E85 coming to the BAY!

[Savage Talon]

So I found a Chevron station in Concord that is supose to sell E85 to the public in mid July. Right now the closest is in Tulare. I will still have to store it in drums but atleast it's not 3 hours away.
National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) and E85

 

[chavez408]

Oh really? How much is a gallon???

 

[Savage Talon]

It's about $.20 less then 87 craptane. When gas goes up you can bet E85 will, too. But corn just went up so maybe E85 went up with it. I don't really know. Last time I bought some was 3 weeks ago and in San Diego, it was $3.16 a gal.

 

[chavez408]

Damn. Its still a drive away from me though. I say an hour away. But hell it is close enough if my car was not my DD.

 

[Ajax]

Love living in Iowa, probably where most ethanol plants are. It's only $2.35 here! But you guys will love it.

 

[Boost Demon]

That's not to bad. Do you need to run new injectors and a new fuel pump when making the switch? Good catch BTW.

 

[JeffGST]

That's not to bad. Do you need to run new injectors and a new fuel pump when making the switch? Good catch BTW.

If your injector duty cycles are at 80% or below, you will be able to keep the same injectors and run E85 with the same amount of boost. I can't say with your fuel pump though.

If you are at 80% on 650's, then you can keep your 255HP style fuel pump and be fine.

If you are at 80% on 1150's, then I would say that 255HP would be on the edge unless you modified the voltage.

 

[Boost Demon]

Thanks for the input Jeff. Very excited to have this option now.

 

[50trimgsx]

any one know when one is coming to SF? you would think will all the energy conserv people here we would have got it before LA.

 

[Defiant]

Many of them prefer having food.

 

[Savage Talon]

They just buy the Prius and make their " Look at me, I'm helping to save the planet" statement.

 

[Savage Talon]

Update: It looks like Hayward and San Jose will be getting it soon. Also they are building a ethanol plant in Stockton due to be finished end of this year, so it should be all over the bay soon.
Pearson Fuels - California Alternative Fuels

 

[Avionixx]

I'm patiently waiting for that A Street station in Hayward. While I'm waiting, I'm trying to figure it out if it's worth it to switch to E85 to run big boost or stick with a meth injection system.

The gas mileage hit scares me and God help me if I decide to take the car beyond my work commute.

 

[chavez408]

San jose?? No way! That would be awesome. I'm like 5 mins away.

 

[chavez408]

San jose?? No way! That would be awesome. I'm like 5 mins away.

 

[Savage Talon]

I'm patiently waiting for that A Street station in Hayward. While I'm waiting, I'm trying to figure it out if it's worth it to switch to E85 to run big boost or stick with a meth injection system.

The gas mileage hit scares me and God help me if I decide to take the car beyond my work commute.

It is so worth it, If I was you I would get 1150's and turn up the boost. Run both because 1150's may not be enough for your BW turbo on E85.

 

[T9S1i]

hmmm i just picked up some 1050's i wonder if they will be enough...?

 

[chavez408]

1150's not enough? Gee...
I'm guessing e85 gets worse 'gas' mileage than 91oct?

 

[unlmtdndeavor]

You need to displace significantly more E85 compared to gasoline, pretty standard when running alcohol. That's the tradeoff, more volume as well as you need better fuel components.

 

[Savage Talon]

Not to mention you can boost well into the 30's with it. So the more you boost, the more fuel you use. If you kept the boost in the low 20's 1000's would be fine.

 

[unlmtdndeavor]

Ever try to calculate the cost between E85 vs say 100oct or 104oct? I'm curious just because of the larger amount of fuel you have to displace with E85. What would you say it's gasoline equivalent in volatility is?

 

[TRIXTSI]

Good info to know guys thanks.

I too heard about that place in Concord and wouldn't mind storing a bunch and just driving out w/ my truck to get it.

Glad i got the double pumper coming so i can run this good stuff for much cheaper than race gas prices

 

[unlmtdndeavor]

Are you still on the stock lines Patty Cakes? I got a double pumper coming too

 

[Avionixx]

Guys in the Link forum calculated that you can have 1150s at 100% IDC at around 52 lbs/min so 1600s would probably be more "future proof".

100 octane was over $6 a gallon at the VP station in San Leandro a number of weeks ago and people report that E85 is normally cheaper than 87 octane so at first glance it is considerably cheaper. But at the very least you'll need new injectors (and 1600s aren't cheap) and have to completely re-tune for the new fuel. I know you can switch tunes easily enough with DSMLink, but I've read that driveability with 1600s isn't so great when used with gasoline.

I think at the very least I'm going to try it and see if I like it.

 

[JayRolla]

Guys in the Link forum calculated that you can have 1150s at 100% IDC at around 52 lbs/min so 1600s would probably be more "future proof".

100 octane was over $6 a gallon at the VP station in San Leandro a number of weeks ago and people report that E85 is normally cheaper than 87 octane so at first glance it is considerably cheaper. But at the very least you'll need new injectors (and 1600s aren't cheap) and have to completely re-tune for the new fuel. I know you can switch tunes easily enough with DSMLink, but I've read that driveability with 1600s isn't so great when used with gasoline.

I think at the very least I'm going to try it and see if I like it.

Once you put the e85 in you wont want to ever run gas again unless you had too!!