E85 and shit....

mrvette

mrvette

Phantom of the Opera
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Mar 24, 2008
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http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy...line+comparison+test&mktid=ob61762696&msite=w



Also, the article does not mention the facts that:

1. Ethanol is caustic, and plays hell with the gaskets and other non-metallic parts of your fuel system.

2. Ethanol absorbs water from the air, creating other problems for engines which do NOT like water.

3. Ethanol, when stored, turns to something akin to bubble gum, which is obviously not good for any kind of fuel systems, especially engines with carburetors. Have you noticed the warnings on newer lawnmowers and other small-engine equipment: "ALWAYS use fresh gas?" Now you know why.

4. Ethanol is tax subsidized. Without the subsidies, it would be totally uneconomic. IOW, it IS totally uneconomic. You can thank the congressmen from the farm (corn-growing) states for this bullshit. (BTW, the same is true for wind farms. Without subsidies, these are completely uneconomic.

This leads us to "Slinkman's Law": There is no problem, no matter how severe, how urgent, how complicated, or how important that a government "solution" won't make worse.

Watt say you all????
 
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dang, I love alcohol. Cheap way to make LOTS of HP... keep subsidizing it - I love it when they subsidize racing - so please, keep quiet so the tree huggers don't realize they're helping us.
 
If it was just a bit more readily available, it would be fun to build an E85-optimized small block...you could run it in the 13:1-14:1 range without any problems. While ethanol is a bit less energy-dense than gasoline, the far higher octane rating (105-110 octane, depending on if it's E70 or actual E85) offsets any power loss - in an engine that's designed for it.

As far as the rubber and plastic complaints are concerned, it isn't hard to find alcohol-rated parts. After all, racers have been playing with ethanol's cousin, methanol, for years.

So-called "flex fuel" systems, like the one discussed here, are a really pathetic way to run down ethanol. They're not optimized to do much of anything right. E85 can take advantage of a far higher compression ratio (and therefore can extract more usable power from each unit of fuel), and the stoichiometric ratio for E0 and E85 are worlds apart. Even with a whole host of complex sensors and adjustable do-dads, that kind of a setup is never going to be ideal. Kind of like GM's attempt to turn the SBC into a diesel. If E85 were a bit more widespread, vehicles could be designed to run on it alone, and the pro/con chart would look a whole helluva lot different. It's not really much different than putting 87 in my BMW - the engine is going to run like shit and get terrible mileage. Hell, it doesn't even really like 91 octane.
 
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Years & years ago when high octane leaded gas dissapeared, we would pour a couple ounces each of Marvel Mystery Oil and Everclear into the gas tank of our Harleys to reduce detonation & provide some valve lube. Non-belivers scoffed, until they tried it.
Over time, we all ended up rebuilding our motors with hardened seats & valves & lower compression and could run unleaded regular without ill effect.
 
JPhil since I run a Shovel I still believe in an ounce or so of Marvel. :)

As for E-85 For a normal every day driven vehicle it is well Junk.

But as said if you have something expressly built to run E-85 it is GREAT Stuff lol. But also has been said not many places at least here in South TEXAS sells the stuff. Plus it will pretty much cut your MPG in Half. So depending on the size of your fuel tank you should probably keep short drives in mind lol.
 
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