E85 Ethanol

[Woodstahk]

I was talking to a mechanic buddy today about an engine rebuild that I am in the planning stages of and he suggested that I consider using E85 ethanol. He builds circle track race cars and recently finished one that runs on E85. His argument is that the fuel runs super cool in the engine causing the engine temp to stay lower. Being in Tucson, this is definitely a concern when it's 110 outside. According to him the fuel evaporates quickly in the intake causing a cooling effect. The car he ran at the track was only at 180 degrees after 10 laps of hauling a$$!
Has anyone tried this and if so what were your results? Suggestions? Comments?

[xeno]

[ROCKOROD71]

Isn't Brazil still making Busses that run on ethanol? Are those air cooled or water cooled boxster/vanagon type engines? I never really hear much about these, but might be worth lookin' into for your project. Might wanna learn Portugese....
_________________
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[candymustang66]

OP
the ethanol is very political.
i'd not bank on it,
i sure dont own their stock ADM for sure .
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finding vw parts that are not junk (even new) , is way too hard!
mines done, and selling 68T1 with no paint. (primer)

[candymustang66]

[b1pig]

Woodstahk,
the biggest problem you may run into with E85 is tuning. as stated, E85 runs cooler... but the engines running E85 also burn MORE fuel. it takes more E85 to make the same energy compared to a non-ethanol fuel... or even E10. a fuel injection system makes all the adjustments itself, so its seamless. all you see is the reduction in economy. if you're running a carb, the you have to rejet it to run the E85 with larger jets. running the same jets with E10 would result in a massively rich mixture.

[oldPSUguy]

So what is the correct or optimal grade of gasoline for a 1600 dual port and possibly others? I have generally run the mid range octane, and occasionally just unleaded regular. I have not used a lead additive, and I don't know what kind of valves my car has.

[b1pig]

octane rating is something else.

i've been running 87 in mine without any trouble.

check this:
http://superbeetle.websitetoolbox.com/post/octane-rating-3498839

[candymustang66]

OCTANE ? 91
is your car stock
with stock engine
stock compression ratio,

mybe not.
_________________
back to jeeps, my true love... I-6's
finding vw parts that are not junk (even new) , is way too hard!
mines done, and selling 68T1 with no paint. (primer)

[burdpete]

[candymustang66]

that link i posted showed that. ah no one reads links sure...
the translation from Portuguese. bagaço
for beet/cane, or corn husks/chaff/Bagasse.
wtf , it's waste and gets burned.
no need to be an ahole over the word husk.

I stand corrected, bagaço is the correct word in Brazil..
they burn the bagaço.
_________________
back to jeeps, my true love... I-6's
finding vw parts that are not junk (even new) , is way too hard!
mines done, and selling 68T1 with no paint. (primer)

[Bruce]

[EVfun]

[MinamiKotaro]

If you build it with E85 in mind it will work well. You'll need HIGH compression, like super-squishies high. However, you won't really make any more power and will probably have less mileage than a straight gasoline build.
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[candymustang66]

other countries use different octane standards

yes, most "stock" bugs will run the lowest octane
but in my SA home, we have , even lower. 82 to 97 RON (in one station)
82 octane or lower, and some pumps have this fuel in the high side by accident , oops... now how'd that happen?
you can de-tune any engine to run this fuel.. sure can'

my op manual shows 91 octane (USA method) 1968 not 50 year
try fuel in Ecuador at 70 RON Octane. (will take some spark retard there)
I can get the full 53 hp on 91 octane at sea level (with fan off)at the flywheel .

[Randy in Maine]

Also keep in mind that the calcualtion used to determine octane changed about 1974, and what used to be "91 Octane" then, is now "about 87 Octane".

"Regular gas" is generally 87 octane.

[FliegendeHollander]

i've ran some E85 blended with regular fuel, upto 40 percent of tank capacity; in an unmodified (not rejetted, standard compression) engine, and it leaned out pretty quickly at highway speeds. My plan is to examine E85 again at some time in the future since the engine is converted to run LPG. The latter is better knock resistent so i will up the compression. That will improve conditions for running alcohol fuel.

[burdpete]

[candymustang66]

sorry
no offense, just that that the smoke cloud and foul air is way less with NG.
i read there whole process end to and once, and its not party, a nasty way to make hooch.


"regular" gasoline in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US 91–92 82–83 87
_________________
back to jeeps, my true love... I-6's
finding vw parts that are not junk (even new) , is way too hard!
mines done, and selling 68T1 with no paint. (primer)

[oldPSUguy]

Since we are on the topic of fuels, including grades of gasoline, what about the absence of lead in gasoline today? It has been years (until recently) since I drove an older VW. I can remember when unleaded first came out, a garage employee cautioned me against using it in my 1966 VW bus. He said that it would burn the valves.

I am not sure if there is any year that VW changed the valving on US models to handle unleaded gas?

Also, I was told a long time ago that using a higher octane gas than needed could cause carbon build up, which might eventually raise compression, requiring a higher grade of gas. Self defeating at best.

My usual practice has been to use the lowest grade of octane, unless I get a ping or unusually sluggish performance from an engine.