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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 08:03 PM
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Default E85 Flex Fuel

Anyone know why GM has not made the Corvette Ethanol E85 flex fuel adaptable? Anyone know what would be required to do so?
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 08:11 PM
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Originally Posted by hiznhrz
Anyone know why GM has not made the Corvette Ethanol E85 flex fuel adaptable? Anyone know what would be required to do so?
I believe the mechanical changes are related to metal corrosion and rubber seals. There would also be an adjustment to the MAF signal by the computer. My guess on detection of E85 versus gasoline for the computer would be capacitance, conductivity or least likely refractive index.
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 08:24 PM
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GM is supposed to be into Flex Fuel in a big way. E85 is supposed to run 105 octane. Seems like high performance engines would benefit from Ethanol.

I wonder if a conversion kit would be possible.
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 08:26 PM
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i think that e85 will have considerably less btu's, power, per pound, and mpg is going to go down. and unless engine is "tuned" for it, horsepower is going to be down also.

think so anyway.

doug
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 08:45 PM
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You may be right. A tank of gas is supposed to net 20% to 25% less miles than gas.
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 08:48 PM
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Originally Posted by luscombe
i think that e85 will have considerably less btu's, power, per pound, and mpg is going to go down. and unless engine is "tuned" for it, horsepower is going to be down also.

think so anyway.

doug
Yep, MPG is down about 30%.

It'd take more than "tuning" to keep hp up too. You'd need to bump the compression ratio up to about 12:1 to get the power back. But then it wouldn't run on straight gasoline any more, losing the "flex-fuel" capability.

When the 50 cents a gallon federal subsidy runs out, it'll be more expensive than straight gasoline too.
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 09:11 PM
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Originally Posted by luscombe
i think that e85 will have considerably less btu's, power, per pound, and mpg is going to go down. and unless engine is "tuned" for it, horsepower is going to be down also.

think so anyway.

doug
Gas mileage will suffer, somewhere around 60% what you get on gasoline. However, power would be fanstastic if tuned for it! Ethanol is very high octane and you could run a lot more timing. I assume that on cars designed to run E85 that there would be alternate tuning in the computer. Also, ethanol has a very high latent heat of vaporization. This along with having to run more fuel greatly cools the inlet air temps.

Thanks,
Glenn
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 09:16 PM
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Doesnt it mean somethingthat we might lower our dependance on foreign oil and be burning cleaner fuel.We better start working on something alternative,I think its great we could be making a step forward toward alternative energy.
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 09:26 PM
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Originally Posted by archtop
Doesnt it mean somethingthat we might lower our dependance on foreign oil and be burning cleaner fuel.We better start working on something alternative,I think its great we could be making a step forward toward alternative energy.
It would mean something if it actually cut dependence on petroleum, but as Brazil discovered in the 1980s, it doesn't. All it does is shift petrochemical uses to increased agricultural inputs to provide the grain to provide the alcohol.
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 09:36 PM
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Originally Posted by shopdog
It would mean something if it actually cut dependence on petroleum, but as Brazil discovered in the 1980s, it doesn't. All it does is shift petrochemical uses to increased agricultural inputs to provide the grain to provide the alcohol.
So its just more GM when they say its helping our fuel pollution and crisis situation?
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 10:29 PM
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Intersting article on Bio-fuels
http://www.theallineed.com/engineering/06021003.htm
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by archtop

Excellent article. Thanks!
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Old Mar 19, 2006 | 10:38 PM
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OK, so lets stop giving away all our grain. Use what food we used to give away for fuel, and let the arabs and the s. americans eat their oil.

bonne appetite...
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