I was just down at my local speed shop and have decided to tune for E85. So my question is what do I need as far as a fuel system to keep up with it?

 

you need an e85 pump, lines, and injectors. Unfortunately E85 contains a lot or ethanol (85% to be exact). Therefore your fuel system needs to be compatible. You may be able to run it for a while without switching, but It'll eventually eat the rubber in the system, and cause a dangerous failure. Aside from that you may want larger injectors as E85 takes a little more fuel to create the same HP since it has a lower BTU count. But the plus side is it's cheaper to get and has a higher octane rating. Look into it really closely to make sure you don't hurt anything.

 

There is some mis-information in this post.

You may need a bigger fuel pump, depending on your current power level, but you will not need an "E85" pump. Cars made after (approx) 1989 or so are ethanol compliant because of the E10 required gas in some states. Only cars over 20 years old would I worry about upgrading any of the rubber in the fuel lines, and after 20+ years, it would probably need it anyway. While pure E100 is slightly corrosive, E85 really isn't too much more corrosive than gasoline is. METHANOL on the other hand, is VERY corrosive and WILL eat at your rubber and possibly some other components.

I would say it is pretty safe to upgrade any 90's+ car I would say, but it does take some time and tuning to get it right. I ran E85 for nearly a year in my 95 TA and had NO problems, other than needing bigger injectors than I originally thought. I would suggest running 40% larger injectors than you need with gas. While you probably only need about 30-35% larger, 40% will give you some insurance and room. I would also use one heat range colder plugs to start, as well as look into a wideband for your car as well, as to help with tuning, unless you plan on dyno tuning the car.

First, I would install the larger injectors, and as a starting point tune the PCM to show that your injectors are 30% smaller than they really are. For example 30# x .70 = 21#. This tricks the PCM into opening the injectors more to allow for the added fuel needed for E85. If you have a wideband, remember that it is really just a lambda meter, meaning that it reads stoich no matter what the fuel. Stoich for gas is 14.7, E85 is approx 9.8. The stock O2 sensors adjust the fuel during normal driving to keep the mixture at stoich, so they will also adjust to keep E85 at 9.8 or lambda. Now WOT tuning is different than gas regarding the ratio. Gas WOT likes about 13:1 A/F or .88 lambda. E85 runs best at around .80 lambda and is more forgiving on the rich side than gas. You can also run about 2* more timing with E85 over gas as well.

Also, since ethanol cleans your fuel system, I would change your fuel filter after the first 1-2 tanks of it, and maybe again a little while later, as it will clean out all of the gunk/deposits that are in your fuel tank and lines.

Any more questions about setting up for E85 just let me know and I can help you out. My car is down now for about a year (trying to get a house) but will be built up next spring/summer as a 13:1 CR 385 running strictly E85.

 

I was going to have HiTech Motorsports dyno tune the car for the E85. They said it would take about 4 hours in all

 

I apologize about the miss info.....the whole E85 issue is still mostly new to me since there's 1 station around here that sells it.....hasn't quite caught on yet I guess....................

thank you for setting me straight kgkern01

 

No prob. There is a lot of mis-info out there about ethanol, I did a LOT of research into it before deciding to do it on my car.

Now that Dart is going to make the big-cube block, it looks as though I will be building a 427 E85 motor next year!