E-85 ABC's information please
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 165
Likes: 114
E-85 ABC's information please
I have a 6k mile 2015 Z06/Z07. Totally bone stock and love the car. It is a summer vehicle considering pittsburgh has about 6 months of decent weather annually. I would like to run it on E85 for a boost of HP and i understand it needs tuned at that point to use the E85. Reading about additional low side fuel pump needed so hoping somebody can advise on a kit available and if even doing this makes sense. Car is a beast as it is but seems the E-85 provide a boost yet maybe a little cooler running and gas mileage doesn't concern me. Love to hear back. Besides the mamo throttle body and BMS filter it is stock and i would like to keep away from pulley swaps and things like that. My 07 Z06 was a motor out monster rebuild and it was fun but not alot of fun sitting in traffic in, if you know what i mean.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,560
Likes: 485
From: Moberly, Mo
E85 is the best first mod you can do. You will need a Flex Fuel sensor and many of us use the DSX plus as you said you will need a tune.. Some run a boost a pump to up the voltage to help the low side keep up and others will run a DSX low side pump to feed the high side and keep your fuel pressure up to run higher E content.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,560
Likes: 485
From: Moberly, Mo
I forgot to mention your tuner will set up additional tables in HP Tuners that will adjust timing depending on the amount of E you are running. The more E the sensor sees the more timing it allows at WOT. Mine is set up at 4 additional degrees of timing at full E content. Whats nice is I'm in a cold climate which I believe you are also and now I'm running straight 93 octane and the sensor sees that and won't allow the full timing at WOT as it reverts back to the stock timing tables that GM set up in the base tune and mine is 23 degrees. As the weather warms hear in Missouri I'll head back to the E85 pumps and make more power plus save about a dollar a gallon.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 837
Likes: 388
From: Olathe KS
You will need help with the low side to get to full E85 on a pre-19 Z but you may be able to run E50 without touching the fuel system. Saves you a couple grand on a low side aux pump/install and E50 provides 95% of the benefit of full E85. You do have to deal with mixing 93 and E85 at the pump though. I'm not 100% sure you can get to full E85 with just an aux low side either, some more knowledgeable than me will probably chime in on that. Make sure you use a tuner who knows flex-fuel tuning well on these cars, the tune makes a huge difference in how much E you can run.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,478
From: South Florida
I remote tune for e85 on stock or mild bolt on cars. E50 is pretty much the max safe area for stock pulley cars on Flex Fuel without an fueling mods. I've seen a couple people push it to E65 but I saw the fuel pressure dropping and advised against it. Lambda stayed good even at E65 but I wouldn't recommend it. I advised the driver that it was his motor and its not a good idea. I recommend E40-E50 max on stock pulley cars with headers/intake. I don't typically see any high side pressure drop at E40, but beyond this pressures start to drop and injector pulse widths go up significantly and it is unsafe. There are a couple of tricks you can do to the fuel pump in the tune that help but it only helps a small amount.
Last edited by Internets_Ninja; Feb 3, 2021 at 10:25 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,560
Likes: 485
From: Moberly, Mo
You will need help with the low side to get to full E85 on a pre-19 Z but you may be able to run E50 without touching the fuel system. Saves you a couple grand on a low side aux pump/install and E50 provides 95% of the benefit of full E85. You do have to deal with mixing 93 and E85 at the pump though. I'm not 100% sure you can get to full E85 with just an aux low side either, some more knowledgeable than me will probably chime in on that. Make sure you use a tuner who knows flex-fuel tuning well on these cars, the tune makes a huge difference in how much E you can run.
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 199
Likes: 31
I remote tune for e85 on stock or mild bolt on cars. E50 is pretty much the max safe area for stock pulley cars on Flex Fuel without an fueling mods. I've seen a couple people push it to E65 but I saw the fuel pressure dropping and advised against it. Lambda stayed good even at E65 but I wouldn't recommend it. I advised the driver that it was his motor and its not a good idea. I recommend E40-E50 max on stock pulley cars with headers/intake. I don't typically see any high side pressure drop at E40, but beyond this pressures start to drop and injector pulse widths go up significantly and it is unsafe. There are a couple of tricks you can do to the fuel pump in the tune that help but it only helps a small amount.
I have blended up to 15-17%(around 1.5-2GL per tank) and the car was noticeably stronger and had zero KR.
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Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4,048
Likes: 1,478
From: South Florida
Technically speaking e15-e17 will slightly lean out the fueling and slightly improve knock resistance, both are good for consistent power on a factory calibration. But I won't go as far as recommending it as you never know how people on the internet will interpret your words. Next thing you know there is someone running e50 claiming the internet said its OK on a factory calibration lol.
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 199
Likes: 31
Technically speaking e15-e17 will slightly lean out the fueling and slightly improve knock resistance, both are good for consistent power on a factory calibration. But I won't go as far as recommending it as you never know how people on the internet will interpret your words. Next thing you know there is someone running e50 claiming the internet said its OK on a factory calibration lol.
Last edited by C7X46; Feb 6, 2021 at 08:40 AM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 165
Likes: 114
i find 93 on the OEM tune will only allow full timing with coolant temps(180-192) and IAT(100 ish) at super low levels like you see cruising the interstate and decay aggressively when things heat up. The 15-17% concentration of E85 seems to mitigate this scenario upwards to around 214-200 coolant before you see aggressive decay. The later is a much more realistic operating window to have "full power" in and I agree its better to say its not more power but more consistent power..........