E-85 Carb New from Edelbrock

[Swags63]

Has anyone seen these yet, I believe that they were introduced at the SEMA show in CA. Living in WI. where E-85 is becoming more available and the fuel being between 105 to 115 octane this carb could make for some interseting projects.http://www.edelbrock.com/media/news/2006/automotive/103106_04.html

[Baddriver01]

Seems like a good option, we'll see how it catches on.

[Flight_740]

Thats cool.


I wonder if it would have the same reaction as alcy if you rigged it up with some kind of blow through setup.

[DynoTom]

I wonder if E 85 will become more "mainstream" around here?


I know a couple guys around here were thinking about using E 85 fuel on their injected cars......

[Car Guy]

It will take time to catch on but once it does I truly think people are going to like it. I ran into a guy down in IL that had a 05' Expedition with the 3-valve 5.4L running a vortech at about 9psi. He had a few other mods like headers, exhaust, UDP's, and of course injectors, programmable PCM, etc......

What shocked me is that he was running e85, he had it tuned it with 93 octane previously and then went to the e85 to 'play around with it'. Not only could you breathe the exhaust because it was so clean, he said the power increase and gas mileage went up considerably. I think that has to do with the higher octane rating which allowed him to up the timing and psi. I looked at the mileage computer and he was getting low 20's with half city/highway driving! He took me for a ride and had it in 2 wheel drive and it was quite loose in the back end. Put it in 4-wheel and it launched pretty hard of the line straight as an arrow. Not the fastest thing on the road but it wasn't slow by any means.....

I tried getting in contact with him again but he ended up moving back to Texas.....

[BAD LS1]

Ive ran it in my camaro already, I Didnt really get any real added bennefit over 93 octane to be honest but then again ive gotta nitrous car. Forced induction might prove better. But MPG is pure shit with this stuff, i had to ad 17% more fuel in closed loop to make the car happy and still was kinda flakey at idle. And the exhaust smelt like paint thinner BWHAHAHAHH

Who knows, maybe i will try it again in spring with my new setup.

The shit is $1.99 a gallon up by me right now and the station is 1.5 miles away.

My 05' Sierra is a flexfuel vehicle and i run it in there from time to time... Its gets 20mpg highway normally with regular gas and gets 14 with E85. While trailering it gets 10mpg with 7000 lbs of enclosed trailer and car out back on regular gas and 6mpg with E85

[Car Guy]

Ive ran it in my camaro already, I Didnt really get any real added bennefit over 93 octane to be honest but then again ive gotta nitrous car. Forced induction might prove better. But MPG is pure shit with this stuff, i had to ad 17% more fuel in closed loop to make the car happy and still was kinda flakey at idle.

And the exhaust smelt like paint thinner BWHAHAHAHH

Who knows, maybe i will try it again in spring with my new setup.

The shit is $1.99 a gallon up by me right and the station is 1.5 miles away.


From what this guy was telling me it really works wonders if you have a forced induction of some sort. I'm pretty sure it's the higher octane that makes it not work so well in a N/A motor, unless you set it up right.....

[BAD LS1]

From what this guy was telling me it really works wonders if you have a forced induction of some sort. And once again I'm pretty sure it's the higher octane that makes it not work so well in a N/A motor.....

Not so much the high octane its just that you need SOOO much more of it to make it runs the same as regular gas.

It worked ok when i sprayed it, but i never really had any knock issues to speak of anyway.

This stuff would work good in a high CR N/A motor with lots of timing too.

Its just that the shit is so corrosive too... anything late model can deal with it, but you guys with older stuff id be really careful with bare alluminum, plastic and rubber fuel system parts.

[DynoTom]

From what this guy was telling me it really works wonders if you have a forced induction of some sort. I'm pretty sure it's the higher octane that makes it not work so well in a N/A motor, unless you set it up right.....

I think this E 85 stuff is quite interesting to learn about.....:D :D

[Teufelhunden]

There's a lot of DSM folks making huge numbers with street cars running E85 with 1600cc:D injectors.

One example ran:
605whp with stock ECU on 110octane
661whp on E85

[BAD LS1]

I had seen a write up on a 1000 RWHP mustang on E85 already, that is what inspired me in the first place.

This is kinda cool too! http://www.e85viper.com/

[Car Guy]

How was this guy I met getting such good MPG in his 9 psi vortech Expedition, better than the 93 octane...? Granted he bumped up the timing/psi with the e85 but does the forced induction allow you to use less e85 than a N/A motor on e85(even with advanced timing). Somehow that doesn't make sense to me, but maybe I'm wrong......

[BAD LS1]

Typically your mileage does go straight in the shitter, Im sure the forced induction helped increase its mileage, but the timing cruising around in closed loop is what affects your MPG, which was probably 35+ degrees like most late models, thats not going to change. He really only could bump timing at WOT i think is what he meant by running more timing.

I just struggle with seeing a expedition get over 20 mpg with E85, then it would get close to 30 on 93.

Perhaps you were looking at "instant fuel economy"? and not Average? not sure...

My Monte Carlo gets over 30 mpg according to the instant economy in most highway driving in 4 cyl mode, but only comes back with an average of 22 , which is spot on to checking it at the pump....

[Car Guy]

That's what I was thinking but I know I was looking at the overall mileage...? Who knows.....

[Prince Valiant]

Several guys on the moparts boards have already converted their carbs to run e85...hell, I think I've seen it in car craft and hot rod even.

There is a guy in Iowa from a mopar board i contribute at that converted his 440 truck to e85, since there is many sources there. His first stab was just converting his 440, and nothing else...and then he's built a higher compression (13.0:1) engine for it to run e85.

He states that there was a small power increase in the midrange with the original 440, and that his new 440 see's a significant power increase. His old 1/4 times with the gas 440 were mid 12's, and stayed pretty much the same, maybe a little faster with the e85. No times with the new short-block.

his gas mileage with the old 440 gas were ~ 13mpg, 9 with e85. The new short-block gets nearly 13mpg with e85.

He hasn't had any issues yet with the corrosive properties of e85.

Two reason for the diminished only does e85 have less energy per volume vs gas, AND runs at a different stoichiometric ratio vs gas.

[Car Guy]

What does stoichiometric ratio mean...?

[BAD LS1]

What does stoichiometric ratio mean...?

Perfect combustion.

14.7:1 AFR Is stoich for Gas

(I Think) 9.0:1 AFR for E85

[Car Guy]

Perfect combustion.

14.7:1 AFR Is stoich for Gas

(I Think) 9.0:1 AFR for E85


I knew it'd be something I already know, using all these fancy words and all.....:eek: :eek: :eek:

Thanks~!

[Swags63]

I have an E85 project in mine what do you guys think?? I was going of using a carbed older 289 that has approx. 11 to 1 pistons in it with some mild head work (already own this motor). What compression could I use in this motor? What compression if I switched to Aluminum heads? It would be mostly for fuel economy but I would like to get as much performance out of it as possible. This would be going in a 3500 lbs car give or take with have an AOD unit behind it. I was looking at some older rancheros, I figured if things worked out I could use it driving to work and pull my car trailer.

[Prince Valiant]

It should pretty much run like a 289 if done right...with maybe slightly more power in the midrange.

If you went with AL heads, yes your compression tolerance would be higher, but a factor you've got to consider is that most AL heads use modern closed combustion chamber, while the 11.0:1 pistons on a short stroke 289 almost certainly has a large dome on them...meaning it probably does not work together. You'd have to look for an open chambered AL head.

If I was specing a e85 289, I'd probably go with:
CR~11.0:1
Heads: Some AFR 165's with the smaller 1.9x size valves
Eddy performer or comperable small runner intake
If you can get the e85 carb in a 500cfm application, great...otherwise 600cfm would work too.
Cam: I'd go with something ~ 200-208 duration @ .050 with 112-114 LSA. If you can retrofit a stock 5.0 HO roller cam, that might be a good way to go.
Exhaust: Shorty 1 5/8th headers, 2.25 dual exhaust.
Ignition: MSD would be overkill to some, but an MSD electronic ignition distributer with a good curve and vacuum advance, and high powered coil would work great.

In front of an AOD, with something like 3.27-3.55 gears in something like a ranchero would make for a unique auto.

The downside is that you have to stay reasonably close to where you KNOW you can get e85...as you can't just turn around and stick gasoline in it like you can with modern "flex fuel" vehicles. Your's would be e85, and e85 only....

If you did the above to a gas engine (substitute the 11.0:1 cr for 9:1 for cast iron, 10:1 for AL heads) then you'd have a vehicle that could pull down mid 20's at reasonable speeds, and do a credible job towing. Probably would run low 16's at the track.

[Teufelhunden]

Gasoline stoich 14.7
E85 stoich 9.765
E100 stoich 9.0078

[DurtyKurty]

I don't know if any of you guys saw me running around the highway in my ratty '83 mustang a couple summers back, but it ran/runs on E85. It was nothing too special. It was a turbocharged stock 5.0L w/megasquirt EFI. Running E85 I was able to dyno 403 RHWP and over 460 RWTQ. I figured that wasn't too bad for not have any performance parts on it. (other then the TC)

Either way, when it comes to forced induction, E85 is kind of a wonder fuel. It's cheap, exceptionally detonation resistant and it runs cooler to boot. You do consume more of it.... but it's cheaper so it comes out to a wash in the end.

BTW... if you just tune to a percentage of lambda, you don't have to worry about what stoich is for any fuel. Lambda's Lambda.