e85 fuel, why aren't more boaters runnin it?

[WVspeedfreak]

I'll stick with 100 LL AV gas. It will sustain 12-1 compression no problem. I have run it in my dirt track cars and my drag car for years. I run it in my blower motor in my boat. It makes 13 lbs. boost and no intercooler.....no problem there either. It is only 2.99 gallon. I just bought twenty gallons this weekend. It has lead in it...good for valves. Downside.... no upper cylinder lubrication. I fix that by mixing marvel mystery oil in it at a 100 to 1 ratio which actually raises the octane slightly also. Also another downside is it doesnt have as much explosive power ounce per ounce as compared to race gas. Good idea to jet up a few sizes also.
Mike

[IMPATIENT 1]

I'll stick with 100 LL AV gas. It will sustain 12-1 compression no problem. I have run it in my dirt track cars and my drag car for years. I run it in my blower motor in my boat. It makes 13 lbs. boost and no intercooler.....no problem there either. It is only 2.99 gallon. I just bought twenty gallons this weekend. It has lead in it...good for valves. Downside.... no upper cylinder lubrication. I fix that by mixing marvel mystery oil in it at a 100 to 1 ratio which actually raises the octane slightly also. Also another downside is it doesnt have as much explosive power ounce per ounce as compared to race gas. Good idea to jet up a few sizes also.
Mike
yeah, we all dig avgas but it creates alot more egt than e85 does. i read the whole link texas-19 was nice enough to give us, and those guys are seeing over 100 degrees(most runnin 15+lbs of boost with full 36 degrees total timing!) less egt than on race fuel/avgas and better hardware results with the e85 over methanol. how much timing are you able to feed at 13lbs boost? i bet you'd get another 5-6degrees more on the e85 instead of avgas and it cleans the mill constantly.

[IMPATIENT 1]

the owner of the dealership i work at also owns a fuel distributing company here in hugo(jp oil company) and his wife is hunting me down the best prices she can get for me in 55g drums. if i can get it for less than 2 bucks a gallon, i'm buy 2 drums and try it out this summer.

[texas-19]

Ok,back to e85.You asked about what's it gonna take to run e85.
May want to consider something to catch any sludge material,i guess a water/fuel seperator won't work,and also a
low fuel pressure kill switch.Those turbo guys are using aluminum gas tanks with no problems so the right fuel lines and a compatable pump should
take care of fuel supply.
Sounds like the carbs are just a matter of tuning.
Some guys say you need 10-15% more fuel and some all the way to 40% more.Just have too see what it needs so i would buy an digital egt.
You can buy a digital egt thermocouple to tune with.
I used one before i switched to turbos.Summit sells a digital battery powered unit that i kept under the seat until wot,i had the passenger hold it so we could both see it.In fact i still have it and will loan it to you,i'm using an o2 sensor now.If you like it just use it until you can afford your own.All you will have to do is drill a small hole in the exhaust and it will clamp on with a hose clamp that's included.

[IMPATIENT 1]

Ok,back to e85.You asked about what's it gonna take to run e85.
May want to consider something to catch any sludge material,i guess a water/fuel seperator won't work,and also a
low fuel pressure kill switch.Those turbo guys are using aluminum gas tanks with no problems so the right fuel lines and a compatable pump should
take care of fuel supply.
Sounds like the carbs are just a matter of tuning.
Some guys say you need 10-15% more fuel and some all the way to 40% more.Just have too see what it needs so i would buy an digital egt.
You can buy a digital egt thermocouple to tune with.
I used one before i switched to turbos.Summit sells a digital battery powered unit that i kept under the seat until wot,i had the passenger hold it so we could both see it.In fact i still have it and will loan it to you,i'm using an o2 sensor now.If you like it just use it until you can afford your own.All you will have to do is drill a small hole in the exhaust and it will clamp on with a hose clamp that's included.
i've been considering getting my headers coated, and just read 396's new thread over in jets , his turned out nice and i thought i may be able to find someone more local(with 100-300 miles) to coat mine nice.figured i would install a o2 system before hand anyways, at least the bung for it.
do you think the basic o2 system will interpret e85 correctly or be outta calibration on the stuff?

[texas-19]

i've been considering getting my headers coated, and just read 396's new thread over in jets , his turned out nice and i thought i may be able to find someone more local(with 100-300 miles) to coat mine nice.figured i would install a o2 system before hand anyways, at least the bung for it.
do you think the basic o2 system will interpret e85 correctly or be outta calibration on the stuff?
Most guys are using gas calibration and best power seems to be around 12.0 A/F ratio.Also need to drop sparkplugs down 3 sizes according to one of the manufacturers.

[Marcsrollin]

After labor day I will try and run some and I'll let you all know how it goes. I already have alky gaskets on my carbs and my 460 is already overcarbed. Plus I am running somewere between 10.25 and 11 to one compression. I have read in more than one article that it requires 15% more fuel to the current amount of air.
Wish me luck!!

[IMPATIENT 1]

After labor day I will try and run some and I'll let you all know how it goes. I already have alky gaskets on my carbs and my 460 is already overcarbed. Plus I am running somewere between 10.25 and 11 to one compression. I have read in more than one article that it requires 15% more fuel to the current amount of air.
Wish me luck!!
i think it's gonna work out good for ya, keep us posted on the results!

[ck7684]

http://www.e85viper.com/

[Unchained]

I read up on it some more and it looks like it wants to run at about 10:1 AFR but I don't know if that's at max load or light load.
I would give it a try as a replacement for 110 octane race gas but
I don't know if my injectors would have enough capacity for that much fuel volume. I have 160#/hr injectors now which are about as big as they get and I'm running about 75% duty cycle on them at WOT 20# boost. The learning curve trying out a new fuel could be damaging.
So the sludging problem could be overcome by making sure you only run e85 and don't dump it in on top of any other gas ?
My whole fuel system could take E85 fuel now and my fuel pump has plenty of capacity.
There's a gas station with E85 on the way to where I boat that would be pretty convenient. I would consider it a plus to think that I'm using fuel made in my state rather than getting it from some greedy Arabs. :devil:
110 octane fuel ranges from $4.89/gal to $6./gal around here.