Any of you guys convert to E85 yet?

E85 is a nominal 105 octane and can vary from 70-85% Ethanol.

Oh, ok
I guess the octane and percentage can very from state to state. Im getting my info from what I have found on the internet and the site I posted a link to earlier.

Charlie

According to Federal Law E85 must contain at least 70% Ethanol.

In warm weather states it is kept at the 85% level. It is only dropped in % during cold weather to help alleviate cold startup problems common to E85. The octane will vary accordingly with the % of ethanol.

Originally Posted by 392Bird

Any of you guys convert to E85 yet? I am running a blow carb, with a Vortech YSi supercharger, and was going to use meth injection, but decided to just convert to E85 for the added cooling, and 105 octane. Looking for a starting point on jetting. I got a set of E85 mettering blocks fron Quickfuel, and am ready to start next week.

Input?

WOW!!!! Sounds like a great combo. I would use the jets that came with the new blocks to start with or call Quickfuels tech line for help.
I'm converting my sbf in my`47 Ford Coupe to E85 this winter. So far I've installed a poly gas tank. Need to get some braided steel lines & fittings, fuel filter, and electric fuel pump. I'm looking at the Quickfuel kit or maybe going with EFI.
There sure are alot of E85 websites. I have looked at Quickfuel, classimtrsprts.com, chang2E85.com and o2-technology.com.These have lots of good info.

Good Luck with your ride and let us know how it comes out.

Update:
I had plans to use E85 with my supercharger from the start of the project to handle high boost, and to provide the needed cooling since I do not have any type of air charge cooler. I have learned a lot over the last few months about Ethanol. It is not nearly as corrosive as a lot of people make it out to be. I put some pieces of aluminum fuel lines, fuel lines with ss braided covering, the blue push lock type fuel line, some of the newer type rubber fuel line, inside a 1/2 filled coffee can with a cover on it with a couple of holes in it. After 6 months, I could not see any deterioration of any parts, but did see that the coffee can had some signs of corrosion on the inside.

I am running a Quickfuel 750 HP Blow Through carb, that I added there E85 metering blocks to. It is mainly a race type carb, with no choke. I installed duel Wideband O2 sensors on the car before I started this part of the project so I could better keep the A/F ratio safe with the supercharger, and track the progress of the E85 conversion.

Here are a few things I found out about using E85. It has most of the advantages of Menthol, with out hardly any of its disadvantages. It is not nearly as fussy about the A/F ratio as gas is. With gas, you need to have your A/F ratio within 1 point of the optimum at WOT or it will have a very noticeable drop in power. With E85, you can run it within 2 points of optimum, with very little drop of power. This is one of the reasons a lot of guys run Methanol in Bracket Racing. You can cruise it leaner for better economy, and run it extra rich at WOT to get extra cooling with out hurting power.

Since mine does not have a choke, and E85 is a little harder to get going when below 40 degrees, I pump it a few times, then fire it up and lightly pump it to keep it running for about a minute. I then shut it off, and let the heat from the combustion chambers warm the heads and intake some for about 3 minutes. I then fire it back up, and let it idle for about 5 minutes, then it is ready to drive. In cold weather, after the initial starting of the day, it fires right up after that as long as there is any warmth in the engine.

E85 does not stink up the garage like gas, even without converters on it. It has a slight sweet sent to it, that my wife commented that it smells more like a Margarita, than exhaust smell. We do not have any Emission Testing in Tennessee, but 3 counties do. I drove it to Nashville, and while there, just for kicks, I went by one of there testing stations during a slow time, and asked them if they could put it on the sniffer to see how it was running. I did not say anything about it being on E85. They tested it, and said it was as clean as most new cars. They asked me what the odd chirping sound was under the hood, and just gawked as I opened the hood. I told them jokingly that it was a special Air Pump, and the one guy said "It Sure Is"

With E85 being so forgiving on the A/F ratio, and the difference between E85 Summer blend being 85% and the Winter being at the lowest of 70%, that only changed the A/F ratio between .6 and .7, so is not a big deal to use the car in the off season.

Sounds good!!! Im about half way though building my still. I'll be running Ethel just as soon as I get it finished.

Keep us updated if you start having problems, if you do. Or just update us anyway!!!

cheers
Charlie

Sounds like your there, that's great. What did you finally decide on for jets?
I'm still working on mine, who go a hole lot better if it would warm up.

It is close, but may drop the primarys back to 82s to lean the cruise a little, and drop down on the power valve opening some. Need to wait for the next warm snap.

Here is what I have now.

750cfm
squirters = Pri .042 Sec .042
accel pump = 30cc
IAB = .067
HSAB = .028
Idle Feed Restriction = .043
Emulsion holes = top down .028, blank, .028, blank
PCVR = .094 (for boost) NA, about .076
Powervalve = 10.5, rear blocked
Needle & seat = .130 SS
fuel pressure = 6.5 psi
Primary jets =84
secondary jets = 96

thanks for the info. that should help me set mine up in the spring. wish I could afford the blower. sigh, sigh!!!!
what year is your BIRD?

I just changed the primary jets from 84 to 82, and dropped back to 6.5 on the power valve opening today. The Bird is a 93.