How do you guys make your E50 Ethanol mix?

[N54rsenal]

Account Suspended

The E85 gas station near me has E51-E83 Ethanol year round I haven't tested in winter. I tested 2 times and I get E80.
My question is about octane if I was to run straight E50 in the winter my octane would be 105.
Will 105 octane be fine in the winter and make fill ups easy?

This is for a E50 Pro Tune
105 octane straight E50 if that's what it is in winter, which the remainder is 87 gas anyways so it works no mixing.
99.9 octane with 93 E80 tested mixing $1 extra per gallon.
97.3 octane with 87 E80 tested mixing which is everywhere and cheap.

What would you guys do just pump the 93 mix to make the best power at 99.9 octane for the E50 pro tune?

 

[langsbr]

I would not mix with 87 personally. Most of your 93 already has 10% ethanol just to get to 93. 105 octane sounds a tad high for E50, but I haven't done the math in a while. I forget what E85's 'true' octane rating is, but in boosted applications, it 'acts' like 120+. I would say run E50 mixed with 93 to get a proper octane along with the ethanol benefits. Depending on your location you might have some hard cold starts running E50, but that can be compensated for in the tune.

Are you running PI? I don't see how you can run E80 at full bore on the stock DI system unless you are at elevation.

 

[N54rsenal]

Yes im just going to go with 93 to keep the tune at a higher octane level for power. Car is FBO inlet/outlet upgraded LPFP Walbro 450, no PI. Im in chicago area we can see about -20F here so im also concerned about how it will act on the cold starts. I also would like to know what octane straight E50 is.

 

[fmorelli]

I don't see how you can run E80 at full bore on the stock DI system unless you are at elevation.

I'm running E80 and have been without issue - just like OP ... bigger lines from LPFP, 450, stock snails at 19psi. I'm regular DI nothing special. 2011 HPFP w/32k miles. Works like a champ.

Filippo

 

[langsbr]

It's almost impossible to give a true/proper octane rating of E50. Are you asking for MON, RON or PON? Some will argue that E85 has an octane rating of 113, some say 105, some say below 100. I choose to look at the 'effective' octane. You can typically make as much, if not more power on E85 than you can on C16, and C16 has an octane rating of 117, so E85 has an 'effective' octane rating of higher than that. If we use 118 as the 'octane' for E85, E50, when blended with E10/93 octane would give you an effective octane of 106 octane.

@fmorelli, you're only running 19psi Crank that up to the 20s in the midrange and you'll easily hit the limit of DI on E80. But that' stock turbo fluff. When you getting those Hydras installed? !

 

[N54rsenal]

I'm running E80 and have been without issue - just like OP ... bigger lines from LPFP, 450, stock snails at 19psi.

Will be doing a ethanol sensor and Bluetooth analyzer with upgraded lines sometime later possibly from fuel it just to monitor my Ethanol content and be safe on the lines also allowing more flow.

 

[langsbr]

Will be doing a ethanol sensor and Bluetooth analyzer with upgraded lines sometime later possibly from fuel it just to monitor my Ethanol content and be safe on the lines also allowing more flow.

If you're going to use an ethanol sensor and ECA, why not go with the Motiv Flex fuel setup and not just monitor ethanol content, but have it tweaked on the fly? It really is a great setup. I can run straight 93 all the way to full E85 with no flashing. Everything gets tweaked automatically - load, boost, afr, timing. It even has a break point for max values, as I'm on hybrids and can't run full e85 at high boost (insufficient fueling) so it will dial back load above a certain ethanol value. Definitely worth looking at over just an ECA to monitor it.

 

[N54rsenal]

I was thinking about going that route also I'll have to check with my tuner. But my HPFP cannot handle E60 and im not looking to go PI either, I would like to upgrade the HPFP to support full E85 and for upgraded single or twins. How much power will it handle or cost im not sure.

 

[fmorelli]

I'm running the bluetooth ECA as well as Motiv Flexfuel. Make sure you buy the right configuration from Fuel-It (FlexFuel wants the raw output). I find it convenient to check and see where the E content is. Back to your other comments, in my experience I've not had issues with E80, 450LPFP and a healthy HPFP on stock turbos. That said I have an impending turbo upgrade on the shelf which happens soon. I'm planning to go to a dual HPFP (currently under development by a team of people here). The alternative today is the VTT shotgun setup. Otherwise it's a second fueling system - PI, etc.

But I agree with @langsbr - FlexFuel just works ... well worth the money regardless of where you land, if you are running ethanol.

@fmorelli, you're only running 19psi Crank that up to the 20s in the midrange and you'll easily hit the limit of DI on E80. But that' stock turbo fluff. When you getting those Hydras installed? !

Argh ... pile of parts waiting ... but long pole in the tent with outlet ... current thought is end of May but ... N54 land ...

Filippo