What Do You People Know About This E85 Fuel ?

[Lithium]

OK I tried 20litres of E10 (10% ethanol, 98RON rated Mobil fuel) in my car and the bloody thing changed its behaviour! I was somewhat shocked that such a low %age mix would, but it most definitely does. Its enough of a change to trigger me into coming on here to ask - is it safe to use on a Skyline?? I have the technology to check the tune etc - but there is no where that I have found to verify if Skylines (R33 GTS-25t in my case) are sweet to use with it.

Thoughts? Have anyone here used it on their Skyline for any length of time? I love the way the car reacts to the stuff and if I can keep using it, sweet!

[wrxhoon]

I won't use it in any of my cars , I won't even use 10% , never mind 85%. Next time you fill up have a good look at the pump nozzle , white stuff all over it= very corrosive .

[Dohmar]

I won't use it in any of my cars , I won't even use 10% , never mind 85%. Next time you fill up have a good look at the pump nozzle , white stuff all over it= very corrosive .

It really depends on how the car is tuned. If you get your car tuned with 98 octane, then thats whats gonna get you the best results. Some people have great results with E10 and others cant stand it, and you can put it down to engine characteristics and tunes...

Same goes with the e85 however you're fortunate enough to get a *bunch* of extra power... I read an article Martin Donnon wrote about his experiment with E85, he claimed a 40kw gain on some cars, which makes me sit up and take notice.

The downside being, if you tune your car for E85, then you might be stuffed if you cant find any and have to settle for premium (settle for premium. hah.) From what I understand the ethanol burns cleaner so for those of us who just drive around the place, it means less exhaust dust to clean off our rear bumpers ;P Possibly it could be beneficial for those who have been stung by emissions laws...

You'll only get 80-90% of the range compared to petrol due to the density of the liquid (I think) but if they make it readily available I don't see what the problem is. I'd happy get my GTR tuned for it, provided it didnt kill the seals, pumps, etc... much more preferable to LPG.. plus there is that $ incentive, 50c a liter is a big saving imho

-D

[R31Nismoid]

Yeah but with the joy of a PFC, just globally add a few degrees of timing overall, and a bit more injector correction and the tune can pretty much go across two sets of fuel if you know what your doing

Could probably do it with other ECU's also, but i know the PFC takes about 30 seconds.

[Lithium]

Yeah but with the joy of a PFC, just globally add a few degrees of timing overall, and a bit more injector correction and the tune can pretty much go across two sets of fuel if you know what your doing

Could probably do it with other ECU's also, but i know the PFC takes about 30 seconds.

Yeah well fortunately mine is tuned at a pretty safe ~11.6:1 on BP98 so what keeps me happy on "normal" fuel keeps me well well entertained with E10 in there. I am pretty tempted to try a back to back dyno comparison with 98RON E10 and conventional 98 actually, I'm adamant there is a reasonable difference.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

but i'm not willing to have a 95% correct tune for 2 types of fuel

you prooooobably could run a 2n'd pfc with a switch

are there ecu's that run all vehicles street bit'n'bobs (climat con etc etc) like pfc / haltech that can hold more than 1 individual complete tune?

[180or200]

maybe some sort of hand held palm type thingy that can run dataloggit could be an option?, otherwise you really need a laptop handy!

price in adelaide went up to 149.9, but, still it's got that loving feeling back in the skyline (atm) !!

[mafiouso]

There is a massive market waiting here.

Maybe now finally aftermarket engine management systems will be allowed!

in most cases they can be tuned to run spot on, cleaner and better running engines which equal power and a saving in fuel.

Most new cars can be flash tuned and are ready to go be tweaked, some older cars can possibly have the stock ECU tricked to run the e85.

But installing an aftermarket ECU on a skyline, vl turbo, supra ect should give both sides a win EPA vs Tuner.

Having this aftermarket flexibility will a lot plugin\switch flicking fuel selection depending on availability.

Some things of issue that should be looked into would be:

(if you know the answers please post)

Effects on Catalytic converters.

Engine parts and seals.

AFR changes going from 98RON Premium to e85

Emissions

Cylinder and exhaust Temperature

Effect on Injector Spray characteristics

Burn speed and temperature

“add more”

[mafiouso]

effect on o2 sensor

i have found a link with more details, but i would like to hear this fro more the 1 place can't belive everything we read can we.

http://www.flexfuelkit.com.au/articles/3/1...yths/Page1.html

E85 Ethanol Myths

[discopotato03]

The term being bandied around for ethanol/petrol blend juice is "Flex Fueled" cars . These are the ones manufacturers set up to self calibrate for any ethanol blend up to 85% (E85) .

It took a bit of searching but what they do is use an electrical conductivity sensor in the fuel circuit to tell the brain what the ethanol content/percentage is .

Obviouslt the ECU needs alternative mapping in order to be able to change AFR's and ignition timing settings , not surprisingly late Vomit door V8 ECUs have it but Aus spec ones need an edit to enable them .

The grey area with running higher than E10 blends is how the different properties of ethanol can affect your fuel system . Alcohol being hygroscopic (readily absorbs water) can be corrosive particularly to aluminium though most Skylines appear to use steel fuel rails and hard lines from what I've seen .

I have searched and had no luck with trying to find ethanol compliant EFI rubber hose so I have to assume quality new hose is alright . I did read that with the arrival of ULP back in 85 standards changed for fuel hose because of the nasties ULP has in it . This is significant because there would be pre ULP cars out there with older hose and it may not appreciate having apple juice (LOL) pumped through it late in life .

Best idea I think is to replace all fuel hoses of unknown age just to be safe .

Fuel pumps tend to be made from Aluminium so if your up for a new one check to see if its able to pump ethanol fuel blends , I intend to keep an eye out for flex fuel cars to see what fuel system components can be used with our cars .

SK Gary mentioned to me a while back that in the methanol race fuel days there was some kind of (I think sintered bronze) in line strainer that passed alcohol but not water , I'd really like to know more about these because a device that continuously separated water from alcohol fuel blends would help keep the fuel (and system) clean .

There has been some mention of high ethanol petrol blends possibly attacking the lining in the metalic fuel tanks of older cars .

The rule of thumb seems to be that the later (newer) a car is the better the chances of it having an ethanol blend compatible fuel system .

As for buying fuel , don't just assume that "E10" from anyone is 95/96 octane , a lot of it I found ran like mouthwash so make sure you ask what the octane rating of the "E10" is .

My daily water cooled Dak Dak runs fine on AP's 95 E10 and the price is good , my R33 gets Shell V 96 mainly because fuel sits in it for longish periods of time and ethanols liking for water means it may not get used before it got a bit tacky .

Roll on the Generals Alcodoore , at least E85 should become more readily available then .

A .