Eman you just said it all right there. That’s the appeal of e85.

quote:

Originally posted by Eman:
Plenty switching to E85 around me, I've looked at buying a carburetor. For weekly bracket racing it seems good and it's cheaper and easy to access. Not many places selling race gas so many of us use AV gas. Race gas is $10-11 for 110, methanol is over $200 a barrel. E85 is $2 and change a gallon and easy to get 24/7.

Quick search here showed $2.99 a gallon for E-85 and I do not think they are all exactly the same. May be E-90 or E-70? The Sunoco E-85 is $8.30 a gallon and 99 Octane. VP costs more than $13 a gallon.

I just do not see anything good about E-85.

E85 at the pump in the Midwest is rarely that percentage until dead of summer. During the winter months it’s in the 70’s. This is from a racer that is in the Chicago area market that switched to 54 gal distributor (Fuse Fuels) drums. His added expense from pump to distributor for E85 was minimal and still less than methanol. I’m paying $190 a drum for methanol now from Fuse Fuels.

I believe E85 consumption is less than methanol in an engine because it’s mixed with gasoline. My question would be, “What grade of gasoline is the E85 you’re purchasing mixed with”?

When purchasing 87 - 93 octane pump fuel here in the Midwest the pumps are marked “Up to 10% Ethanol”. So you could be getting 0% or 10% ethanol with your fill up.And then you have Winter blend and Summer blend.

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:
E85 at the pump in the Midwest is rarely that percentage until dead of summer. During the winter months it’s in the 70’s. This is from a racer that is in the Chicago area market that switched to 54 gal distributor (Fuse Fuels) drums. His added expense from pump to distributor for E85 was minimal and still less than methanol. I’m paying $190 a drum for methanol now from Fuse Fuels.

I believe E85 consumption is less than methanol in an engine because it’s mixed with gasoline. My question would be, “What grade of gasoline is the E85 you’re purchasing mixed with”?

When purchasing 87 - 93 octane pump fuel here in the Midwest the pumps are marked “Up to 10% Ethanol”. So you could be getting 0% or 10% ethanol with your fill up.And then you have Winter blend and Summer blend.

I find myself always pushing the limits of the 210 lb injectors on 100 methanol. I have considered a not completely unproven mixture of 85 meth and 15% C10. Non intercooled, the 85% ought to still suffice. And the remaining 15 would still be detonation resistant. And it would buy a good margin on the injectors.

I just made the switch to E85 from 110 race fuel. The car is deadly consistent and i picked up.3 in the 1/8 mile. I get the E85 right out of the pump at my local Sheetz. I test the fuel each time I buy it and so far, it has not tested below 80%. The engine is just a basic 358 SBC with 11:1 compression.

quote:

Originally posted by Goob:

Current cost of 110 leaded fuel for me is right at $8.00 a gallon. I have to win the event to use near 5 gallons on a race day.

Hey Dave, Is that actual race fuel, or AvGas?
That is a very good price for leaded 110, IMO.

I will say the downright OBSCENE prices on VP fuels is one of the several reasons I switched to alky 10 years ago. Sunoco was much more reasonable. Some of the other less-known, or newer, or regional brands of race gas were / are not bad also.
I do get it, with all the costs involved in the sport, the price of race fuel is a small part. But I do object to a company putting their label on the same exact 99.9% methanol that everyone else sells dirt cheap, calling it "M1" or some other misleading brand, and literally charging 5X the price just because.

quote:

Originally posted by bracketracer-78:
I just made the switch to E85 from 110 race fuel. The car is deadly consistent and i picked up.3 in the 1/8 mile. I get the E85 right out of the pump at my local Sheetz. I test the fuel each time I buy it and so far, it has not tested below 80%. The engine is just a basic 358 SBC with 11:1 compression.

0.3 is Excellent performance increase. I’d find it amazing if performance will remain consistent between fuel having over 6% of Ethanol difference (using 85 performs same as 80%) because of the performance increase.

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:

quote:

Originally posted by bracketracer-78:
I just made the switch to E85 from 110 race fuel. The car is deadly consistent and i picked up.3 in the 1/8 mile. I get the E85 right out of the pump at my local Sheetz. I test the fuel each time I buy it and so far, it has not tested below 80%. The engine is just a basic 358 SBC with 11:1 compression.

0.3 is Excellent performance increase. I’d find it amazing if performance will remain consistent between fuel having over 6% of Ethanol difference (using 85 performs same as 80%) because of the performance increase.

We used/tested every E85 batch from the pumps in Las Vegas. It ranged from 75% - 83% in the summer & winter. We eventually switched to VP X85 bought at the track for $55 for a 5 gal. pale. The main reason was convenience, but other reasons also.

Anyway, even with the big differences in percentages & the VP fuel. The performance, cooling & consistency stayed the same with our set-up. IMO it's a very versatile cheap fuel to bracket race with.

Whether it be pump gas/race gas, E85 or methanol. They all have their pros & cons; I have raced with them all.

2BKING

quote:

Originally posted by FootbrakeJim:

quote:

Originally posted by Goob:

Current cost of 110 leaded fuel for me is right at $8.00 a gallon. I have to win the event to use near 5 gallons on a race day.

Hey Dave, Is that actual race fuel, or AvGas?
That is a very good price for leaded 110, IMO.

I will say the downright OBSCENE prices on VP fuels is one of the several reasons I switched to alky 10 years ago. Sunoco was much more reasonable. Some of the other less-known, or newer, or regional brands of race gas were / are not bad also.
I do get it, with all the costs involved in the sport, the price of race fuel is a small part. But I do object to a company putting their label on the same exact 99.9% methanol that everyone else sells dirt cheap, calling it "M1" or some other misleading brand, and literally charging 5X the price just because.

Finish Line Fuels Leaded 110 bulk delivery pricing. I'll be getting a drum soon, hopefully still at a similar price.

quote:

Originally posted by bracketracer-78:
I just made the switch to E85 from 110 race fuel. The car is deadly consistent and i picked up.3 in the 1/8 mile. I get the E85 right out of the pump at my local Sheetz. I test the fuel each time I buy it and so far, it has not tested below 80%. The engine is just a basic 358 SBC with 11:1 compression.

Low compression engines LOVE E fuel or Alky.

Liquid compression, and lower intake temperatures really wakes them up.

I’ve debated about commenting but things seems reasonable around here lately so here goes nothin’!

There are a lot of misconceptions on E85 and usually it comes from people who have never used it or didn’t use it correctly, (much like standard methanol myths). I ran E for a few years and never had issues with it and was more predictable than gas, for me. I would always buy enough to run a 2 day race in the same batch from the pump so I didnt have to worry with changes from batch to batch. Yes, I would usually test it for knowledge but never had issues running it from e70 to e90 (only once was it 90) through out the year.

I was also told, but have no evidence, that the fuel is mixed at the gas station when the tanks are filled. Meaning they carry 4-5 different fuels in the tanker (pure 87, 89, 91-30, ethanol, and possibly diesel), then they mix it t the proper percentage when they fill the tanks. Not only for e85 but also for the reg gas fuels, adding the “up to 10% ethanol”.

Since E85 has some gas in it, it has some of the lubricant properties of gas as well, and is not quite as corrosive as straight methanol. In my limited experience with methanol, it made more power, especially down low but was no more or less consistent then E85.

As far as cost, I’ve been out of the game for a while but have been seeing seeing that race gas is around $8-10 a gallon and E85 is $3-3.50 a gallon at 30% more used per lap, it’s still less expensive than gas.

Again, this was my experience with about 4 years of using e85, 10+ plus years ago on BBC at about 12-13:1 engines. I did switch to methanol to give it a solid shot before I got out of racing and while it did well, it did seem to take a little more maintenance than E did previously.

YMMV

I bought AV gas yesterday $5.80 gal E85 was $2.39 and 110 was $10-11 gal. Last I priced a drum of methanol was $220 with lube.

Fast lane, your experience with e85 is same as mine. I’ve been using it for over ten years.

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:

quote:

Originally posted by bracketracer-78:
I just made the switch to E85 from 110 race fuel. The car is deadly consistent and i picked up.3 in the 1/8 mile. I get the E85 right out of the pump at my local Sheetz. I test the fuel each time I buy it and so far, it has not tested below 80%. The engine is just a basic 358 SBC with 11:1 compression.

0.3 is Excellent performance increase. I’d find it amazing if performance will remain consistent between fuel having over 6% of Ethanol difference (using 85 performs same as 80%) because of the performance increase.

The first pass was a 7.37 at a test and tune day just to see if it would go a to b. The next weekend it went 7.35 off the trailer then went 2 7.36 in a row with me letting off right at the stripe because i had the other guys covered and the race was called at the beginning of 3 round. The next day it went 7.34 3 passes in a row. the first was the time shot and then i took 2 redlights. Round 3 was 7.40 with me getting out of it because the other guy was way tardy at the hit. I was still in at 4th round when the race was called. I left the 7.35 on the window all weekend. The initial fuel that i bought was tested a 80% and the next batch that i bought tested right at 85% out of the exact same pump, just a week later.

quote:

Originally posted by Goob:

quote:

Originally posted by bracketracer-78:
I just made the switch to E85 from 110 race fuel. The car is deadly consistent and i picked up.3 in the 1/8 mile. I get the E85 right out of the pump at my local Sheetz. I test the fuel each time I buy it and so far, it has not tested below 80%. The engine is just a basic 358 SBC with 11:1 compression.

Low compression engines LOVE E fuel or Alky.

Liquid compression, and lower intake temperatures really wakes them up.

That is funny, when I first went to alcohol was told you have to run at least 14 to 1 for alcohol and change oil every week and it corrodes everything and on and on.

One of my motors was 9.4 compression tow truck motor. I put alcohol carb on it and did not change anything else and car went 7.20 in the 1/8 mile pulling front wheels. Do not have to change oil that often if you get it good and hot at end of the day.