This Ain't Your Daddy's Moonshine
For years now, scientists have warned of global warming and the harmful effects caused by automotive emissions being pumped into our atmosphere on a daily basis. Combined with an ever-growing urgency to reduce our foreign oil addiction, the government has begun funding corporate America to promote the development and distribution of a cleaner-burning, domestically produced, ethanol-based alternative, known today as E85. Comprised of roughly 85 percent denaturated alcohol-made by fermenting and distilling starch crops such as corn (one acre of which, can be processed into about 330 gallons of combustible ethanol)-high-concentration ethanol fuels like E85 have been slow to catch on stateside. But countries like Sweden and Brazil have been producing ethanol fuels for a number of years from locally grown corn and sugar cane, as an answer to their countries' limited supply of oil.
Now, before you assume ethanol-blended fuel to be exotic, know that your car is probably already burning it; about one-third of all gasoline sold in the United States contains some blend of ethanol, typically up to 10 percent by volume (depending on area), and roadside pumps that offer full E85 sell it, and all its octane benefits, for about the price of premium gasoline.
E85 VS. Conventional Gasoline
While the supply and demand of E85 remain low, due to its sparse availability, a handful of automotive enthusiasts hasn't been deterred from exploring its benefits; specifically, that E85 has an octane rating-or the industry standard known as Research Octane Number (RON)-approaching 105; a significant jump from your typical 93-octane premium pump gas, but for about the same price. This higher octane rating allows performance enthusiasts to broaden their tuning capabilities, thus increasing power and reducing the chance of detonation with high compression or boosted applications, with the use of an alternative fuel. And E85 burns cleaner; a cup of standard gasoline set on fire will billow a thick plume of black soot. But a cup of Everclear 190 proof alcohol (95% ethanol and 4.4% water) will burn cleaner, without a trace of black smoke.
The Pros And Cons Of Using E85
Pros
Compared to gasoline, here's a quick overview of what we like about E85:
1 The higher autoignition temperature of Ethanol (689 degrees F, compared to gasoline's 475 degrees F) enables E85 to be more knock-resistant and handle more boost or higher compression.
2 E85 initiates a cooler intake charge, allowing for higher boost pressure.
3 E85 is less volatile than gasoline or low-volume ethanol blends, which results in fewer evaporative emissions. Using E85 also reduces carbon monoxide emissions and provides significant reductions in emissions of many harmful toxins, including benzene, a known human carcinogen.
4 E85's higher resistance to detonation (autoignition) allows tuners to implement more aggressive ignition timing, for improved combustion efficiency.
5 Depending on tuner and engine, a slightly leaner air-fuel ratio (AFR) under partial and wide-open throttle (WOT) can be implemented, helping to increase fuel mileage.
6 The cleaner-burning fuel will minimize residual carbon deposits on intake valves, combustion chambers, and other internal components.
7 At government-subsidized prices, E85 can actually be cheaper to run than gasoline, especially compared to high-octane race gas.
 |  On it's first set of runs...  On it's first set of runs using E85, Church made minor modification to the EVO VIII and gained 20 hp more than he could with gasoline. This is due to the higher energy content of ethanol at the proper air-fuel ratio (ethanol contains fewer BTU/lb than gasoline, but more of it per pound of air has to be used, meaning a net increase in energy). Next, Church advanced the timing between three and five degrees, and picked up another 15 hp. Then, he started turning up the boost; we couldn't get much more top-end power from the stock EVO IX turbo, but the mid-range came up nicely from an additional 4-5 psi of boost. |  The vehicle's ECU was swapped...  The vehicle's ECU was swapped to an AEM EMS unit to tackle the switch to E85. Shawn Church states that with E85, the AEM EMS was the ideal fuel management system as it offered an easier time to tune speed/density. |
Cons
Converting your vehicle to run on E85 requires commitment and knowledge of proper fuel management tuning. Although the costs of converting a vehicle are relatively low, we found some issues that came up with using E85.
1 At 9.76:1, E85 has a different stoichiometric AFR than gasoline (14.7:1), and requires fuel/timing maps be converted to compensate. We won't go into details with Lambda or stoichiometric values but make sure your tuner is well aware of these changes.
2 E85 requires the use of 40 to 50 percent larger fuel injectors, to compensate for its 40-45 percent increase in fuel demand. The change in stoichiometric AFR from 14.7:1 with gasoline to 9.76:1 with E85 is 66 percent, but the resulting flow needed is only 40 percent greater, due to E85's higher density than gasoline; your vehicle's check engine light (CEL) may flash a "lean condition" code, resultant of this.
3 An aftermarket fuel management system will expand the parameters needed to tune the vehicle to accept the new E85 purging through its system. The car will not run properly on E85 with a factory ECU.