This is natural for anything that has a higher alcohol content. the fact that the BTUs for E85 are much lower than with 93 octane. This is why you have such aggressive fuel consumption. the resultant better combustion from the ethanol (basically ethyl alcohol) is what gives you the ability to run slightly higher boost pressures with increased timing and no detonating effects. (why your J&S knock sensor held solid).

I see why many use it, and on average the cost is better than race fuel. My concern has always been more long term use, and the exposure that the stock fuel lines and other supplemental equipment receive. They can have deteriorating effects. In addition, many places have inconsistent fuel mixtures at their pumps that change relatively often with use, which is why ordering by the drum is more recommended.

I personally will continue to use Race fuel and meth/water injection, as I do not feel like changing equipment to supplement E85. As a caveat, as gov't subsidies for the fuel degrade, there will be a price increase that will have a resultant effect. In michigan, Ohio, and Illinois, I've already noticed how E85 prices are about the same as 93octane. Considering in my region we have 100Octane at many of our stations for a slight increase more, its not that popular in our region.. but then again we also have 93octane everywhere. For those in the bread basket and west of the Missouri, Its understandable it would be used more with the power 91 "water" that you guys carry.

So enjoy it, but remember the risks. Use a gas line drier during any storage, drain the tank, and check your J&S for fuel consistency. Also, you may need to change fuel pumps, injectors for what you're using.

 

Yeah we only have 91 here so E85 is a big jump. I won't be using it all the time as it's just not close enough to my house for a daily driver. I just wanted to play with it and see what it's all about and I have to admit I'm impressed. I'll be going back to pump gas after I have fun on a few tanks of E85.

I'm piecing a water/meth kit together for the Honda as we speak. It's what I run on the Cobra and makes using 91 pump gas so convenient. I'll be interested to see how water/meth compares to E85 on the Honda in terms of timing/boost etc. and yes the Vampire is awesome for keeping an eye on detonation and even more impressively pulls timing instantly when any hint of it is detected.

I have ID 1000s (I picked because of drivability) so I have way more fuel injector than I'll use but I'm going to datalog tonight and see what injector duty cycle is at. Also you bring up a good point on the fuel pump, I have a walbro 255 which may or may not be E85 compatible. I'll have to read up.

 

I have a methanol injection kit and def like it more than e85. Unless you live near a sizeable city not everywhere will have e85 and i daily drive my car so finding e85 could be a problem. Main problem with methanol injection is reliability cause if system fails and you dont have any failsafe your screwed. What kit do you have shodan??

 

I was surprised at the range of Ethanol gases at the station I drove up to tonight.

 

I can tell you i have never seen a pump like that

 

J&S Vampire dude. Any hint of knock and it pulls a ton of timing. Meth fails, octane goes down, motor wants to knock, Vampire pulls timing, HP drops off greatly but engine lives. Yes I've played with it a ton on the Cobra. I swear by them.

Also use A/F lean protection in ECU. If ever my car hits 12.3 AF or higher it instantly shuts down the motor and saves itself.

 

I have and aem kit which was a mistake because i have had nothing but problems with all there products iive ever had. I have ther fail safe device which measures methanol flow and you setup high and low points. if flow goes out of range it will trigger a gnd to my s300 and switch it to a diff map.

 

Ah yes.. Kansas City.. only place in the country with it looking like that.


And there's more than one Meth/water kit.. AEM is just the most known here. I'm probably going to with Aquamist, but we'll see.

 

My first 4 gallon trial of E85 obviously still had gasoline left in the tank. I just filled up a full tank and had to retune. I'm now running 42% more fuel than I was on 91 to keep AF in check.

 

As for water/meth kits I run Snow Performance on the Cobra but looking at Devils Own for the Honda. Still considering all brands though.

 

I have found that switching back and forth between ethanol and pump gas takes at least 2 tanks of gas to "flush" the other out. When I first started using E85 I would switch back to reg. in the winter. The only 2 times I have changed fuel pumps was during this switching back to E85 about 2 monthes later my pump would poop out.

 

Have a nice day