Despite the AMA's pleas that ethanol gasoline blends are harmful of smaller engines (especially carbureted ones), it looks like the EPA wants more E15 for 2018:

https://atvconnection.com/articles/e...-mandate-2018/

 

E85 sounds like it's getting close to good old moon shine.

 

Not doing the price of moonshine any favors.

From what I've been told.

 

Actually E85 has a great benefit for folks with high compression motors. Friend of mine has an everyday driver Dodge Charger with a 13.5/1 426 hemi. The motor was built for E85. He has to detune it over 100 hp to run 93 octane. It's still scary fast, with almost 450 RWHP. As far as moonshine, never could figure out why folks would pay the same for rotgut moonshine, as 12 year old single malt Scotch..... Several brands of moonshine sold in the supermarkets here in Maine, I bought a mason jar of Jr Johnson's, rank!

 

Nothing wrong with running ethanol at all as long as your engine is set up for it. It actually makes more hp then reg gasoline, however the mistake made was setting up an engine to run both reg gas and ethanol !! This is where the power loss come in. You cant have both...either run straight gasoline or set up to run ethanol and don't mix them. Just take a look at NASCAR, they have gone to a 20% mix of ethanol and it sounds like they are going to go to 30% mabey next year...of course there big sponser is the grain industry however, they are getting far more HP from the ethanol than they ever got from straight gasoline in an even smaller engine size. My old boat is a 1983 and designed for reg gas. I have made the needed changes to run on 10% ethanol including all fuel hoses, rebuilt carb, timming etc and it runs excellent and has for more than 10 years with absolutely no issues. It also starts better and gets better fuel economy if you can say good mpg when it comes to a boat!! You also need a fuel treatment to control moisture in the fuel tanks. Once it is setup your good to go without issues.

 

As long as you can still buy gas without ethanol, I guess the E85 stuff is ok for the flex fuel vehicles than can use it. I would never, ever put it in anything I own regardless.

 

A friend of mine runs/owns an auto service center and has set up his truck and his wifes car to run strictly on e-85, they cannot run reg gas without causing issues due to the adjustments he has made. I can tell you from personal experience his vehicles will and can outrun any straight gasoline vehicle like them and he gets better fuel economy. They engine has to be setup to run on a particular type of fuel only to get the optimum performance. making engines run on a variety of different fuels is what makes them so inefficient!! It is our gov't regulations that keep performance and fuel economy so low. If you bought a vehicle that could only use one particular type of fuel and some one messed up can you imagine the lawsuits? Like most everything else in our society, the gov't requires us to follow there laws as they know what is best for us....so they think...but are well fools for allowing it to happen??

 

E85 would be 170 proof. It's possible to make moonshine that strong or close to it if you triple distill it, but you wouldn't be able to drink it without diluting it. Legal moonshine sold at stores is usually 80-100 proof. One time I spit some 190 proof Everclear into a campfire and it went up like rocket fuel. It also burned my mouth and I had to drink lots of ice cold Powerade until it quit burning. I'll never do that again, or eat a ghost pepper.

 

I tried drinking a cap full of that stuff when I was young and dumb. never had something burn so much in my life. Culd have been one of the contributing factors to me not drinking at all..I drank more before I was of legal age than anytime since. Plus I like what Wikipedia has to say about it:According to the manufacturer, Everclear "should be viewed as an unfinished ingredient", not consumed directly in undiluted form, and the company acknowledges that the product "has a rather notorious reputation" due to its high alcohol content.[3] Rather than consuming Everclear directly, the company says it should be diluted by mixing it with water (to make vodka) or other ingredients until the alcohol strength of the drink is "no more dangerous than other spirits or liqueurs on the shelf".[3] For example, ordinary vodka and gin have an alcohol concentration typically around 40% alcohol by volume (80 proof), and liqueurs are typically around 20% alcohol (40 proof).[3]

Everclear can also be used for extracting flavor from other ingredients to make infusions and tinctures. The company says that Everclear has "an extremely neutral flavor profile" and is "virtually unbeaten in the realm of infusions".[3]

My friends at that time just made Screw Drivers with it. Cheap drunk real fast...

 

Guess I was a bit of a wimp, Barcardi 151 rum was the strongest that I ever drank straight, once, haha. Would not advise it, though I still like ghost peppers in tiny amounts for flavoring. They really do have a nice flavor, once you get past the flames, haha. If I start to feel a bad cold coming on, I'll eat some super spicy soup or chili, wash it down with a shot of tequila. Next morning, no cold, just a case of the flaming squirts.