<VV> E-85 and my new engine

[Jim Burkhard]

That all depends on how long you want it to run.  The ethanol is 
extremely corrosive to mild steel fuel lines and fuel tanks in our 
Corvairs and the elastomers (rubber bits) in the fuel system doesn't 
hold up well to it either.  Sure if you jet the carbs big enough, it 
will run pretty well for a while, but after a while (months, few 
years) you'll have done some serious damage.

The bigger question is WHY?  The volumetric energy content is only 
about 2/3 that of gasoline so the mileage WILL take a big hit compared 
to the same engine running on gasoline and jetted to the same exhaust 
pipe equivalence ratio (lambda). Anybody who tells you the mileage 
drop is minimal is either a corn farmer, lying, careless with the 
math, or doesn't understand what's at work.  I guess all the 
automakers and the EPA are full of crap when they post fuel 
consumption figures for flex fuel vehicles that are on average 35-40% 
worse when they run on E85. Ditto for all those dozens of silly 
peer-reviewed papers written by SAE authors.

It's amazing how many people get confused and suckered in because the 
price is "so cheap".  Well, when you figure it out on a "miles per 
dollar" basis rather than "miles per gallon", it's a crappy deal.  And 
that's on cars designed to handle to fuel without adverse long term 
effects.

I run through the specific energy content calcs (they are simple 
math...) and current flex fuel car fuel econ data if anybody cares. 
E85 is a boondoggle and a bad deal for the consumer, even with the 
huge subsidies it is given.  The one exception might be if you 
purpose-built a car for it and took advantage of the high octane for 
high boost or high compression ratio and viewed it as merely a 
performance enabler, rather than something that makes economic sense.

Jim Burkhard
Fuel Injection Engineer

Bob Saunders wrote:
> OK,
> does anyone want to say what mods are required to use E85 in a 110?
> 
> INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!<s>
> 
> bob