Well, heres the deal. Last week I converted my car over to E85. Yes, I know what some of you are thinking. The good news is that I bought the kit from the service manager at the dealership, so he will take care of me if any problems arise.

Now for the review up till now. I have gone through several tanks so far with no issues. The kit I had installed is the only kit approved for sale in the US by the EPA. So, I did not think I would have any engine codes. My MPG is around 17.1 mixed driving(city/Highway at 70). The car throttle response is better and the car feels like it has more power. If any of you remember my car I have a very hot tune in the car from Inmotion set up to use race gas or water/meth. With E85 being 105 oct. it is race fuel.

Everyone that has driven my car tells me it is smoother and has more power and they say it feels like it comes on quicker. From a dead stop running my sticky P-Zero track tires it roasts the tires off idle through 1,2, and 3rd.

I will be going to the track tomorrow for friday night drags at US 41. I hope the added power I feel is not just in my butt and mind, but shows up with a 12.2 or better. I will post updates as I find them out.

Note: I save 75 cents a gal. over 93 oct. thats worth it to me just for that reason alone.

 

Good luck at the track!! Hopefully you can post up some vids!

 

e85 in an srt crossfire... now that's cool... nice work and thanks for adding a new interest to the forum...

please let us know how things turn out at the track...

cheers !

ps ~ if you don't mind me asking... what was the cost of the conversion?

 

If you hit 12.2's with no pulleys and just an intake and tune, that would be pretty amazing. The previous top spot before last week was on water/meth but with a pulley and some maf sensor mod. Good luck I'll be rooting for you.
Cruzinquick

 

just because the octane rating is 105 doesn't make it better, regular old 93 has more contained energy that e85, I'd guess that one reason you'd make more power with the E85 might be because it's using so much more and is working as an extra engine coolant.

 

105 octane sure does make it better...that's why high performance cars use higher octane fuel. I will be converting mine and dyno tuning it on E85 in the near future as well. I have many friends with boosted cars (also some with N/A V8's) that have picked up 20-35+ RWHP from switching to E85 and getting tuned. It's like running race gas all the time for half the price of 100 octane pump gas. The only thing I'm worried about rite now is what the AFRs will be like with all the mods I'm doing...and then to switch to E85 on stock tune(until I can get on the dyno). Unfortunately the only way to find out is to test it and hope for the best.

 

HOW MUCH WAS THE KIT & WHAT ALL DID IT INCLUDE?


My understanding is that for most cars it would require a bigger fuel pump and bigger injectors since you use a lot more fuel E85 than GAS but the upside is E85 is capable of making more power and is a lot cheaper than gas. Also is there a part number?

And... Can you switch back and forth from E85 back to gas from tank to tank?

GREAT INFO.

 

Manisusmc has it right.....gasoline has more energy potential per gallon than E85.

Octane doesn't equal power, a higher octane rating means the fuel is less likely to ignite. The reason race cars use gas with a higher octane rating is typically to prevent detonation in the cylinders. this is usually caused by very high compression ratios, very advanced timing, or a combination of both.


As a sidenote, Bikecop, did the kit include all the replacements for the rubber parts in your fuel delivery system? The stock rubber parts cannot handle the E-85 long term. I'd definitely keep an eye on them for signs of degradation if they haven't been replaced.

 

E85 at this point is cheaper, but I wonder when they start producing less in the future if the price will still be cheaper. So my question as another poster asked is, can you switch between E85 and non E85 or once the conversion is done you cannot go back?

 

thanks for backing me up there

 

Ok, yes you can switch back and forth between gas and E85 with no problem. The kit plugs into your injectors and has it's own ecu that uses the vehicles own ecu and O2's to know what type of fuel or what mix is being used at any given time. The unit then increases the amount of fuel for the E85, thats why cars using E85 get worst gas mileage than gas cars. Yes, has less energy then gas, that is again why we use more.

The high octane of E85 lets you run alot more timing and boost. And to answer the question about can your fuel system handle it long term(i.e. the rubber stuff). All cars since 1985 were built to be able to run on E10 and the fuel systems have just gotten better. There has never been much testing done to see if a rubber hose that can handle 10% alcohol can also handle 85%. But many in the automotive industry feel that if a piece of rubber was made to handle alcohol, it can handle alcohol at any %.

Brazil started converting vehicles over to E85 back in 1974 and has been self sufficient on e85 since the early 90's.
E85 will however clean your fuel system so anything that is in your tank from dirty gas will now be in your fuel filter. So after the conversion your will need to change your fuel filter and oil after about 500-1000 miles.

All right someone also asked the price. The kit I used cost around $450. If interested go to the Full Flex International web site and check out the videos under the news section. I think under the news 2, then scroll to the bottom and watch the videos. They have one on a year long test of a no E85 vehilce using it for over 105,000 miles.

This is not something I just jumped into I have been looking into E85 for over a year and I liked this kit the best. I will post my track times after I get home from the track, BAD OR GOOD.

 

Surprising.........per the Vice-President of vehicle emissions and regulatory affairs at Chrysler, The rubber parts, (o-rings, hoses, gaskets and seals), are in no way meant to work with E-85 if they've been specified for gasoline. There has been much endurance testing done on this topic. This has been a big bone of contention between the automakers and the Government agencies pushing for more widespread use of alternative fuels.

 

I guess we will see, THANK GOD IT'S NOT YOUR CAR. But hey like I said mines covered. From what I have found for everyone person that says its going to hurt the the rubber parts there is one that will says the opposite. I found nothing like a side by side test that shows that any of the parts have been damaged because of E85 over E10, E20 E30 or E50. You can find lip service from people but nothing showing two parts side by side. However I have found tests that show no signs of damage after over 100,000 miles. And this was a side by side comparison.

 

 

Some states do not have many stations selling it. Like California has only one station selling it. Now the farm states have a lot of stations selling it. Here were I live two Amoco stations sell it. But hey I libe in Indiana a corn state

 

Sweet, so is it supposed to be better for the enviornment or help keep us not so dependant on oil? You say its 75 cent/gal cheaper than gas but i also wonder if the price is more steady compared to gas's fluctuations.

Ill fork up $450 for more power and a cleaner enviornment if they actually make the stuff readily availbale. I dont really give a darn about MPG its my play car.

 

Wow this is very cool. Can't wait to see the results at the track. I've been looking at getting some race gas and a tune, but this would be a whole lot cheaper and I could run it all the time. I was supposed to go to the track tonight as well but the weather is not looking good. Good luck!

 

My new F-150 says on the gas cap that it can run E85 and thats stock from the dealership. I have yet to see a place where they sell it. Honestly until this post I wasn't sure what it meant.

 

E85 is cheaper than premium here in vegas by $.57/gallon. The downside is that the car burns 30% more E85 at a given time than it would premium gasoline. My buddy has E85 on his Chrysler 300c with 360hp 5.7 hemi and MDS and said he was averaging 11.7mpg........I on the other hand average 12.8mpg on my premium gasoline 520+hp 6.1 hemi. Also the new Ram's with 5.7 hemi are available with flex fuel E85 capabilities now.

 

Cheaper, but you have to burn more per gallon? So, it sounds to me like it's not that much cheaper. If you have to pay $450 for a kit then may need to replace rubber parts in the fuel system. Where is the savings?

So, I ask. What is the real point in the change? Just to have a cleaner burning fuel?

Just curious.