E85 Converting

[bditty50]

I've been looking into these E85 boxes that you can buy to convert your car without any other modifications to a flex fuel to run on E85,ethanol,and gasoline. Diablosport has a whole line now and there is another company http://www.change2e85.com/servlet/Detail?no=123

I think I'm going to get one or find a way to run the same program on a megasquirt computer I have to read more but, tell me what you guys think. This is what they have been doing in Brasil and at dealerships in the U.S. for years. My main concern is if the conversion box will interfer with my megasquirt I get down the road that why I'm just looking for the ways to tune a megasquirt.

 

[samickguy15]

I would urge you to not buy something like that. Instead I would urge you to research MegaSquirt. It's the cheapest and about the easiest stand alone to use. All those boxes do is alter the pulse width to correct for the ethanol. What you really need to do is run larger injectors and have an ECU that's tuned for E-85. With MS you can relatively easily switch between a regular pump gas tune and E-85 or a mix in between.

 

[bditty50]

Thats what I was thinking with the megasquirt and then have some kind of presets on the megasquirt to switch. Is there people that have used megasquirt in this way to maintain flex fuel?

 

[Daggar]

E85 will give your OEM fuel tank a short life.

E85 does not absorb/mix with water the way that gas does and our fuel tanks are not designed to cope with that. You'll need to either replace your fuel tank with a stianless one or line the inside.

Otherwise, your tank will rust, that rust will infiltrate the fuel system, and you'll have a mess on your hands.

The same applies for other components of your fuel system that are not designed for E85.

 

[samickguy15]

Just do some google searches for megasquirt and E-85

 

[Wallzy]

Daggar is 100% correct, just converting over to E85 will destroy your current fuel lines and tank. Unless you plan to start from scratch on your fuel system, i would not recomend running E85.

Walz

 

[bditty50]

i definitely don't think thats true because all the flex fuel cars out there don't have different fuel lines,injectors,and fuel tanks. Cars don't have stainless steel fuel tanks. I think you guys are just going on hear say.

 

[Wallzy]

The fuel system in a Flex Fuel Car is designed to deal with the corrosive effects of E85. The pump and the injectors are also built to support the increased capacity required to meet the Stoichiometric needs of an E85 motor you are going from (ideal) 14.7 to 7.6. But this is just my $0.02. You asked a question, people gave you their opinion, and you can use the advice however you like...i wouldn't do it to my car.

Walz

 

[samickguy15]

You can run E-85 in your stock stuff. However, it will tend to eat up rubbers and some plastic components. They may hold up for years or maybe days. If you're not running it all the time, I wouldn't even worry about it. The only main area of concern is fuel supply. You will need nearly twice the fuel, so you may as well upgrade everything anyways. I would suggest you do some more research other than hear to find out more. You might try searching on turboford.net for some of the E-85 conversions there. It's 4-banger stuff, but the fuel system is still the same as the 5.0.

 

[KAILUAZ]

So can you run E-85 through your carb? Or will the gaskets go bye bye?

 

[dave justice]

I don't know where you folks get your info, but you are misinformed. Ethanol will not harm your gas lines, gaskets, rubber, plastic, or your gas tank. Anything built from 1980 until now can handle E85 just fine. Ethanol is not methanol. Methanol is just some nasty stuff and it eats everything. Ethanol is safe in fact you can drink it. If you can put it in your stomach you can put it in your gas tank. I would not drink methanol. It's a damn shame that methnol is giving ethanol a bad name. You guys are really perpetuating all of the classic the myths here.


I was listening to the radio on Saturday. The host is a mechanic in the Denver area with a 4.6L Cobra powered Focus and he runs E85 in it with a converter from www.change2e85.com. It sounded like he could not be more pleased with it. http://gearheadradio.com. They gave an E85 conversion kit away last week and they are going to give another one away this Saturday.

 

[samickguy15]

Uh...yes, you can drink ethanol, but the stuff you put in the tank is denatured and if you drink it, you will die. Same with methanol, with the exception that if you drink it denatured or not you will die. It's a poison.

I have done vast amounts of research on both ethanol and bio-diesel. They both do bad things to rubber parts over tiime. That's why they tend to use nitrile IIRC o-rings instead of rubber. All I'm saying is that if you're going to do it, you may as well upgrade everything since you will be needing more fuel anyways. When you try to start cranking out more HP on the E-85 you're going to run into fuel starvation due to fuel line diameter and stock pump capability.

 

[Wallzy]

Completly Agree with you "samickguy15."

"dave justice" and "bditty50" i think you need to do a little more research on the topic, but i don't want to deter you at all; there is nothing wrong with the idea, but what we are trying to say is that there are some other things that you are going to need to consider if you plan on doing the switch, things that if you do not do will probably bite you later down the line.

KAILUAZ - You can convert your carb over to run on E85, but keep in mind you will want to make sure you have all the other items covered (that were mentioned above) too.

 

[bditty50]

The main problem with switching I've read and I am doing alot of research is that gas is very dirty and when you switch to ethanol it actually cleans the tank and causes fuel filter problems so its good to have it flushed before hand. The main thing is getting the injectors to pulse right for the ethanol I'm pretty sure most fuel pumps people run in their mustangs can flow enough for ethanol and it runs alot cooler so its way better for your motor then gasoline. I'm really not worried about alcohol eating gaskets and hoses. I'm just going to read more and see what else I can find.

 

[samickguy15]

bditty50 - You hit the head on the nail with the cleaner thing. Although it is relatively simple to convert, there are some inherent problems that surface.

 

[bditty50]

What are some more problems. I've ordered some information from some of the e85 sites. What about longevity of motors running on e85 is there more wear?