40,000 BTU's / gallon under gasoline (110,000 vs 70,000).

Upgrading spark plugs and wires is not really going to do anything for you, unless your current hardware is worn out. The advantage of higher octane fuel is that you can increase the ignition timing, or increase boost pressure in a turbo car, for more power (more cylinder pressure) without detonation occurance. Higher octane fuels also burn less efficiently.

The only good thing about E85 is that its american made and reduces the dependence on imported oil. If we could produce it efficiently and in mass quantities, it would be great. But we have already proved that we cant without significantly increasing the price of corn.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by theycallmeebryan

I don't mean to sound rude, but you need some education on this stuff my friend.

E85 is more like 40,000 BTU's / gallon under gasoline (110,000 vs 70,000).

Upgrading spark plugs and wires is not really going to do anything for you, unless your current hardware is worn out. The advantage of higher octane fuel is that you can increase the ignition timing, or increase boost pressure in a turbo car, for more power (more cylinder pressure) without detonation occurance. Higher octane fuels also burn less efficiently.

The only good thing about E85 is that its american made and reduces the dependence on imported oil. If we could produce it efficiently and in mass quantities, it would be great. But we have already proved that we cant without significantly increasing the price of corn.

Or you could basically run the same static compression ratio as some less-powerful diesel engines... You can get more power from E100 than you can from Gasoline, even though the energy content isn't as high. E100 has significantly less BTU/gallon than Petrol Gasoline, but the Detonation Resistance is ~20% higher than the highest pump gas there is in USA. (93 for gas versus 115 for E100)

This means that you can run an insanely high comp ratio, extracting more power per stroke, thus more power per injection. You can equal gasoline's output more efficiently with compression that high.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by theycallmeebryan

It may be cheaper, but you need to use more E85 to make the same amount of power. Kind of ironic eh?

If E85 is $2.32 and gasoline is $2.81, gasoline is 21% higher priced than E85.

But, you need to use atleast 30% more E85 to make the same power....

do the math.

I would suggest that YOU do the math, as E85 mixes don't lose that much fe.

[theycallmeebryan]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I would suggest that YOU do the math, as E85 mixes don't lose that much fe.

I was just giving a heads up really, if he was intending to make a total switch in the future.

However... his current scenario...

(5.5 gallon E85)($2.32) + (8.5 gallons 87 grade)($2.81) = 12.76 + 23.885 = $36.645

With 40% of the mixture offering 30% less efficiency, that brings the total efficiency of the volume down about 12%.

If he bought 14 gallons straight gas at $2.81, it would be $39.34. Hes saving 9% but getting a theoretical 12% loss in efficiency.

Yes, im completely bored at work right now hahah!!

[Frank Lee]

The info contained within my post did not register, eh?