E85 VRS Methanol Injection
Discuss the benefits and downfalls of each.

Haven't seen a poll on here as to which each person prefers. .


E85 only in certain areas

Methanol you have to keep testing the system


Which one provides better gains??


KILL IT!

 

Personally, I choose Meth. E85 isn't available in my area.

 

are you talking about using methanol as a fuel, or methanol injection?? E85>methanol injection all day every day.

With injection, yeah methanol is roughly the same octane as E85, but you're overall octane will not be that of E85. you can run more timing and better numbers with methanol injection. but it will only take you so far.

With E85 you're over all octane is much higher than pump gas+injection. which will produce better numbers every time.

however..... running E85 will require a lot more to the fuel system than adding methanol injection will. injection can be added to a factory fuel system, tuned, and produce results. E85, requiring a flow of about 30% more than pump gas will need a fuel system that can keep up. and depending on your power level that can range from just an injector swap all the way to dual pumps, brfps+regulator, rewire, injectors etc...

 

Yes injection, will edit.
Good information!!

 

e-85 will make more power hands down

Another thing to take note is how much timing you can run under the curve and continue scaling upwards to by redline when using e-85.

For example, on a tvs 2.6 pulley (25-28 psi)... try running 25* @ 4k and scaling to 28.5 by 7000 rpm. I've gone from 10gph-24gph on a 50/50 mix to see if I could make it work. In the end your fighting excessive cylinder pressure caused by the boost, water, and alcohol. (Testing was done on stock PCV setup, minimal to no blow by)

End result... you cannot run that kind of boost on pump and methanol using a range of 11.5-12.4 AFR @ 25-28.5*.

If you have e-85 quit dicking with the cooling mods, leave your stock front mount and endplate alone. If it makes you feel better just run a small 3-5 nozzle of 100% water to keep the temps sub 140* F..

e-85
Benefits - huge decrease in EGT, can run just about as much timing as you want, and cheaper than gas.
cons - requires 30% more fuel and is not available at every station. Also does not cool iat2

Water Injection
Benefits - Decrease in EGTs, run substantially more timing than pump, 50-150* F drop in IAT2
Cons - If the pump dies, you die... cant run as much timing as e-85

 

Well put guys.

Since I dont have a whole lot to add because the main points I was going to raise have already been covered I will just say this. In my area there is E85 everywhere, and as of late everyone seems to be taking advantage of the benefits of it. We have a fair car scene for the size of the area, and I would say AT LEAST half of the boosted cars (and some non boosted cars even) that have been modified are on E85, and that number is rising constantly. A lot of these guys used to run meth, including myself, and have converted to E85 and I dont know a single person that has switched back to 91 or 91+meth besides a few that have sold their cars and put them back on 91 for an easier sale. The only guys that seem to run meth around here are older guys who are stubburn and don't accept new information or guys that take long road trips and are always on the road.

In short I choose E85, but meth is a great substitute for those who don't have E85 available.

One last note is the issue of seasonal blends of E85. Its not a huge issue but it will through the fueling off a bit, but around here our gas changes in the winter too and the fueling isn't thrown off so much, but the octane seems to take a hit and you have to scale back the timing. So in my area both fuels have seasonal changes.

 

What about Meth + 94? I'd love to run e85 but all we have is 94 octane e10. I want to run meth but I don't want to go boom. I thought I was doomed to only 91 but found a few stations with 94 which I'm running now, not boosted yet though.

 

nitro methane>all =p

i <3 e85
i had both
i prefer corn
meth was a pain in the ass to keep track for me.
n its not kid friendly since its bolted in the trunk.

 

I am switching to e85 and hope to gain another 40-50hp over the 112 octane. Don't have anything to contribute to the debate but e85 will just make more power plain and simple. I was able to run 22 degrees timing with 93 and meth on the stock turbo I can run upwards of 27-28 with e85

 

it all depends on whats available. i dont have e85 near me so i run meth

 

bring jugs of e85 to the ring
^_^ n drive with gas on the way
home ^_^

 

Thisssss ^^^. E85 FTW hands down, no question. But I gotta run meth because us Canadians don't have such luxuries at the pump. Run a pressure switch in the meth line, set my ammunicator for KR3, and pin it to win it!

 

E85 is going to have a nice price spike in a short time

 

I would love to run E85 but because I live in MA and there is about 5 stations here it wouldn't do me any good. If they would improve corn production in the states and also transportation of it maybe the east coast would actually have better coverage but until then Meth would be the only thing for most of us.

 

wouldn't you make more on the race gas.... it would just be more expensive

 

Nope. It's not just the octane for e85 it's the overall properties of it. The cooling effects and knock resistant properties are even greater than race gas even tho the octane is about 105 or so. People make roughly the same as c16 with e85. And all those myths of it causing corosion are false. If you drive the car regularly so the e doesn't so to a accumulate water then the 15 percent of fuel is enough to keep the lines supple.

 

interesting

 

So spraying 3-5 nozzle of water before the S/C would be beneficial when running E-85?

 

why not use both and reap the benefits of E85 and water/meth injection!

I sure will use both....

 

what about E85 destroying the injector seals of LNF?
that's also false?

 

depends on what octane of race gas.

those 116 or 120 octane really produce high whp numbers.


Ive been reading a lot of E85 vs high octane race gas (not just 105 or 110 range).......

its a toss up right now.


but the price of E85 is really hard to beat.............so why buy high octane race gas?

 

Well is that really proven? No it's not. I do however believe that is some of the problems since the three know failures have been on an e mix. I am talking about the hoses and such. People say that e85 will dry out the lines and such, I won't tho. Actually I have an old seal I will go put it in a glass of e 85 right now and take pics before and after it sits a day.

 

And not to mention you can buy e98 and mix in some c16 or cam 2 to make the e85 and have a monster fuel lol.

 

i wasnt really into E85 since last year.....we didnt have any convenient station.

But this year, there's one close to work (about 8 miles).... just opened


so I started researching about it.


I am not sure if one day of soaking the seal in e85 will make a difference though. Might be a month....or several.....who knows? But I think it will slowly deteriorate it due to E85. I dont know.


About the lines.....I dont know too. Time will tell.

But I'm really willing to test E85 once I get my car back....lol

 

with the cheap price of E85.....I wont even consider mixing c16 on it, to produce same result.

c16 in my area is around 12-15 bucks a gallon.

E85 gives tons of power (similar to c16)............and cheaper than 87 octane.


It's a win-win imo to just use E85 alone. I'll probably inject 100% water on my set-up ..and no longer 50-50 water/meth. The cooling capacity of water is all I need from the water injection.