[TheMonkey]

i was driving through a rural town today and dang near snapped my neck when i seen a gas price that was 65 cents cheaper than what i paid yesterday. then i see that it is for E85. the funny thing is that my suburban that i was driving can accept E85 but it was topped off. when i got home, i found a spot not too far from me that sells it. i had no idea it was that much cheaper. that will save me about $14 for ever 350 mile tank.

here's what i started thinking about though.... i was in the rural town to look at an old pontiac i want to restore. i'll be building an engine up and doing a frame-off at some point in the next couple seasons. so can i build this thing to accept E85?

i found out that gas cars can be converted, but no kits are available because the EPA requires manufacturers of the kits to create a product that burns cleaner emmissions after the install is complete than previous. also, they must warranty the exhaust emmissions for 10 years or 100k miles which would be business suicide.

according to NEVC (Nat'l Ethanol Vehicle Coalition), conversion would require: "The differences in fuel injector size, air-fuel ratio, PCM calibrations, material composition of the fuel lines, pumps and tanks are just a few of the components that contribute to making an E85 conversion extremely complex"

additionally, it is a crime to convert a vehicle that was originally intended to burn gas. but if it's a ground up restoration, perhaps an argument could be made that 'new original intentions' are in place ?

any thoughts on the techinicals required to run E85 on a ground up resto? BTW.... my plan is to put EFI on the pontiac.

[TheMonkey]

oh.... and E85 is 105 octane.... imagine