E85 powered banshee

[austin]

Hey guys Im almost done with switchin my 65 chevelle over to run on e-85 ethanol and I thought, hell why couldnt my banshee run on the same stuff? Up here in northeast Nebraska more and more e85 stations are poppin up, so I might as well use it. With 105 octane I could run some pretty high compression ratios which means a hell of alot more power, plus it would smell like popcorn or bread, at least thats what they tell me. E-85 has about 28% less energy value (i.e. btu per pound) than straight gas so I would need to put about 28% more fuel (in theory). Do you think running a 30% larger main jet in my stock carbs would suffice, or should I get some aftermarket pwks or the like? Or do I need alcohol carbs? Im alot more knowledgeable about Holley 4150 carbs. Has anyone ever heard of makin the switch? Also will any 2-cycle oil mix in properly to get the proper atomization? Give me your thoughts on this. I like a challenge

[dajogejr]

The more E85 becomes available, the more these questions become more and more interesting to me.

I've wondered the same thing now for a while.

 

IMO, it's not worth running a car on just yet...it would have to be 33 or 36% cheaper than gas to make it worth while, and around here it's not. It's 10% cheaper, where you can find it.

 

Even the news said...if you're buying E85 to stop "our dependency on foreign oil" then great for you.

But if you're doing it to save money/increase millage....bad idea.

 

I'm interested in who has played with E85...good post with good questions....

[Ducman]

I would start out by treating it like straight alchohol and then try to fine tune the carbs.

[Snopczynski]

e85 is basically a form of alcohol (85% ethanol). The only thing I would worry about is getting water in it during storage or transport of your cans in cold to hot transition temperatures. Once water is introduced it turns corrosive. All the gm trucks that I work on that run e85 have to have stainless steel fuel lines as a standard gm e85 mandate. So basically to run it, you cant have any magnesium, rubber or aluminum parts in the fuel system.

[FireHead]

e85 is basically a form of alcohol (85% ethanol). The only thing I would worry about is getting water in it during storage or transport of your cans in cold to hot transition temperatures. Once water is introduced it turns corrosive. All the gm trucks that I work on that run e85 have to have stainless steel fuel lines as a standard gm e85 mandate. So basically to run it, you cant have any magnesium, rubber or aluminum parts in the fuel system.

E85, M85, M100,E100, it's pretty much all the same. :shrug:

[shanYE west]

The more E85 becomes available, the more these questions become more and more interesting to me.

I've wondered the same thing now for a while.

 

IMO, it's not worth running a car on just yet...it would have to be 33 or 36% cheaper than gas to make it worth while, and around here it's not. It's 10% cheaper, where you can find it.

 

Even the news said...if you're buying E85 to stop "our dependency on foreign oil" then great for you.

But if you're doing it to save money/increase millage....bad idea.

 

I'm interested in who has played with E85...good post with good questions....

 

Andy @ GRR was settin carbs up for E85 last year.

[FireHead]

Andy @ GRR was settin carbs up for E85 last year.

Out of most alcohol type fuels, E85 and M85 tend to be the most mainstream and are easy to deal with. On toip of that, in many areas of the country (midwest) E85 is near free. Especially in the winter. :geek:

[jbooker82]

e85 is 2 bucks a gallon around central nebraska. There are a few stations that price gouge and charge 10 cents a gallon cheaper than regular gas.

[blowit]

We have been tuning on E85 for about 3 years now. YES, it works great but will not take as much compression as 99% Methanol. Fire guy, you should be scolded for saying all those alkys are the same. You know better. NEVER confuse Methanol with Ethanol. They have different properties and will tune in TOTALLY different. We can actually just big jet the carbs for E85 and that ain't gunna work with M100.

 

Bottom line, if cannot tune carbs do NOT mess with it. A, Alky is more bitchy about jetting B, the E mixure changes with the seasons and can vary from like 70/30-90/10 and that will throw you every time. If you cannot identify the state of tune, it can cause bad things.

 

Remember to always use a alky soluble oil.

 

 

Brandon

[austin]

so if I were to rejet my stock carbs I can run e-85?

[Coupelx]

so if I were to rejet my stock carbs I can run e-85?

theoretically yes but im not saying for sure as i have not done it, i plan to with my banshee pretty soon.

 

Figure on 30% more fuel when jetting. and lean from there. it burns very cool compared to gas so you may see good results with more timing than usual. this was my experience with it. You can get away with running it 'fat' with fewer side effects than gas.

a 2 stroke may be different.

 

MY experience with it was with a fuel injected turbo charged engine and the results were very impressive. 105 octane for $2.50 a gallon (here anyway) shit yea sign me up.

 

if you google around a bit, especially on forced induction specific sites such as turboford.org, people are doing impressive things with e85.

Edited September 14, 2007 by Coupelx

[wesw]

so to run this stuff on a banshee,

 

a. does one need powerjet like reg alky

b. rich needles, mains, pilots

c. add 30% for jetting, ok is that in every circuit or what.

d. whats a good static compression to run for e85.

[dajogejr]

so to run this stuff on a banshee,

 

a. does one need powerjet like reg alky

b. rich needles, mains, pilots

c. add 30% for jetting, ok is that in every circuit or what.

d. whats a good static compression to run for e85.

 

e. What timing do they like?

 

My biggest question is this. Normally methanol is a 8 to 12% increase in HP. And it is half the price of race fuel, but you go through twice as much...so, equal to equal....you're getting that 8 to 12% increase and a cooler running engine.

 

E85 isn't exactly too easy to find...it is cheaper than race fuel, but what kind of power gains can you expect?

 

30% can be increased I think without drilling jets...but, is the performance worth it...I guess it what I'm saying.

 

Wes...on methanol, you don't go 50% bigger on the pilot circuits.

Normally gas bikes that like say...45 or 48 pilots go to 52 to 55 pilots for meth...FYI.

[FireHead]

We have been tuning on E85 for about 3 years now. YES, it works great but will not take as much compression as 99% Methanol. Fire guy, you should be scolded for saying all those alkys are the same. You know better. NEVER confuse Methanol with Ethanol. They have different properties and will tune in TOTALLY different. We can actually just big jet the carbs for E85 and that ain't gunna work with M100.

 

Bottom line, if cannot tune carbs do NOT mess with it. A, Alky is more bitchy about jetting B, the E mixure changes with the seasons and can vary from like 70/30-90/10 and that will throw you every time. If you cannot identify the state of tune, it can cause bad things.

 

Remember to always use a alky soluble oil.

Brandon

I suppose what I meant by them being all the same is that you have to through similair excercises to run all of them. M100 (M99) is a bit more challenging to tune and is less stable in storage. Of course, sometime I forget that not everyone tunes fuel delivery systems like I do. In which case some guy going at it in his drive way may have a bit more of a challenge on his hands with the higher percentage blends of alcohol. :biggrin:

[FireHead]

so if I were to rejet my stock carbs I can run e-85?

Yes, you can. You just need to have a good feeling about your jetting or tuning knowledge. I have run a few different Banshee configs. on stock carbs with alcohol. :geek: