hey guys- I have done tons of research on E 85 Ethanol as an alternative fuel. what mods do you need in your engine to be able to do this. I have a 1978 Scout II with a 392 CI and i am thinking about making this conversion. is it possible for a carbed engine to use this fuel? any idea on price? any help i would appreciate! thanks guys

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Why not spend your money on something worthwhile? Not trying to be rude... Its just kinda crazy to use food as a method of propelling our vehicles. People starving in Darfur...

Burn the gas, and send them a donation. That way, you can sleep at night

 

It may be possible, but on a carbed engine without O2 sensors and a ECU the mods would require exclusive use of E85 and the gas mileage will be absolutely terrible. You will also be replacing fuel system components frequently. E10 is hard enough on an old system.

 

to answer your question a little more directly - you would have to replace all fuel system components to be totally safe. Ethanol contains a much higher water content so E85 will corrode old fuel systems. Newer E85 compatible vehicles use a lot more stainless steel or special coatings in the fuel system components to avoid this issue.

Awhile back I was talking to a co-worker of mine that sells fuel pumps to the OEMs... so this is based on good information.

But I cannot go into any sort of detail about the carb and O2 sensors... I just don't know the details...

Perhaps you could find someone that makes kits for older vehicles? maybe something where the O2 sensors and controllers are included? But it would probably be expensive.

 

While you might want to be eco-friendly, the E85 isn't engine friendly. It's highly corrosive to an engine. The newer Gf-5 oils will address this issue but until then, I'd avoid any E85.
http://www.gf-5.com/the_story/performance/

 

With a carb that's not electronically controlled, some huge oversize jets should be all it needs to RUN properly, other than cranking the idle mixture screws a lot richer - but the ethanol is going to eat needles and seats for lunch and probably rot the floats too. Gonna have a hard time keeping fuel pumps in it too and all rubber parts will have to be replaced with alcohol-resistant materials.

 

E85 has been tested and isn't really any more "green" than gasoline.

Besides, without building up the engine to higher compression to burn E85 more efficiently, what's the use?

 

It solves the political question- what are the idiots in Washington doing to relieve the price at the pump. Unfortunately most folks don't realize that it takes diesel to plant it and harvest it as it doesn't just suddenly appear in a field. They don't realize that it requires more energy to produce than it it yields. It will never be THE fuel of the future. It's all in the politics, nothing more. Frankly, as a fuel, it sucks. There are much better options available but the Gov't can't control them like they can when it comes to you from a gas pump. It's all about the money and if the price of energy keeps rising, life that the US folks have become accustomed to is over. You'll be working to put gas in the tank and food on the table. There won't be any money left over to mod the truck or go to the beer joints.

 

Gallon for gallon E85 has much less thermal efficiency than gasoline. The bottom line is that you can expect a decrease (as high as %20) when running E85 so expect to be at the pump more. If you really want to go green then do a bio-diesel conversion.

 

The only country in the world where ethanol is truly viable is Brazil. They grow a TON of sugar cane there so they can manufacture enough ethanol to be self-sufficient. All the new cars there are set up to run on E96.

 

I've heard all of this from many places and believe it to be 100% true. Plus now there are more farmers planting corn because it's more sought after and less are planting hops, which makes beer more expensive!!!

 

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/09...can-get-scary/

for what it's worth..