e85

[05DodgeDakota]

Anyone try running it? It's pretty cheap an supposed to be like 108 octane...

[duneslider]

I have never heard the 108 octane thing. I wouldnt use it unless you drain it after every ride, it attracts water.

[dxcody]

i dont know if this has anything to do with quads but my buddies truck is flex fuel and the guys at dodge told him, you can run e85 and yea its cheap, but your gas milage will drop from 15mpg to about 8, so it pretty much ballances out on the cost..

never heard anyone say its 108 octane thing either

:confused:

[05DodgeDakota]

Ok, just was looking online and here are the facts, from wikipedia

*Most places sticker it as being 100-113, but using the (R+M)/2 method it calculates to between 94-96 octane.

*It loves compression

*It also supposedly has cooling properties to it because of the lower heating value

*Must be ran in a richer Air:Fuel ratio

*Lower gas mileage (i got 11mpg in my old truck running it versus my normal 16mpg)

*produces 10-12% more power than gasoline

*on average it's 20% cheaper than gas

[CJM]

Jetting becomes really wacky with it. Only person I know of who runs it on here is Wheelie and he likes it-but as I recall his jetting isnt even close to what you use for normal gas.

With your 12:1 build your gonna need 100+ octane.

[drew416ex]

Im running it with no problems. You do get a noticable amount of power with lower temps. Last time i rode was in April. It sat up all summer and I cranked it the other day with no problems. Our pumps have 102 for the octane rating.

[Wheelie]

It's rated at 105 octane on the pumps around here. I run a skosh over 11:1 compression with the timing 4 degrees advanced and don't have any pinging issues.

It does make more power than gasoline, but it also requires more fuel--read my sig for my jetting--I have to drill my own main jets.

The attracting water theory is way overrated, I've let my quad sit for 6 months with a 1/2 tank of E-85 to see if it would create any issues. This was done in the winter time in a non temperature controlled climate. Zero water was drawn and the quad fired right up come spring time.

Gasoline without ethanol draws water. As for the rumored corrosive effects, I'm running the stock needle valve, stock fuel lines, etc--all I did was rejet. 3 years now, stock fuel system components look great. The inside of the carb looks new.

The quad picked up a noticeable amount of power and throttle response was improved from the fuel swap alone. Adding timing after the fuel swap really woke it up.

[crownandmonster]

E85 is rated for higher octane and does produce more power. I have a chevrolet truck that dynos at 315 hp on 93 pump gas and 323 hp on e85. The problem around here is that 93 outta the pump is about $3.70 a gallon and my truck gets 22 mpg on the highway with it and averages 17 combined. E85 costs $3.55 a gallon and I only average 13 mpg.

[Stickman400]

Damn, right over here across the river 87 is $3.25 and 91 is $3.33 a gallon.

[ish416]

I ran E85 in my EX for a few years and it was a pain to get it to run right with my FCR carb. The jetting is about 20 - 25% richer and uses about 10 -20% more fuel and makes about 5% more power all while being extremely sensitive to temperatures and DA (density altitude). It does run noticeably cooler though.

In my opinion unless your engine is a high compression beast built for race fuels just use premium pump fuel and stay below 11:1 compression with a small advance in timing.

The only benefit of E85 is lower temps at higher compression ratios but, given that you need 20 - 25% more fuel and gain only maybe 5% power, it is not worth it vs 93 pump fuel. Also, at least around here ( East Central Indiana ) E85 is rated at 100 - 105 octane at the pump.