I recently added some new stuff to my car and was advised that after tuning for 98 octane petrol an E85 tune would amount to about $100 extra so I said sure why not?

For me and how my car gets used, I consider E85 to be cheap race fuel. It sits all week, sometimes more so I wouldn`t care to leave E85 in the tank. The plan would be to buy 20 or so litres of pump E85, drain my tank via the surge tank I fitted and the fitting and hose my tuners gave me, put the pump E85 and go for a burn. Considering the E85 tune adds 50 rwhp hilarity would no doubt ensue.

Willowbank is fairly close to my home so I could no doubt arrive with just enough pump E in the tank to get the full insurance of 20 or so litres of Sucrogen V8 Supercar E85 that I`d add at the track. I always joked the only way I`d get kicked out of the place would be to grab one of the birds behind the counter of the food van on the tit, well not anymore. A ten second pass or a trip home on a tilt bed is definitely on the cards now.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to check out a Caltex that`s selling E85 on the outskirts of Brisbane. I checked the Caltex webpage first and discovered a local Caltex listed as selling it. I went over to the Caltex on Warwick Road near the showgrounds in Ipswich and yes, they do sell it.

I lol`d at the tag on the pump proclaiming NOT PETROL OR DIESEL!!!

I asked the guy inside " do youse sell E85, mate? " he nodded and smiled knowingly.

It`s about $1.05 a litre. Sucrogen E85 is about $2.50 per litre?

So to the point, if you`re looking to tune for it and would like to give it a whirl, have a look around as outlets are increasing in number.

Ild assume with what falter sell it would be fine to leave in the tank, there not going to sell fuel that goes stale in a week. All the servos local to me are shell, if they join the bandwagon ild look at a having a full time e85 tune, and a pump tune for 95/98 for economy.

it`s hard to argue, due to work and weather my car can sit for 2 or 3 weeks and PULP doesn`t have that great a shelf life.. I`m just a little concerned that alcohol fuel is known to be hydroscopic, I know from running flattrack, methanol is crazy for water. They tell me Ethanol isn`t so bad.

Hey look, if I run a decent number on petrol I may never use it. However, the temptation will no doubt be too great.

It`s in there, I gots to know.

Okay, after some research and asking possibly too many questions, Ima give this junk a whirl.

A few of the possible cons I thought there might be to using E85 might prove to be pro`s.

hard to ignore the figures, 411 rwkw and $1.05 a litre..

So what the hey, I`m gonna give it a try and see what transpires.

Would be nice to have it all set up for Saturday night and the drags, but the weather, work and other committments will put paid to that.

The tune is in there, I`d be a goose not to try it. Especially if it`s no bother to buy E85 locally as I now can do.

Is there some sort of list where this fuel is in Brisbane?

The Ipswich one should be close to me being in Springfield.. can I use this in my 98 tune?

First question yes, second question the Caltex on the Augusta parkway at Brookwater would be closer to you? and NO! you need a specific tune.

I added some new stuff to my car including injectors that are capable of supporting E85 and had my car retuned, once it was retuned for 98 petrol it only cost a 100 bucks or so to add the E85 tune. But you do need atleast bigger injectors, a surge tank would be nice too.

Maybe do some research on it first to see if it`d suit you. Like I said I`m just gonna give it a bash and see.

Edited 14/12/10 06:47 PM14/12/10 06:47 PM by _John_

Hey John,

Its great to see you have been doing your research. I have been doing a little research myself, and came across a guy who has been doing some testing in the USA. He has had a piece of non submersible fuel hose sitting in a jar of E85 for over a year now and it is still pliable and as good as the day it went in. They also did a test on 2 GMC trucks, converting one to E85, after 100 000k's each, the E85 fueled vehicles engine, fuel system components and hoses were actually in better condition than the pump fuel vehicle. Keep in mind places like Europe have been running ethanol for years now.

As far as running pump vs sucrogen E85, what I'd like to do if you have time one weekend is fill her up with E85 from your local pump, put the E85 tune in, and drive it up and put on the dyno, we can then check the tune one the E85 you will always run, and maybe same day we can go to the track and try and bust a 10 out of the big girl:-) I am confident in the fuel you speak of, Kristian bought 400 litres of it from the same servo and we tuned his 1JZ on it on the weekend. Went from 405rwhp to 521rwhp with a slipping gearbox and we have 28 degrees of timing in it at 25psi, its definately the real deal!!

6BOOST

Kyle I have indeed done research and found some interesting things for sure. I bought 2 new fuel filters tonight. I plan to run out as much of the 98 filled up on the day I collected the car ( lol it still has 3/4 tank ) this Saturday then pump the remainder out change the fuel filter and fill `er up with E85.

During a hellish maitenance day at work today, every time we hit the fridge up for a drink the dyno chart came out and was discussed.

Comments like: lookit how much more it has off the bottom with E85! got thrown around a bit.

After chatting with Jamie I reflashed the 98 tune last Sunday and had about 15 mins ( seriously ) spare to go for a blat. It ran a whole lot better and by Jesus does it go..

It`s going to be pretty interesting what the E85 is gonna do and I mean in all aspects.

Sucrogen.. yeah eh.. I know my car is set mild compared to the 680OST ute.. Pity I don`t have a 4th slot for a Sucrogen tune..

Still, if I can`t get the job done with 550 rwhp you`d have to wonder.

I`ve seen fella`s get down in to 11.0_ and then do a million passes and not get that magic milestone.

I usually do 3 passes. that's as many as you get in on a good night. I reckon I might have 15 passes tops on my car?

I reckon and this my opinion only, that once you go beyond a certain number of passes, lets say quite a few, then every run you do you actually get that lil bit further away from your goal what with wear and tear etc.

I go in differently, like I`ll go out there and want to run 200 kph.. If I get a good ET? yay..

We`ll see...