Running on E85 (Bioethanol Blend)

[santoz]

Guy,

Can you run the sports on an 85% ethanol blend ok or do the lines / seals need to be uprated?

Just can get it close for quite cheap and understand it has a far higher octane rating, though less mpg!

Any technical info would be appreciated as well!

Cheers

 

[RSTuning]

Not sure the standard pump would be ok tbh, try a mix and see how it goes, if you go to run e85 then your injectors wont be big enough.

 

[Icarus]

Octane rating is just resistance to detonation, this doesn't mean the fuel has more energy contained within it.

You'll also need to change the pump, filter, injectors and some sealing o-rings as they aren't e85 tolerant. Also e85 is a very dry fuel in that it has no natural lubricating properties as per gasoline.

It's not a lot of work to make it viable but then there's so few places selling it in the UK it's questionable as to if it's worth it. We've just pulled e85 as a fuel option for our Group N's as no one has ever spec'd it!

 

[Fred@BTM]

we ran E100 on a judd 4.0 V10, epic stuff, but the car used 4L per lap Vs F1 at 3.2L per lap LOL, we had to refuel LOTS!!

 

[Ian_s]

We ran both our formula student cars on E85 with no mods. We did look into all the problems with seals etc but for the short time the cars were used for it was fine. I woudn't bother with the clio, is it even any cheaper? We had to go 30 miles to get ours.

 

[santoz]

I can get it accross the border for roughly 82p / litre which is only 10 miles from my house so it would be quite a difference compared to 130p / litre + everywhere else!

Was wondering about mixing it 50 / 50 with petrol?

 

[Fred@BTM]

^still have to map it to suit, plus (in simple terms) you have to use approx 30% more E85 than petrol to get the same power (its way more complicated than that, but i'll keep it simple)

 

[SamP]

we ran E100 on a judd 4.0 V10, epic stuff, but the car used 4L per lap Vs F1 at 3.2L per lap LOL, we had to refuel LOTS!!

Stoich of 9.7:1... Being on the safe side, run it at 8:1. Mmm, yea I can see that being very probable!

 

[Fred@BTM]

^this was going back about 3 years, 20L was 5 laps of the hungaroring, stung my eyes when that thing fired up!

from memory we were doing 1min 25's Vs's F1 at 1min 19's but we were +50kg, not much aero and no TC, i miss that car!

 

[santoz]

Right, just going to run it E10 that way should be alot cheaper than Super; roughly 110p /L if I fill up accross the border plus still an octane rating of 98/99 ish.

Think this is the same blend as Tescos 99 RON, which also uses ethanol to obtain a higher octane rating!

Is there anything else you can add to help or its it best using this setup week on / week off?


I'm guessing you can run judd 4.0 on nearly anything!

 

[Fred@BTM]

tesco super is circa E5 bioethanol, don't get het up about RON rating, as i say the trade off you have is you use more fuel, so you are pissing in the wind slightly as the cost will work out the same

 

[Bob the Frog]

Just searched for E85 because I was wondering if people in the UK also use 20% E85 in a tank of 95/98 to reduce the emissions for the MOT?

When it comes to the cost working out the same, Fred's spot on. I also have a FlexiFuel Ford Focus which runs on E85 or Unleaded. I get
11 Litres / 100km on E85
8 Litres / 100km on 95
Taking the price differential in to account there's pretty much no difference in running costs at all - then it become the question of running on old dinosaurs and plants, or running on new plants that might have buggered a rain forest. :dapprove:

I swear I have a few more horsies on the E85 though.