converting to e85

[faulkner576]

I understand you need bigger injectors, fuel pump, and a tune. Im interested for the higher octane, to help meet my goal for a 400 hp f22 boosted setup.

some people say you dont have to replace the fuel lines because they take years to corrode. but what abut the lines that are rubber such as the ones going to and from the fuel rail?

i would like to get some input from people running e85 on there cb7s

[wagon-r]

Stainless steel lines are not going to corrode, even with E85. No worries there.

It is the rubber and plastic parts that you have to worry about. They are designed to handle E10 and will stand up to E85 much better than cars from the 80s and older. Lot's of people run E85 in vehicles not designed for E85 and don't have any problems - see, for example, http://e85vehicles.com/e85/

On the other hand, E85 is more corrosive than E10 and can sometimes cause problems over time. Most, if not all, manufacturers say use of E85 in vehicles not designed for it will void the warranty. Probably not a huge risk to use E85, but I would be nervous about using E85 with the OEM fuel components if I were running 400 hp through my engine.

You can get huge hp increases with E85 in a boosted and tuned engine. It's not so much the octane, either (although that is great). Ethanol provides much more cooling when it evaporates than gasoline, and that cooling effect can let you really crank up the boost without detonation.

[Accord problems]

how would this stuff perform with a stock cb7 f22? would there be any benefits ?

[2winRB25]

A guy I know north of me has a corn fed GSX Eclipse pushing impressive numbers. It used to be the cool thing to do here. But its mostly phased out now.

From what I have seen you just get it tuned for it and your good to go. Thats what I have seen people do time and time again. It is best to change the injectors, fuel lines and fuel pump to E85 compatible materials though. Since you have to get a tune an anyways thats really no big deal. A little bit of fabrication but still not hard.

Find compatible E85 fuel injectors, run E85 compatible fuel lines, run an E85 compatible fuel pump. Then have it tuned.

[2winRB25]

how would this stuff perform with a stock cb7 f22? would there be any benefits ?

It is really only feasible for forced induction or higher performance engines. E85 is good for for forced induction because ethanol cools down a lot when its atomized. E85 has less of a tendency to detonate like gasoline does. Thats a huge factor when getting good power from an forced induction engine as well as tuning one.

But when using E85 expect worse mpg because the engine has to use more ethanol to equal the same amount of power as if it were running gasoline. Ethanol holds less BTUs than gasoline. Ethanol holds 76 BTUs and gasoline holds 115.5 BTUs.

[faulkner576]

I guess I'll have to find a afr gauge for e85 since the stoichiometric ratio is not 14.7 haha

[2winRB25]

I guess I'll have to find a afr gauge for e85 since the stoichiometric ratio is not 14.7 haha

You use the same AFR for gas and E85.

Lambda never changes.

Lambda is universal and AFR is a simple multiplication from that. You use gasoline AFR readings for any fuel.

[faulkner576]

From what I understood at wot you had to run a lot richer with e85.... My gauge only reads from 10 to 17.

[2winRB25]

From what I understood at wot you had to run a lot richer with e85.... My gauge only reads from 10 to 17.

I assume you have a wideband AFR correct? A regular non-wideband AFR is useless. I'm just throwing that out there.

I see what your saying, with E85 you will "max out" the AFR gauge with a true AFR in the 11s where as the gauge is reading in the 17s.

The tuner I used for my S14 (when I bought into the E85 stuff years ago) was still able to tune using his software. The gauge was maxed out but the sensor was not.

When I drove it the ARFs would read above the gauges range sometimes like your describing.

You can get a gauge from AEM or Innovate if you want to be able to see the true AFRs. There might be more but those are the two I know of. But for tuning (at least in my case) one was not needed. I would assume the same for any good tuner.

[faulkner576]

Thanks for the input. But yeah I got a autometer wideband.

[2winRB25]

Thanks for the input. But yeah I got a autometer wideband.

No problem.

Thats what I have in my S14 as well. Ive had it for years. I have an AEM Uego Im getting ready to put in my Accord.

[dj_ender]

The reason E85 is corrosive is because it attracts water, and water in the fuel system is no bueno.

[PUMASTi]

I wish I ran my STi on E85 but stations are few and far between, and at 12mpg on average I would have to keep retuning between E85 and 93 too much so I never took that route.

E85 does love the boost though. Not uncommon to see a 400whp motor on the corn.

[2winRB25]

I wish I ran my STi on E85 but stations are few and far between, and at 12mpg on average I would have to keep retuning between E85 and 93 too much so I never took that route.

E85 does love the boost though. Not uncommon to see a 400whp motor on the corn.

Thats exactly why I quit using it. Where I lived at the time was right next to a Kum & Go and they had two E85 pumps. But now I live about 15 miles away from where I lived then and I don't have easy access to it anymore.

Im running 13psi and I was then too. I only ran an E85 tune because it was a cool thing to do at the time.

Here in the midwest E85 is easier to come by I imagine rather than where you are.

[toycar]

e85 + boost = win


There are a plethera of reasons for this too, not just any one reason. Methanol is fun too.



I don't know why anyone would run e85 on a 4 cylinder for "performance gains" unless the car was modified.


My thoughts. I run e85 on everything I own that is boosted(4 cars) and I love it.