Considering making the switch to E85 or pure ethanol

[eire1274]

...as a project on my "project car", the '92 Crown Victoria S police cruiser.

I'm looking around at the kits made available, and I'm really attracted to the FlexTek (http://www.flextek.com/) kits made by XCelPlus. It meets US EPA requirements (one of the first), can be installed and calibrated by pretty much anybody who can find their fuel injectors, and it is a nice clean unit.

Anybody else made this adjustment to their vehicle? Any thoughts?

The Crown Vic already needs high-octane gas (really needs it, now that I've tuned up and sealed the motor), and ethanol meets those needs quite well. Plus, I'm looking at adding a centrifugal supercharger, dialed in at about 5-6psi max, which will make high-octane that much more important. We'll see where this goes!

[Tivon]

You get less MPG, but it burns cleaner and costs less.

[eire1274]

You get less MPG, but it burns cleaner and costs less.
E85 has approx. 76% of the combustion power that pure gasolie (petrol) has. However, it reacts as a highly oxygenated fuel (e.g. "high octane"), burns much cooler, and as you said burns cleaner. Living in Nebraska, where ethanol is tax-free, plus the fact that we have several ethanol plants starting near Omaha, ethanol is looking more and more appealing, considering that E85 is dropping in price slowly despite the recent gas hikes.

Ethanol has been used for ages in racing for one reason: it is kinder to motors! The thought of a cool, supercharged car si very appealing , especially figuring that I'd be saving $0.50 or more per gallon. My turbo Mitsubishi 3000GT will likely be converted, as well. My wife's Chevy minivan was multi-fuel from the get go (just needed to replace the O2 sensor with a wideband, which the stock computer reads fine) and E85 actually didn't even affect her mileage considerably (450 miles average on gas to 430 miles on E85).

[egarrard]

$0.50/gal? Gas prices are predictd the be back to around $2/gal or below by Thanksgiving. But...depending on what Mad Mahmoud does, they could go back up, way back up!

I say give it a try! :thumb

[nighthawk15]

I wrote a paper on this stuff for school a while back. Pretty interesting stuff! Its only just now starting to come out here though. The really wierd part is that Henry Ford had the foresight to use ethanol ooooooooooohhhhh only about 100 years ago!

EDIT: $2 a gallon? If thats true then HOT DAMN!

[eire1274]

$2 a gallon? If thats true then HOT DAMN!
Yep, and word is that E85 will be down to $1.50 (what it was a couple years ago) or lower by spring '07, so the balance holds true.

$1.50 a gallon, I can afford the lost mileage.

Turns out the superchargers for this car are going to be EXPENSIVE, though, around $3500 for the complete kit (ATI intercooled Procharger). Crud. I might just look and see if I can cram some small turbochargers into it!

[Tivon]

I'm all about having more options. So if the cost goes up on one end we can switch over without taking it up the ( y ).

[slugbug]

What about a natural gas or propane conversion?

[Kindom934]

$2.00 bucks predicted there? that darn cheap....

Gas prices have drop slightly on this island but it's still hovering around $3.40 . On some of the other island, the prices are near the $4.00 range.

[Tivon]

You don't need to travel as far on an island like you do here in the states.

[Kindom934]

You don't need to travel as far on an island like you do here in the states.

Hehe....very true. Most of us complain of a drive to downtown. A fair 20 minuites to 30 at times, lol.....

...that is...if traffic isn't the issue.

[eire1274]

What about a natural gas or propane conversion?
Not for me. Unfortunately, fill-ups for that stuff on a vehicle just really isn't in place here. Pisses me off, too!

[Happy Camper]

I doub't gas prices will fall. The guys at OPEC are making far too much money. As for the ethanol fueled car. Great Stuff! If I could drive, and I could afford it (which I can't, hence the lack of driving) then I would be considering a similar thing. Nothing like saving the planet and saving money at the same time.