E85 and COLD weather, brrr

[wordy1]

As many of you guys who frequent this forum already know, have been running a 25% mix of E-85 with nothing but high-praise to report, took a few direct scan runs, is there somewhere here I can post them? The O2's start to dip down into the .760's over 75 MPH. Was at .800 when the temp was 50, now its in the 20's..

Will the temp cause this much of a difference?

When tuning with E-85 or a blend, would it be better to focus on the A/F ratio?

However, there's no knock, and gas milage hasn't changed, at least nothing measurable... and am running 20 psi., was only able to run up to 17 psi. if I was lucky and got a good batch of pump gas. Seems that the R+M/2 method doesn't apply itself very well with E-85 and the research octane is more important when judging how well a fuel is against detonation, as I wasn't expecting this much of a difference in regards to using it as an octane booster and was reluctant to use it for this purpose as the toluene worked so well,.

I urge every single TR owner to up the fueling and run 25% E-85. Even at this modest level, you'll notice a difference immediately.. Been running it for long enough to report no issues, and will keep you all posted as time passes..


Been driving the car through all these recent ice storms, no cold weather start-up issues to report, my daily driver has been out of commission for several weeks, so I've been forced to drive my Monte in the snow . It is actually surprisingly good, shh, don't tell anyone, remember that our cars aren't supposed to move at all in the snow .

[novaderrik]

you mean your gas tank and lines haven't rusted off the car, and your fuel filter hasn't disintegrated yet?
your results pretty much mirror my own, except i haven't started my car in temps under 40 degrees for over a year, and i usually run a 50/50 mix of E85 and 87 octane.

[bsdlinux]

Originally Posted by novaderrik

you mean your gas tank and lines haven't rusted off the car, and your fuel filter hasn't disintegrated yet?
your results pretty much mirror my own, except i haven't started my car in temps under 40 degrees for over a year, and i usually run a 50/50 mix of E85 and 87 octane.

X2 on that. I'm waiting for things to fall off the car as we speak. Over a year with the same 50/50, even more than that sometimes. E-85 rules, the car is much happier with it.

[Hot Air]

Guys,
I am very pleased that you are running E85 without any issues. That is great! Way to go!! Now all I have to do is wait for a E85 pump to appear in Albemarle, North Carolina.
Conrad

[vacuum 6]

Originally Posted by wordy1

I urge every single TR owner to up the fueling and run 25% E-85. Even at this modest level, you'll notice a difference immediately.. Been running it for long enough to report no issues, and will keep you all posted as time passes..

With a 25% mixture (25% e85 + 75% pump gas) what needs to be done to the fuel...up the fuel psi and/or add fuel to the WOT?

[Adam Connell]

I honestly Did not do a damn thing when I switched to 25% other than turn up the boost 2lbs. I went from 15lbs with MILD knock on 93 to 17lbs on e-85 with next to none... I finally figured out that one of my injectors is dead and one is on the way out so I have 60s on the way... Hopefully I can get the car to run 15-16 w/no knock on 93 and then bump it back up for E-85. My last tank I ran roughly 1/3 E-85 (6 gallons) and saw no issues either but was unable to turn the boost up. Im pretty sure my knock was coming from the lack of fuel so we will see what happens. DO NOT take my word as advice on this, I did it with no problems but that does not mean it will work the same for you!

BTW if you want to know how to get a certain percentage just add how ever many gallons of e-85 to an empty tank it would take. We have 18 gallon tanks so 6 gallons of e-85 topped off with 93 would get you roughly 1/3 e-85... Not an exact science, but you can get close. I would always tune on the safe side if using this method of fuel mixing! Oh 4.5 gal would get you 25% FYI. To make sure you get as close to an accurate percentage as possible try to get the tank as empty as possible before filling up.

[bsdlinux]

Originally Posted by Adam Connell

I honestly Did not do a damn thing when I switched to 25% other than turn up the boost 2lbs. I went from 15lbs with MILD knock on 93 to 17lbs on e-85 with next to none... I finally figured out that one of my injectors is dead and one is on the way out so I have 60s on the way... Hopefully I can get the car to run 15-16 w/no knock on 93 and then bump it back up for E-85. My last tank I ran roughly 1/3 E-85 (6 gallons) and saw no issues either but was unable to turn the boost up. Im pretty sure my knock was coming from the lack of fuel so we will see what happens. DO NOT take my word as advice on this, I did it with no problems but that does not mean it will work the same for you!

BTW if you want to know how to get a certain percentage just add how ever many gallons of e-85 to an empty tank it would take. We have 18 gallon tanks so 6 gallons of e-85 topped off with 93 would get you roughly 1/3 e-85... Not an exact science, but you can get close. I would always tune on the safe side if using this method of fuel mixing! Oh 4.5 gal would get you 25% FYI. To make sure you get as close to an accurate percentage as possible try to get the tank as empty as possible before filling up.

33 deg this morning NO start problems

Yes E-85 in the tank at 25% to 33% percent will yeild more power without doing anything at all, providing your fuel setup with provide the trim needed to get the extra fuel, most cars will. Turning up the boost is an added benefit and of course even more power.

My all stock ( injectors too ) White car @ 15 PSI 18 deg chip on 93 was ok. I put the E-85 in and no other changes and was able to from a 20-30 punch layout 200 foot marks on the road, of course that was with radial tires but still with 93 no way.

I'm glad to see that some more people on this board are using E-85 and enjoying it. I was going to put alky on but I have my 83s and a new chip from Eric for 100% E-85 no need to bother now. Alky injected directly into the injectors is always better than in the up pipe

[b4black]

Originally Posted by wordy1

As many of you guys who frequent this forum already know, have been running a 25% mix of E-85 with nothing but high-praise to report, took a few direct scan runs, is there somewhere here I can post them? The O2's start to dip down into the .760's over 75 MPH. Was at .800 when the temp was 50, now its in the 20's..

E85 is really E70 in the winter. E85 is not very volatile, so it's need more gasoline in the winter to get the vapor pressure high enough for engines to start.

[wordy1]

Originally Posted by novaderrik

you mean your gas tank and lines haven't rusted off the car, and your fuel filter hasn't disintegrated yet?
your results pretty much mirror my own, except i haven't started my car in temps under 40 degrees for over a year, and i usually run a 50/50 mix of E85 and 87 octane.

Not yet , do I sense a hint of sarcasm?? I have replaced the fuel filter though as the Ethanol cleaned out a lot of the gunk in the tank and it was caught by the filter... Hopefully I'll be good for awhile.

[wordy1]

Originally Posted by b4black

E85 is really E70 in the winter. E85 is not very volatile, so it's need more gasoline in the winter to get the vapor pressure high enough for engines to start.

Why would I be running a bit leaner if the percentage of Ethanol is less?

[wordy1]

Originally Posted by vacuum 6

With a 25% mixture (25% e85 + 75% pump gas) what needs to be done to the fuel...up the fuel psi and/or add fuel to the WOT?

I raised the pressure at the regulator to 44 psi, and upped the fuel 5% across the board. Timing is still the same,, levels out at 19 degrees, haven't played with it yet, but I am tempted to increase some timing to utilize the higher octane of the E-85.

Only upped the pressure and fuel because I am now making more boost, same as I would have done with toluene or race gas my car was running a little rich at lower speeds before adding the E-85, and now I have a straight and consistent O2 curve, although it leans out slightly over 90 MPH, but I attribute that more to the air temp than anything.. It would do the same before with pump gas..

[wordy1]

Originally Posted by bsdlinux

Alky injected directly into the injectors is always better than in the up pipe

Yep, will be running Alky too in the spring as I only wany to go with a 50/50 blend.. as there are less mods I will need to make... And I hope to never have to buy race gas again .

[wordy1]

Originally Posted by Adam Connell

I honestly Did not do a damn thing when I switched to 25% other than turn up the boost 2lbs. I went from 15lbs with MILD knock on 93 to 17lbs on e-85 with next to none... I finally figured out that one of my injectors is dead and one is on the way out so I have 60s on the way... Hopefully I can get the car to run 15-16 w/no knock on 93 and then bump it back up for E-85. My last tank I ran roughly 1/3 E-85 (6 gallons) and saw no issues either but was unable to turn the boost up. Im pretty sure my knock was coming from the lack of fuel so we will see what happens. DO NOT take my word as advice on this, I did it with no problems but that does not mean it will work the same for you!

BTW if you want to know how to get a certain percentage just add how ever many gallons of e-85 to an empty tank it would take. We have 18 gallon tanks so 6 gallons of e-85 topped off with 93 would get you roughly 1/3 e-85... Not an exact science, but you can get close. I would always tune on the safe side if using this method of fuel mixing! Oh 4.5 gal would get you 25% FYI. To make sure you get as close to an accurate percentage as possible try to get the tank as empty as possible before filling up.

You have any direct scan or powerlogger numbers? Sounds like your running out of injector to me.. As more boost with E-85 has not been an issue, I am tempted to raise it more, but am waiting till the spring to go all out...

My ultimate goal is to run 25 psi. with nothing but a 50/50 mix of E85 and gas and ALKY.. with no knock .. with 65 lb/hr injectors.

[vacuum 6]

Originally Posted by wordy1

Yep, will be running Alky too in the spring as I only wany to go with a 50/50 blend.. as there are less mods I will need to make... And I hope to never have to buy race gas again .

Using E85 with meth oh yeah say goodbye to race gas. I have not used race gas in about 4 years and thats with pump gas and meth

[vacuum 6]

WHen using E85 does Eric still recommend the fuel psi to be 43?

[Adam Connell]

Originally Posted by wordy1

You have any direct scan or powerlogger numbers? Sounds like your running out of injector to me.. As more boost with E-85 has not been an issue, I am tempted to raise it more, but am waiting till the spring to go all out...

My ultimate goal is to run 25 psi. with nothing but a 50/50 mix of E85 and gas and ALKY.. with no knock .. with 65 lb/hr injectors.

I still have the stock injectors and Im pretty sure one of them is toast. We will see when the 60s come!

[wordy1]

Originally Posted by vacuum 6

WHen using E85 does Eric still recommend the fuel psi to be 43?

Eric sets all of his chips to 43 psi.. I up the pressure a bit in the winter and a bit more when running more boost. The chip I am running is just his street chip, not one he designed for E-85, he is still working on that, and currently only sells ones for straight E-85, no blends. For now he recommends just adding fuel via the chip features as one would when adding boost with race gas, but not as much timing until I get some real data. For now just up 5%.. and may add some more at WOT..