105 Octane for $1.77 a gallon - E85

Stainless Steel Fuel lines specifically made for a Ford Maverick can be bought at: www.rightstuffdetailing.com

Got 'em on my orange Maverick

 

must be nice, E85 here was $2.10 the other day when i filled up. they say if it weren't for ethanol being thrown into the mix years ago, regular gas prices would be $0.30 a gallon higher than they are right now. and with the ban of mtbe there is going to be falling production while mtbe production facilities will be shut down and/or converted to ethanol plants. that of course will drive prices up a bit too.

 

While this is not in the same relm as street operation ; I run a 351w race motor on methnal through a 4 barrel carb in an open wheel sprinter to the tune of 540 hp at 7600 rpm.
Fuel system is by belt driven fuel pump, half inch lines feeding a 950 custom alcohol Holley carb that cost nearly $900 alone.
One way a street car could handle gas and eth is to use a dual carbed manifold set up for each fuel and be able to switch from one to the other as long as the fuel feeds from seperate sources.
It just becomes a pain in any event to fool with it on a serious basis.
Either set up for one or the other.
There are many late models of Ford that are already set up for flex fuel. They do indeed have fuel sensors that change the operating system programs.

 

Acornridgeman, the E85 is all over Minnesota and starting to make its way into Wisconsin. This isn't a bad website http://www.e85fuel.com/index.php Although this fuel appears to be economically advantageous it generally is more expensive to use unless it is at least 20-25% cheaper than gasoline. The reason is fuel economy drops by 10-30% when running E85. Here on the west side of WI E85 is 2.22/gal and gasoline is 2.69/gal. In my case, I tried the E85 in my FF 2000 GMC Sonoma and realized about a 25% drop in fuel economy. So, in my case it makes no sense to run E85 when considering the economic impact. Ethanol burns cleaner but you have to burn more so environmentally it may be a wash! This leaves us with the dependence on foreign oil issue. Yes, we reduce our dependence on foreign oil when using E85 but I ask how many are willing to increase their fuel bill to do so? I have continued to use E85 when possible but the only way this fuel will become THE alternative fuel is to make it econcomically favorable when compared to gasoline. Of note, in the colder climates the max ethanol you can run is about 70%. Any higher and you end up with hard starts in the winter. Also, I've heard some South American countries use 100% ethanol. Don't know if it is true but if so how do they keep folks from drinking their fuel!:16suspect

 

Ethanol is subsidised to be roughly the same price as gas, when you factor in the difference in fuel economy.

It's good because you can use less foreign oil! And hopefully, as oil prices increase, they'll find more efficient ways to make ethanol and we can be closer to done with un-renewable resources.

So I say, go for it... just don't expect too much cost savings, if any.

100% Ethanol still has a small amount of something to denature it, probably gasoline. So you can't drink it. But gasoline is still $0.12 a gallon in Venezuala anyway...

 

Brazil has been on eth for at least 20 years and has not been the boon they thought it would be.
These fuels require almost double the amount metered through the fuel system and their optium air fuel ratio is much lower than gasoline besides lower heat content and their afinity to mix with water that does most of the damage to unequipped systems.

Just don't jump onto these things from the little you hear about it that seems to sound good. There are lots of things that are a disadvantage for 'general' use even though these fuels are still being use in situations where the individual conditions can be overcome.
I run a supersportman sprinter on near pure alcohol and make over 500 hp but this in not a practical matter for a road car what with the maintaince that has to be done every week to clear the carb and change 9 qts of synthetic oil every week. This is a specialty case use and not what you do with a street car.
The e85 that is being pushed is partly as forcing manuiver by gov., other farm groups and enviro groups that is not in the same thoughts that you here on the board are using.

 

Of course, as of today, down here in the south of Houston, most of the gas stations are closed due to gas shortage. It is feared we will be paying $6.00 a gallon when they open back up, maybe tomorrow (can anyone say "gouging?"). I would buy any gas at this point, under $3.00 a gallon.

 

This morning 87 was $2.90 and this afternone it was $3.10.

As some of you may know i have been looking in to diff resorce for fuel and ways to increase the milage.

http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/

Run your car on water.

http://www.aspirefreepress.com/digital_encyclopedia/Automotive/water_car_plans.htm

 

It doesn't matter what is costs....if there is not a drop to be found.

 

ethanol may not be the ultimate cheap answer, but it can help with our dependancy on other countries for our own well being.

Mix 50/50 ethanol with our own gas drilled and refined in the US, then figure how much we need on top of that from other countries.

Yea, it'll take some reworking, but so did the change from leaded to unleaded. Spend money in the US, going to the people of the US, which goes back to the people in the US, completing the circle, and see what kind of difference it makes in our economy compared to sending it all to the middle east.

Mass production is what makes the difference between just making it and making a profit, and no one in the US has really cranked production of ethanol to see what could come to pass.

 

If we switch to 100% ethanol in our cars it will cost about $100 in parts to convert our older cars (like the Mavericks and Comets) and we can go back to 12:1 compression and 500 hp naturally aspirated 302's that get 12- 15 MPG

PaulS

 

heh, where's the problem?

I'd keep it a bit more streetable and better milage, but 10:1 sounds like a sweet number to me. Seems alchohol likes more compression to run efficiently, I can handle that.