Hey guys, i searched the ITR section on here and found some posts, but they're all quite old (>2 years), and given that much has changed, I thought I would see if anyone had any insight... I am strongly considering doing an E85 change-over on my 98 ITR rally car (yes I rally an ITR, it was a theft recovery so I saved it ), not for power increase, but simply for cost. Right now it runs on 104 octane Sunoco race fuel (~$11.50 a gallon last year), full braided fuel lines, walbro pump, big RC injectors, huge intake, DC header, and Hondata S300. Its an N/A B18C5 with lots of head work done.

Wanted to see if anyone was running E85 on an N/A motor and anything I might need to change that I haven't thought of. Of course I will have it tuned for E85 by a reputable shop with experience on Hondata. We have several E85 stations here in Colorado so finding the stuff at $2 a gallon is not an issue.

Anything else you guys can think of to consider? The thing does have to pass emissions for Rally America, which is really my only concern.

 

unless i'm missing something...why? e85 will never equal sunco 104 in power output even though both could be used in 12:1+ compression.

 

you did miss something. E85 is like 107-110oct.

as for OP. RUN IT! i remember a post a while back from Jeff Evans/Evans tuning with a K-something they tuned on E85. didnt make that much power. but it did make some. and the fuel is cheaper. BUT something to also note is that you will use ~30% more of it. so you need to increase injector size to match that. and also your mileage will reflect that too.

i will be running E85 in my turbo R this spring/summer

 

no, i was completely aware of its octane. still, as i was saying, it won't ever equal the output of sunco 104 all conditions being equal. the cost benefit is a big one though and if you drive a lot e85 would totally be the way to go if a few hundred dollars every so often in gas is meaningful to you.

 

What's involved with emissions for Rally America?

Directing Sander over here, who used E85 in his K20.

 

Thats funny, i posted a graph where i made more power at the same boost and made that power earlier using E85 over Sunoco 110....and its an 850whp boosted car. E85 is a Race Fuel now, its taken its place as a good contender.

 

I would really ditch that dc header, so many more designs and it's proven even stock Honda motors want a 2.5 collector. DC is honest old tech, it's when 200hp street cars were amazing and now the norm.

 

DC made a 2.5" JDM header for the B series. Not sure if they still do, but it was a good header for the price a while back.

But, I'm sure the OP is more concerned about ground clearance than he is making a few more HP, considering it *is* a rally car.

 

I remember the pics of your car for saving an R and putting it to good use.

You will need to make sure your fuel delivery can support the extra volume required for E85. E85 requires roughly 30% more volume to achieve the same energy as standard gasoline. With the setup you have, you will probably need 440-550cc/min injectors. What size are your RC's?

You will need to retune your S300 to compensate for the additional fuel. The ignition tables will probably remain unchanged, since the race gas you're using is most likely allowing you to reach MBT before knock.

 

thanks for all the replys guys. yeah, i picked the DC header for clearance on my skid plate. test fitted a few different brands and the DC fit the best. i could have dropped the plate a bit but i was already using it a little too much. the emissions thing isnt Rally America specific, but since I live in Denver, the car has to be street legal for RA, and thus needs to pass the sniffer/dyno test to get license plates. the injectors in there right now are RC 440's, so i guess we'll see if they can support the additional volume. the E85 choice isnt really to increase power at all, more for event costs. when i run a big stage rally, between race stages, testing, and transit stages, i could drive the car more than 300 miles in a weekend. paying $11.50 a gallon gets real old, as does transporting all the additional fuel. good thing about Colorado is that there are E85 stations galore, and if I plan my weekend right, I don't have to carry many extra fuel cans around in the service vehicle.

 

I am not 100% sure, but I kind of remember Sander saying one of the tested emission particles or whatever was way out of spec when using E85. If that is accurate, it also was for MD inspection, so I'm not sure how it compares to CO.

 

i'm sure there was some variable that accounted for it. still alcohol versus petroleum, it's not even debatable on which has more energy per ounce

 

This probably cannot contribute to quantifiable power gains, but E85 has a much higher latent heat of vaporization, so there is a greater cooling affect during the liquid to gas phase change. Any unburnt fuel in the cylinder, exhaust port, and exhaust system then becomes a cooling agent. While not great for emissions, the cooling affect is a welcome bonus to race cars.