Thread: E85 Conversion?

Actually, ethanol contents above the average 10% can have damaging effects to the rubber fuel lines and the fuel tank itself. This is a big reason why certain vehicles were branded flexfuel while their counterparts were not. You can run standard lines but expect a shorter lifespan from them. He's not wrong to suggest looking into replacement lines designed for E85.

We have done literally about 100 E85 conversions at the shop in the past 2 years or so (we have a station 100ft from our building).

The lines shouldn't need upgraded UNLESS you are planning on out flowing the stock lines.

The only real problem we have ran into when running E85 is it will literally clean your fuel tank.. so if there is any amount of dirt buildup or rust or anything in the tank it might cause some issues.

We have seen a lot of fuel pickups getting clogged with dirt/debris after switching from gas to E85. This does NOT happen on every single vehicle but we have definitely noticed an increase in fuel pump pickup clogging in car's that have made the switch.

This is just something to note for future reference that we have picked up on over the past few years.

hes wrong. its misinformation. your lines will not fail earlier due to e85.




thank you.

alot of you guys who are spouting incorrect information should stop. research it, speak to people have done it and do it. this is so that you dont give incorrect information, making people either A. stear away from e85 or b. change alot of stuff that doesnt need to be changed wasting money and time.

stratton.

Actually, what car you're doing the upgrade is very important. Newer cars tend to have fuel lines more resistant to ethanol and benzene than older cars. A big change was in 1985, but there were also noticable changes in fuel lines in the mid to late 90s. It's all about the type of line used. What I really want to see, wish I had, is a breakdwon of the fortified components in flexfuel vs regular cars today.

better yet..... there can always be debate..... but lets see a show of who has used it and comments from them.

lol, like it was said, you'll need 25-30% more fuel for any given setup so take that into account for injector and pump sizing, our stock lines are just fine for the job as long as your not shooting for something that needs higher flow than what the stock lines can handle which stock lines with a proper pump say either a Walbro 255 in tank or Aeromotive 340lph pump can do between 550-650 on normal gasoline which is about 475-575 whp on E85, after that your looking into needing to upgrade fuel lines to a -8 or -10 feed and either use the stock feed as a return which is roughly close to a -6, or upgrade to a -6 or -8 return dependant on the feed size and pump size.

Pros of using E85

Cheaper
Lowers EGT's
Makes more power on any given boost level
Allows you to run more timing

Cons of using it

Depending on where you live it could be hard to find or not many stations if any at all.
There has been a lot of reports of varying quality of the E85 some having higher methanol content than others and if less this can cause issues with the tune.


Other than that it really depends on where you live and the availability of it. In yuma we have no E85 stations. Nearest station is about 3 1/2 hours away in the larger city and even then there are only a handful of them so I chose not to run it and stuck with C16 while more expensive but is more consistent.

Well, basically I try not to do anything half-ass.
I am going to have to increase my injector size anyway, so I am thinking I will go with ID1000's. While I am there I am going to increase my line size and go with a new pump and lines while I am there. This will be a slow process because I am trying to figure out my water to air setup also. This will probably be my last B13 build, so i am going to take my time and do it right.
I am working with JWT to program my ECU for an E85 tune. I am going to have one program for 93 unleaded and the daughter board programed for E85. E85 is readily available in my area. The car isn't a daily driver, so I am not too concerned.

Ashton, I look forward to you coming back to Texas and seeing your monster in person. SAR is a great facility to run at.

Yeah I cant wait man, Getting anxious to get back and be with my family and get my car done for the convention. Im glad I can get alot of the stuff out of the way so its all ready for me.

You gonna go to the Convention? We can caravan it if you want to go.

I've been using it for almost two years. I have stock lines from the tank to the inline pump and for the return with zero issues and my car sits with it in the tank for two weeks sometimes before it's driven. Like John said it really does clean the tank. If you have it available to you give it a try. Sometimes it takes a few cranks to get it started but I'm sure tuning can take care of that.