E85 flex fuel?

[Genaris]

They just started selling the E85 fuel down the street. Is my 05 supercharged SSR compatable? I'm guessing not, but I hear 20% increase in horsepower would be cool...

[Silver Blur]

I think that E85 is a NO NO for our R's

/

[DOOPHUS]

Originally Posted by Rusty sanderson

I think that E85 is a NO NO for our R's

/

! ! ! !, Rusty . . . according to all the information I've seen . . . A BIG NO NO!

! ! ! ! ! !

[Genaris]

That's what I figured...........105 octane just sounded good..

[Silver Blur]

I don't know how to post the forum, but go to search and put in "Ethanol E85" and there is a big discussion on E85

Rusty //

[hdflstf]

Short answer is NO

[PACEGUY]

Here's a good site to see which vehicles are certified as FlexFuel E85 compliant. The SSR is not on the list. National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition

[ibjeff]

NOT in my SSR

[2005SSR6Speed]

It takes roughly 15-20% more fuel when you use E85 so the injectors and everything need to be bigger. The seals all need to be approved for E85 also or you will start springing leaks from the injector o-rings and every other fuel line seal.

[MoodyBlue]

I just remembered something from my old Go-Cart Racing. Methyl Ethanol over time corrodes aluminum. It will actually make it porous. I have ran Methanol in older Cast Iron Chevy engines with no problems. But you need to do modifications to the Carburetor and fuel lines. Ethanol eats up rubber products like its candy

[Rube]

I just found out that all gas sold in my home state of Vermont is 10% Ethanol effective Jan. 1, 2008. I just put a $75 tankfull of 93 in her yesterday after running through the winter storage 93 with fuel Stabil izar.

[2005SSR6Speed]

Originally Posted by Rube

I just found out that all gas sold in my home state of Vermont is 10% Ethanol effective Jan. 1, 2008. I just put a $75 tankfull of 93 in her yesterday after running through the winter storage 93 with fuel Stabil izar.

Just about everywhere you look across the country we are all running 10% Ethenol. This actually started back in the early 80's in some states. This is fine as the new vehicles are designed for it.

[Beach potato]

I lose about 2mpg on the blend. You also LOSE on horsepower because its only 70% as powerful as normal gas.

[WOW_FCTR]

Originally Posted by hdflstf

Short answer is NO

So is the long answer NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?

[Double-L]

Everything you always or really never cared to know about Fuels-





Gasoline - Gasoline is what most of our cars came setup so it's usually what we stick with. Gasoline is a mixture of hydrocarbons. The petroleum distillate fraction termed "gasoline" contains mostly saturated hydrocarbons usually with a chemical formula of C8H18. The air fuel ratio, A/F Ratio, for complete combustion is 14.7:1, stoichiometric. The A/F ratio for maximum power is approximately 12.5:1 - 12.8:1. This means that our engine at max power, 12.8:1, consumes 12.8 pounds of air for 1 pound of fuel. Gasoline has approximately 18,400 BTU/lb . Using the air flow calculator with the default inputs we get our 355 SBC consumes 567.53 cfm @ 6500rpm which is 42.64 pounds of air and consumes 2.89 pounds of fuel. Therefore if we are using gasoline our engine is producing 53,176 BTU's of energy at 6500 rpm.

Alcohol (Methanol) - Alcohol is usually used in the form of Methyl alcohol or methanol. CH3OH is the chemical formula. Methanol burns at a much richer mixture than gasoline does, between 5.0:1 - 6.0:1. That's 5 lbs of air to one pound of fuel. Methanol has approximately 9,500 BTU/lb. Using our 355, example above, SBC consumes 567.53 cfm @ 6500rpm which is 42.64 pounds of air and now at 6.0:1 ratio for Methanol is 7.11 pounds of fuel. Therefore if we are using Methanol fuel our engine is producing 67,545 BTU's of energy at 6500 rpm.

Nitromethane - is a fuel that is used mostly in specialized drag racing classes, "nitro funny cars" and "top fuel". Nitromethane's chemical formula is CH3NO2. The oxygen in nitromethane's molecular structure means that nitromethane does not need as much atmospheric oxygen to burn, part of the oxygen needed to burn nitromethane is carried in the fuel itself. Typical A/F ratio for nitromethane is 1.7:1 and nitromethane has an energy content of 5,000 BTU/lb. Using our 355, example above, SBC consumes 567.53 cfm @ 6500rpm which is 42.64 pounds of air and now at 1.7:1 ratio for nitromethane is 25.08 pounds of fuel. Therefore if we are using Nitromethane fuel our engine is producing 125,412 BTU's of energy at 6500 rpm.

TABLE 1 Fuel Engine Air Flow (cfm) lbs of air (lbs) A/F Ratio Pounds of Fuel (lbs) Energy Content of Fuel (BTU/lb) Total Thermal Energy (BTU)
Gasoline 567.53 42.64 12.8:1 2.89 18,500 53,176
Methanol 567.53 42.64 6.0:1 7.11 9,500 67,545
Nitromethane 567.53 42.64 1.7:1 25.08 5,000 125,412

Summary - As you can see from table 1 above the clear winner is nitromethane. But that doesn't mean to go out and pour nitromethane in your car and see how it runs, if you do your engine will surely blow up. Nitromethane is very expensive and dangerous to handle. The interesting alternative to gasoline is Methanol. Methanol will make more power, typically around 20% more power than a similar engine running gasoline. Some things to consider in running methanol is your fuel system will have to be completely changed / upgraded. Based on the table above the fuel system will have to flow approximately 2.5 times as much as the gasoline engine.

I guess the old saying is true. "Gasoline is for washing parts, alcohol is for drinking and nitro is for racing."

[hdflstf]

Originally Posted by Double-L

I guess the old saying is true. "Gasoline is for washing parts, alcohol is for drinking and nitro is for racing."

Perhaps, though I would recommend against drinking the methanol. I think CH3CH2OH is the proper version for 'drinking'. That other stuff will make you go blind.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yeah, we don't need another thing that'll make us go blind.

[Jgrden]

Originally Posted by hdflstf

Perhaps, though I would recommend against drinking the methanol. I think CH3CH2OH is the proper version for 'drinking'. That other stuff will make you go blind.

Naltrexone??