Without the Proper components the "alcohol" in e85 will corrode your engine from the inside out, now this takes a long time. It’s not an overnight process, it takes years.
As far as that Boat, well what do we know about ethanol, it absorbs water, so why would you run a boat on a fuel that absorbs water, it’s too stupid to even think about. This is why avid boat guys go through such lengths to find non ethanol based fuel.
As well as the Boat manufactures have not upgraded to alcohol friendly components in their boats. Combine the 2, now we have a fuel that sucks up water. That also sits for extended periods without running, causing carbs and injectors to gum up as well as deteriating rubber hoses. It’s all the ingredients for disaster.
It’s NOT the fuels fault. It’s the Owner and manufactures fault for what happens to boats running ethanol based fuels. Now that’s settled, let’s get to the Fun stuff.
Let’s Assume, your engine components are designed to be ALCOHOL friendly. This includes gaskets, coated brass, hoses, Anodized aluminum parts ETC.
The "true" benefits of E-85 are its INSANELY high resistance to knock as well as its 105 octane rating.
It’s literally a forced induction guy’s wet dream!
The fuel runs cooler than normal due to its lower flash point, its alcohol based so it’s a clean burning etc. etc.
Now knowing that,
What you can do to an engine to produce more power by using this Fuel?
1: Crank that compression! We are talking 13:1! Or more, with insane amount of timing!
Huge power gains to be found here. But like anything you must build your engine with this specific goal in mind “ I am running E85 and nothing else”. Or maybe you want to blend your own and go E90..
Your normal 8:1 or 9:5 compression engine will see NO gains from 105 octane E85. Think the age old argument, why does my engine run better on 87 than on 93? It all comes down to compression.
More compression = more knock resistant fuels with lower flash point, slowing the burn rate. Aswell as Lower octane fuel has a higher flash point, which burns faster creating more power.
2: Forced Induction! O yes, here’s where you get the insane power from E85!
For a typical FI engine (APROX! Don’t make this Gospel) every 1psi of boost translates to 10HP as well as every 1 degree of timing translates to 5-7HP boost (Forced induction, NOT NA). Obviously till you lift a head or blow out your bottom end.
This is where E85 comes into the spotlight. Remember is insane knock resistance? Bingo!
Lots of boost, lots of timing, and still no knock! HUGE HP gains!
E85 gets a bad rap due to all the people who don’t know how to handle the fuel, and think. “O I’ll get some at the pump, I can fuel up with E85, it’s cheaper” NOWAY! Shure your NON flex fuel vehicle might run on it, but due to the fact it requires up to 30% more fuel to get your AFR’s back in check, your injectors are now max duty cycle to try and give the engine its required amount of fuel to run properly.
Hence early injector and fuel pump failures.
As well as E85s corrosive side, it will literally CLEAN every bit of corrosion in your gas tank and lines, Clogging fuel socks, fuel filters and your injectors. IF! You don’t put 7-10 micron filters in place to stop the debris released by the ethanol doing what it does. This is Normal for E85, If you won’t or don’t want to change the required components to stop the corrosion, DONOT RUN E85!
Yes you will need to clean or change that filter quite a few times over a few months, but when it’s all clean, your back to regular maintenance.
So how Do you retrofit your vehicle to run pure E85? Well it’s simple. Up your injector size by at minimum 30%, get a high flow Fuel pump and put in some high end filters along with a new tune.
Depending on your HP level you’re trying to reach, you may have to go as far as increasing your Fuel line size to allow for the increase in flow rate required for all that extra fuel to get your AFR’s in check.
Here’s a little secret, IF you’re in the market for a new vehicle, get one that’s Flex fuel compatible.
Why? Because it has the Fuel sensor that tells the ECU what fuel your running, where as normal vehicles don’t.
This allows you to go FI and be able to swap fuels on the fly, as the fuel tables for normal fuel and E85 are separate. Your tuner can compensate by pulling timing when you’re on regular fuel and push the timing on E85. So you will benefit from either fuel without hurting your expensive engine.
But for the basic driver, converting to E85 is a complete waste of time and money, unless you just want to be able to say “ I use E85”. There is NO return benefit from it, not even 10 years down the road.
For most of us, we must drive long distance to even find a E85 pump, thus negating ANY benefits of the “cheaper” fuel.
However, if you want to give your internals some cleaning, run 30% E85 for a couple months. You will notice some power, its simply your engine no longer pulling timing. But there is a reason your engine is doing that, Find it, Fix it, and you will reap the benefits you saw on E85 everyday on normal fuel.
I have been playing with E85 for many years. I have run every engine I have laid my greasy hands on off the stuff. Seen increases and decreases in performance by running it.
My Talon runs E85 100% of the time as its running 22-28#’s of boost, depending on my driving style for the day.
Take this as you will guys. If you have any in depth question pls feel free to shoot me a PM about this. I will gladly help ya if I can.
Wow this post got huge!
