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Ethanol Fuel

8K views 53 replies 29 participants last post by  Rhansen 
#1 ·
http://www.ethanolrfa.org/factfic_enperf.html

All of the info looks good; high octane, clean burning, etc. but how would us hotrodders convert our old iron to run on that stuff? And where would we get ethanol? How much does it cost?

Aha, yes, 113 Octane Ethanol means we can build up engines with 11.0 compression ratios without worrying much about knocking and pinging.:)
 
#3 ·
The ethanol that you would run in a street car would be E85. It is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. I think it is a really good idea. As far as what needs to be done to accomodate your motor, it mainly has to do with rubber parts that werent made for ethanol drying out. My main concern on an older motor would be the carb. As far as where to get it, there are several gas stations that carry it around the US. If you do a little searching on the internet, I am sure you could find a gas staton in your area that has it. It is usually quite a bit cheaper than regular fuel, but it burns about 30% faster because you can mix it at a higher ratio than regular fuel. That is why it makes more hp aslo. Not many people know this buy many new cars are automatically designed to run on E85 they are called "felxable fuel vehicles". Also all government cars, at least in Nebraska, run on it.

Adam
 
#4 ·
Some decrease in mileage can be expected unless you jack up the compression and take advantage of the higher octane rating.

More cylinder pressure will raise the engines efficiency up to help compensate for the lower energy released from the E85. It won't offset the entire loss but it would help.

I can see no reason why an engine couldn't be built to take full advantage of the fuels higher knock resistance and be just as efficient as a gas burning engine.

Larry
 
#6 ·
aren't carb parts made of brass, and isn't alcohol corrosive to it? Well that's what I thought. Maybe I'm wrong.

If they built cars to run off straight E85, we could have 11.0:1 compression commonplace again:)
 
#7 ·
I researched this for a paper last semester (persuasive paper on the advantages of E85) and found that the conversion is not too difficult, though I didn't address the conversion in my paper. There is a lot of information available on the topic and several universities have done E85 conversions successfully. Basically the mixture needs to be enriched (for max power - lean limits are similar to gasoline) and you can run more advance. Engine temps are lowered and cold starting becomes more difficult. One of the conversion projects used a MSD 6 box to overcome the cold start issue. E85 is agressive towards certain plastics and non-anodized aluminum (Edelbrock said my 1406 is compatible with the fuel). I also found out that the old "high test" gas contained a large amount of ethanol to raise the octane, so I would suspect that most of the old muscle cars would only need a jetting change. A quick search will turn up lots of info (including materials compatibility).
Attached is a (poorly formatted) text file of my paper if anyone is interested.
 

Attachments

#9 ·
down here in aus ethenol was used in pump fuel for a while , a lot of late model cars had engine problems , my old v8 loved it ..
must have a tad more compression , they dont have it now,(so they reckon)..

?? is it corrosive..

Simo from aus...
 
#13 ·
I'm going to a community college for now - to get some math out of the way. I'll most likely end up at Iowa State to finish out my degree.
Need to hurry it up so I can build my 12:1 CR daily driver (ethanol fueled of course). It will probably get 8 mpg and 2 tires every oil change:thumbup:
 
#15 ·
The blend of the ethenol (corn alcohol) is normally 10% with gas.
Its been in Mich. for years and still is.
The postings kinda reads that some are thinking of using it in a higher percentage. Feds want 15% ethenol in the future.
The jetting and amount of ethenol with compression must be considered.
The more alcohol, the more needed to burn almost twice that of gas.
The mix at the pumps does not need any jet changes.
Its all in the combination of parts used to build the motor, a 12:1 can be built to run on 93 octane pump gas.

As quoted from the site given:
Keep this in mind when designing an ethanol powered vehicle:

"Even after all the top brains have figured out everything on paper and failed to make it work, they still have access to tons of diagnostic equipment and large chunks of money to find out "why not?" Normally, Detroit doesn’t put things on the market unless most of the bugs have been ironed out. This ironing out process has so far taken over 80 years for the gasoline engine."[10] - Michael H. Brown, 1981.

All looks good on paper, just like desiging of the cars.
What looks good on paper does not work all the time in real life.
89/93 octane gas with ethenol is still a 89/93 octane burn rate.
my $.002 cents worth. :thumbup:
 
#16 ·
1BAD80 said:
The postings kinda reads that some are thinking of using it in a higher percentage. Feds want 15% ethenol in the future.

The more alcohol, the more needed to burn almost twice that of gas.

Normally, Detroit doesn’t put things on the market unless most of the bugs have been ironed out.
Ethanol conversions experience a 30% reduction in economy when jetted for max power - METHANOL is a 50% reduction (2:1 ratio) and as stated before the lean limits of ethanol are similar to gasoline. There are already thousand's of factory-built vehicles running on E85 (which the Fed. is pushing for the near future) that have a slight (5-10%) loss in economy as compared to their performance on gasoline. The limiting factor is the availability of ethanol - not undeveloped technology or "bugs". Anybody can go out and buy a new car that will run on both gas and E85, but not everyone will want to do an older vehicle conversion because of possible expense, poor economy (in certain applications), and potential headache's.
 
#19 ·
The blend of the ethenol (corn alcohol) is normally 10% with gas.
That is the regular blend that will work in almost every vehicle, the mix these guys are talking about is 85% ethanol and 15% Gas. One of the links provide earlier gives some good info on it. I am uneducated on the modifications necessary to run this fuel, but it looks pretty cool! Definately want to learn more! Livin here in Nebraska/Iowa, there is plenty of renewable Ethanol!
Tom

http://www.e85fuel.com/faqs/e85.htm
 
#20 ·
I have a couple of golf tees that are made from corn. They feel like plastic, but are biodegradeable. That way we can use oil for better things; like gasoline. Then we'd have enough supply so it'd be $0.85/gallon (I wish) like when I was a little squirt. Corn prices would go up since it'd be used for making plastics also.:thumbup:
 
#21 ·
Ethanol

Most of the pumps in the country or at least in major cities right now have anywhere from 8% to 12% ethanol in the fuel for emission purposes. The problem when you go to higher % usage like the E-85 is like Methanol it will absorb the moisture out of the air. This will corrode the internal components of the engine, increasing the maintenance costs. There are pros & cons on both side, but I don't think you're going to see a wholesale change in the near future.
 
#24 ·
There is no incentive for the Government to do anything. Until the Ethanol industry can fill the pockets of the politicians like the oil company's do things won't change. The recently passed energy bill requires 7 billion gallons of ethanol used for fuel over the next few years, the ethanol industry wanted 8b mandated and the oil company's were pushing for 5b.
One of the big oil's arguments were that the additional ethanol mandated would raise gas prices.????????
 
#25 ·
When using ethanol have your carburetor plated in nickel.It will last forever.
Fuel lines should be converted to plastic.Fuel pumps and tank sending units should last a few months.

Due to the totally different stoichiometric air fuel ratio expect about 40% higher fuel consumption.Gasoline runs at 15:1,ethanol at 9:1.At lot less air for the same amount of fuel.

When carbureted it will never cold start bellow 50F.The way around is a little electric pump to give it a shot of gasoline from a small recipient.Once it starts expect about 3 minutes minimum of warm up before you can slowly move the car.

If it is not subsidized by government ethanol will always cost more than gasoline even at todays prices.
 
#26 ·
1BAD80 said:
The blend of the ethenol (corn alcohol) is normally 10% with gas.

The jetting and amount of ethenol with compression must be considered.
The more alcohol, the more needed to burn almost twice that of gas.
The mix at the pumps does not need any jet changes.

89/93 octane gas with ethenol is still a 89/93 octane burn rate.
my $.002 cents worth. :thumbup:
First ethanol has a lesser BTU content than gasoline. Any percentage of eth lowers your miles per gallon...... period. In my Lincoln Town Car that requires 91+ octane, it drops 2 mpg highway instantly. It has higher octane, but lesser BTU (power) per gallon.

I avoid it like the plague when I go to Illinois.

Second.. Ethanol was commonly used as engine fuel 75 years ago. It was called moonshine/whitelightning....

Consider too, LP gas has 145 octane, but the BTUs are so low, you get only about 2/3 your original gas mileage.
 
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