E85 fuel

sj701

sj701

Location
St. Charles, IL
Alright I was talking to this guy who drag races his 67 Mustang and used to run 110 octane racing fuel, but has switched to E85 and said it has 105 octane and is much less expensive and more readily available, and he has had good results with it. Is it true it is 105 octane? Has anyone ever tried running it in a high compression 2 stroke before?

Just curious? Not sure if he was full of it or being straight with me.
 
SuperJETT

SuperJETT

So long and thanks for all the fish
Location
none
sj701 said:
Alright I was talking to this guy who drag races his 67 Mustang and used to run 110 octane racing fuel, but has switched to E85 and said it has 105 octane and is much less expensive and more readily available, and he has had good results with it. Is it true it is 105 octane? Has anyone ever tried running it in a high compression 2 stroke before?

Just curious? Not sure if he was full of it or being straight with me.
Click to expand...

He's full of it.
 
romack991

romack991

homebrewed
Location
Warsaw, IN
i don't think i'd run e85 in a ski for the material compatibility issues. but you should be able to run a higher compression ratio than regular gas.

a bit off topic but there is some cool technology being developed for small turbo charged engines and ethanol. regular gas engines have limits on the compression ratio and how much boost you can get from the turbo because of pre-ignition. Ethanol is stable at higher temps. So they are designing systems with separate ethanol tanks, then direct injecting ethanol at specific engine timings. This allows for more boost/compression ratio giving a smaller sized engine more hp. I'd have to look up the article but i think they were seeing about a 40% improvement on efficiency compared to similar hp engines.
 
750SX

750SX

DO IT
Location
Palmyra
sj701 said:
Yep saw that wiki page also. But I'm curious if the alcolhol would wash off the oil film in a two stroke and affect bearings, cylinder walls ect???
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Alcohol will work fine, but you have to clean the carbs after you use it. You have to use castor oil, because a lot of other oils will not blend with it. Finally it draws moisture, so it probably would not be as good as gas for a ski application. You can run insane compression with it as well. It burns cooler and slower than gas, but you will use more of it. It's works sweet on dirtbike motors. E85 is pretty much a form of alcohol. We have ran methanol in many two stroke motors.
 
G

Goose

Guest
you have to run more oil with methanol.i forget what you have to mix it at but i ran methanol in my dirt bike and converted it back to gas when i went to sell it and it was a really noticalbe difference over gas.I believe a microsprint engine builder told me i would gain 8hp by switching to methanol alone.but you do have to run the carbs dry and pump some fuel thrue them and it will be fine
 
750SX

750SX

DO IT
Location
Palmyra
Goose said:
you have to run more oil with methanol.i forget what you have to mix it at but i ran methanol in my dirt bike and converted it back to gas when i went to sell it and it was a really noticalbe difference over gas.I believe a microsprint engine builder told me i would gain 8hp by switching to methanol alone.but you do have to run the carbs dry and pump some fuel thrue them and it will be fine
Click to expand...

We run it in microsprints. Who do you know that builds the motors? Bob Albright does ours.
 
Waternut

Waternut

Customizing addict
Location
Macon, GA
E85 isn't all that practical since it's about the same price as gas and isn't as efficient (at least right now but the distilling is getting better and gas prices keeping rising). Yes E85 has an octane rating of about 105. Yes it can be a very potent fuel but the compression ratio has to be really high so forced induction engines love it. I'm not sure I'd run it in a 2 stroke motor though. Might end up costing you a motor...

Check out the Fifth Gear episode on the Lotus Exige that runs E85. Really cool.
YouTube - E85 Lotus Exige
 
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