Ethanol question

[silicone boy]

With the higher gas prices, I've become interested in "converting" my cars to ethanol, or at least giving them the capability of burning e85. It's not so much to save money. I just want to do my part to stick it to OPEC and the big oil companies. Basically, I would have to get rid of the rubber in the fuel system, add an extra filter (as the ETOH tends to dissolve rust), and maybe raise compression (usually not, since modern engines are already up there), and because ethanol has less total energy than gasoline, I would have to richen the fuel mixture. There is a device called Flextune that enriches the air/fuel mixture, but they only use Bosch EV1 connectors for now. This won't work with my Acura MDX injectors.

 

My question is, do you think some of the aftermarket ecu's would be up to the task? I would tend to think so. I have an Electromotive TEC III on my Datsun and it's capable of a lot. I have also thought of the alternative of adding an injector into the manifold as a wet system that would activate under load--kinda like the NOS systems use (in fact, I thought of just purchasing a NOS auxilary fuel setup for a cheap way to go) What are your opinions, fuel injection gurus?

[HeatRaveR]

I have to say, this' something I'm interested in too, for much the same reasons. It'd be even better if the conversion is like GM's Flexfuel vehicles that use either gas or E85 interchangeably, though I don't know what's involved with that. Cuz at the moment, there aren't too many E85 stations around except towards the Midwest.

[lazycyril]

http://www.butanol.com/

 

been wondering about ethanol and butanol.

Shows energy BTUs for these two but not for a gallon of regular gas.

For as much as I can see there is less power potental from these fuels:

 

"Higher energy content (110,000 Btu’s per gallon for butanol vs. 84,000 Btu per gallon for ethanol). Gasoline contains about 115,000 Btu’s per gallon."

 

Hence you are going to need to use more fuel to get the same power.

Also will need to do a complete carb jet/ecu fuel map depending on the fuel

used. At which point will your compression ratio still be efficient?

 

Worried about the long term effects of differnt fuels and additives on seals/owrings/etc.

 

Course take anything this website says with salt, as they are just trying to hype for funding. Or for all I know it could be an outright hoax.

 

Would love to have a barrel of this butanol mix for smogging regular cars if indeed it does burn that much cleaner.

 

Although I am quite happy to belive that the energy companies will still keep charging the same amount for ethanol as they do for oil based fuel - as they will get to sell you more of it. $$ win for them either way.

rant>

 

Anyone with proper understanding of the fuels involved comment?

[silicone boy]

True, there is less energy potential gallon for gallon from ethanol, hence the need for enrichment. As far as other components not being up to the task, I think this is becoming less of an issue in newer cars. Lots of metal fuel lines and viton seals on the injectors.

 

I did try a little experiment today. I live at altitude, so we always tend to run a little to the rich side. I figured it would be OK to run a 50/50 mixture of gas and E85 (the only station carrying it in the state is just a mile from home). It seems to run great in my MDX. The only problem I've noted so far is that the CHECK ENGINE light came on. I can only assume that's because it is running outside of normal parameters. I hope that is the case and nothing serious is wrong.

 

It was a real rush not buying about 9 gallons of fuel from BIG OIL. Another plus is that it cost $1.98 a gallon, or nearly a dollar less than the premium I normally use. Plus, it's totally renewable, clean burning fuel that is ultimately (when you think about it) stored solar power.