thanks.i'll be all over everything this weekend and check the advance again.engine is very responsive right now. i'm running my race converter right now(flashed at 4500 in my big block)with 3:23 gears and that hot solid cam which is a very bad combination, but i'm having my 3:70 gears set up now and plan to change this fall

 

sorry molsen it's first thing monday morning and i wasn't thinking.yes i do have the rad. sealed at the rad. support so everything that goes in that area has to go through the rad.as i said before,i'll hook my known good manual temp. gauge up and compare it with the factory gauge and know for sure where i stand. did it before but that was in the spring with cool weather and in the garage and all looked well.i'll do it again in the heat of summer

 

hi fishslayer. thanks for the reply, i was wondering how much you have ran e-85 and what type of engines you ran it in. thanks

 

I don t run it, because I ve seen the problems that it causes... it is not for these old cars that are not driven daily.and don t have corrosion resistant fuel systems.. . It won t give you more power, it will give you less.. I see no upside to it at all unless you are building a race car with 16:1 compression.

 

I agree that switching to E85 to combat a temp issue is... silly.

But E85 is great for its intended purpose. A motor that can safely run on pump gas, will have some benefits going to E85, but not enough to make it worth the cost and hassle. Often the reason people speak negatively about it because they think it's going to be dramatic.. However, a motor on the edge of pump gas or requiring race gas, there is a huge benefit (running more timing without risk of detonation, substantially cheaper, and motors specifically built for E85 with much higher compression). Its biggest "FANS" come from the forced induction crowd. Higher compression, more boost, more timing, LOTS MORE POWER.

I wont get into the debate, but a lot of the negatives are indeed myths. I'll be running E85 on my mini blown C3.

 

thanks for the reply.some of the benefits that i have talked to my friends about are,great for high compression,heat problems on a street car are gone,cheaper at the pump,cleaner burn,the station that sells it is 6 miles away,they know how to set the system up right without all the myth's and us hot rodders like to do that kind of stuff anyway.i look at how i drive my hot rod now and it's in the evening and on real nice days.i enjoy that very much. i don't enjoy getting stuck in a traffic jam and watching my heat gauge go through the roof.i guess i would have to think about my intended use and weigh all my options and e-85 is still in the mix but not a lock.i like to try different things and thats what i think hotrodding is all about.i have talked to my e-85 guys a little but i will be talking to them a whole bunch now,they are very helpful.my vette gets warm and this weekend i'll know why after a few test.just don't want to think about that new rad.(4 row) new pump and all the other tuff which will add up.i have made a few adjustments the last couple days so we will see. thanks again

 

ok the test is complete.went to the car show last night at the dairy queen.it's only about 8 miles from my house and about four traffic light which i hit three of them.it's about a 90percent country drive before you hit the cityit was what i call a very nice cool night in central ohio.i had my mechanical gauge hooked up where i could see from the drivers seat.the mechanical matched my stock gauge so that test is complete but i pulled into the parking lot at about 230 degrees.stayed there about an hour and half then went home via the back way.got stuck behind 4 wagons full of hay on the return trip and hit 240 degrees.cooled off a little bit when i got past them but i have a heat problem.has a 4 row copper brass radiator which in my opinion looks like the stock one. two 12 inch fans of unknown make and cfm.radiator sealed up good. this combo should not overheat.i know i have a not so good street combo with a 4500 flash stall (thats what it flasher in my big block),hot solid cam and 3:36 gears but still it should be cooler. will be putting 3:73's in this fall.engine is very responsive and when i roll out and hit it the rear slides pretty good and starts very good so i think it's in good tune.that dam license plate covers some good area in front of the grill.this combo should never overheat if in decent shape.for a start i'll go after the air flow (fans) but not sure how (don't want to throw a bunch of money at other fans).am thinking of a stock type shroud with engine driven fan and possibly newer radiator.can't see where a 160 thermostat will help anything at this point.just saw that my left rear tire is flat so i'll have some fun today. any thoughts will be well received. thanks guys.

 

I would go back to the mechanical fan set up.. you might reconsider that 4500 stall.. stall is slip..slip is friction..friction is heat in the radiator s cooling operation of transmission. an auxiliary trans cooler is a must with a big stall

 

hi fishslayer. you are right and thats what i'm going to do. just ordered a aluminum water pump from summit for a 71 vette and also got schooled on the pulley pilot hole size. i'm not going to mess around throwing money on electric fans.i'm using a nice stacked plate trans. cooler.i'm getting ready to set up a 3:73 r&p so i can have a little fun on the back roads. gotta have my stall fishslayer, flash launch is great.

 

I have a friend that runs a 13 to 1, 700+ horsepower 468 on the street with E-85 and he loves it......says it runs cool and makes plenty of power.....He runs a 500 Magnafuel pump and a QFT Dominator....no issues with corrosion. He even ran his old BG 280 pump and it held out for three years until it quit.

Jebby

 

thanks for the reply jebby. i still have the option to do it as i have a couple spare carbs. on the shelf. got a few projects in front of me but i like to do things like that. as i said in a previous reply i have found that the rodders that use it love it and the guys that don't run it don't like the potential it's supposed to have. i'll probably try it and i'll know for sure.

 

BTW...it is in a 76' Nova that runs 9.80's @ 140 or so on the street.....

Jebby

 

Where is the temperature sender, in one of the heads? Anywhere else might not be accurate. Have you experienced any knocking, loss of power?

Also a question for everyone in the discussion: If you need more E85 to match the BTU of gasoline, how does E85 burn cooler? Cooling the intake charge allows a denser intake charge, but once its burned the same amount of heat is transferred to the water jacket. I still think the cooling system is somehow compromised.

 

Its kinda misleading.. Ethanol burns at a lower temp because it burns slower , but you need 20-25% more of it to produce the BTU of gas.. BTU is heat ... I m no scientist but I don t think switching the E85 will lower temps in an overheating car... a proper cooling system will... and these guys claiming they put E85 in their 40 yr old car without replacing everything to anti-corrosion components and ran years with no corrosion ..are dreaming.. just E15 will destroy our marine fuel systems in a year.. We ve had to replace ALL our fuel systems to prevent corrosion and moisture issues even with E10... E85 would be a nightmare on occasional use engines .. unless you live in the desert maybe

 

I dont like the engine fan idea at all. You sure you don't have an air pocket in the system? You could drive up on ramps so the fill cap is the highest point in the system and top it off from there.
Do you have aluminum heads?
Hows your ignition timing?
The converter has a high stall yes but I don't think that's the issue unless it's a REAL inefficient one.
You could also try Evans coolant if it persists-do a web search-it's a great product.
I'd bet you have an air pocket though.

 

Cooling is a seperate issue. Imo the biggest issue with e85 is it's availability. They don't have it everywhere. All the other issues can easily be resolved. For the people forced to run racing gas due to boost or compression I believe it makes a lot of sense. You will also sacrifice
fuel mileage but I doubt that will factor into the decision much.

 

thanks for the reply,i appreciate it. filled it when front was on stands.cast iron heads, timing dialed in good.i will attempt to duplicate the factory cooling system.GM knew how to cool the c-3.my mechanic friends say that no electric fan can keep up with an engine driven fan.there will be one's that say that ain't so but engine combinations are different and cooling systems will have to be modified somewhat.this looks like a air flow problem so thats what i'm going to attack right now.it may not be the fix but it will tell me where to go next.i'm not going to throw a bunch of money at electric fans now,already did that.

 

thanks for the input 76. have an e-85 station 6 miles away. as you know mileage is not an issue will look into this later when i get the heat problem fixed

 

hi fish, thanks for the reply. you have seen the e-85 users reply on this forum.i wanted to get opinions as i have no experience with it.i do know for a fact that some of the guys racing super gas had some minor problems getting up to operating temp. when they were called to the staging lanes.i have heard more than one time where the guys using the 85 were running much cooler.don't know how they set up their fuel system, but there are some wives tales about the corrosion going on as you and i have read about.i'm done with this topic for now but will revisit when and if i go to e-85. have a heat problem i'll be working on. thanks, denny

 

I have a 15 to 1; 632 that is going in my 69. I have done a lot of research and am going to try to run it on E85. When I get it running I will report on my data.