Anyone running E85 fuel in there Quad? If so what kind of mods did you have to do? I plan on modifying my two vehicles within the next couple of weeks, and would like to add the quad [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] With E85 being at $1.90 locally (factoring in a 20% loss of energy over gasoline) it is still cheaper than gas - who knows where that will end... Thoughts. comments? Thanks.

 

As far as chemicle additives and their corrosive nature...im not sure if itl harm anything....but you definetly will need to rejet, and thats only to get back the proformance you lost due to the btu content of the e85. Then, if you decide it isnt what youd like, youll need to rejet back, to use normal gas.

If youre tallking about cars and trucks...forget about it, its way too involved for the home mechanic to take on, to convert a vehicle to e 85. Not only that, but if the vehicle didnt orignally come in a e85 configureation, you wouldnt be able to find the correct injectors and fuel tank and fuel pump, and computor to run it, anyway.

 

Thanks. Should I try with larger size jets or smaller on the Quad? What size over would you suggest? As for vehicles there is a company in Brazil that makes a FFV convertor for around $200.00. I have been talking with an engineer there and he has said that the only problem they have seen in non FFV converted vehicles (they have done thousands) is the fuel pump in the tank usually corrodes (copper connectors). He said this takes anywhere from 5-10 years. Basically just replace the pump with a graphite wire pump and no problems. The only MAJOR mod between modern cars that are FFV cert and those that are not is the ECM controlled fuel system. Gasoline controlled cars will burn E85 but because of higher oxygenation it throughs the sensor values out the door. The module they sell plugs into the ECM and injectors and allows the person to switch between gasoline or E85-E100. The module resets the ECM parameters for whatever E ratio so that the vehicle will run smoothly.

 

Sounds like you know more about this than i do.

For the quad, that e85 will be too lean, so youll need larger jets, and i would think at least two sizes larger.

 

OK. Thanks for your help! (Hey do you think Honda service may tell me what size to start at, or do you think hell has a better chance of freezing over?).

 

I don't know what you are trying to do but you won't save any money. Gasoline needs about 15.5 to 1 ratio. Ethanol is around 9.5 to 1 ratio.
I'm doing this from memory but gas is about 19,000 BTU's/LB. I think pure ethanol is around 12,000 BTU's/ LB. If you want the same amount of power you have to make this up with more fuel. If you burn pure methanol you will burn about twice the fuel as gasoline. Methanol has about a 6.5 ratio.

Then you have to think about corrosion. Although not as bad as methanol, it is still corrosive.
Then you have to think about phase separation. Again not as bad as meth but still there.

It's up to you, but I would not do it.

 

you can get a list of all the vehicles that are already setup to run E85........ Is you own a ford your out of luck as far as i know there are no fords on the list....... But with the energy loss i sure as heck wouldn't run it in a truck, maybe a 4 cylinder rice burner but no a truck....

 

maybe they stopped making them, but ford made e85 taureses and rangers.

 

Yes the 3.0L V6 was configured for e85 from the factory.