Running E85?

[74Dusted]

I thought I'd try this stuff out in my truck to see how it does before I run it in my Blown Duster.

My truck was tuned to run on 91-93 Octane, recently some local stations started selling E15, E50 and E85.

Truck ran okay on 93 and E15. She has an 11:1 compression 273 (060 over with J Heads and a Isky 495/505 solid cam).

So I bumped her up to E85. Runs great at 3/8 Throttle to WOT (seems to have picked up a ton of power too), acts like its starving at an idle and the pump shot/accelerator is definitely too low. I have to double pump the throttle when taking off from a stop to dump in enough fuel.

Is there anyway to increase the pump shot on an Eddy 1406? It's already set on the richest slot of the accelerator arm. I can richen up the idle mixture to help some, but im gonna have to rejet and figure out how to increase the pump shot too

 

[70aarcuda]

Basically, you need a carb that is calibrated for E85. An E85 calibration is different than gasoline and is different than Methanol. Each circuit in the carb has to be touched and all of them will want somewhere between 20% and 40% more fuel. The idle and transition circuits will want about 20-25% more fuel, the main jet about 30% more fuel and the power enrichment more like 40%. That is just BALLPARK based on what I learned tuning mine for E85. In addition when you buy a carb that is already set up for E85 the emulsion wells, cross channels and boosters should be modified for E85 (larger than gasoline, but not as large as methanol)

Aside from the carb it is a good idea to make sure the rest of your fuel system is compatible with alcohol. It is also a good idea to either flush your gas tank or replace it. Gasoline leaves a brownish sludge on the bottom of your tank and E85 will dissolve it and plug up your fuel filter. E85 is not as corrosive as methanol, but it is more corrosive than gasoline -- especially if you get water in the E85 or let it sit for a long time.

Google e85 and edelbrock carbs...not a lot info out...mostly Holley...Although there is one place that will convert the eddy from gas to e85 but it can not be switched back like a Holley can.

We run e85 in our race cars.

 

[famous bob]

Basically, you need a carb that is calibrated for E85. An E85 calibration is different than gasoline and is different than Methanol. Each circuit in the carb has to be touched and all of them will want somewhere between 20% and 40% more fuel. The idle and transition circuits will want about 20-25% more fuel, the main jet about 30% more fuel and the power enrichment more like 40%. That is just BALLPARK based on what I learned tuning mine for E85. In addition when you buy a carb that is already set up for E85 the emulsion wells, cross channels and boosters should be modified for E85 (larger than gasoline, but not as large as methanol)

Aside from the carb it is a good idea to make sure the rest of your fuel system is compatible with alcohol. It is also a good idea to either flush your gas tank or replace it. Gasoline leaves a brownish sludge on the bottom of your tank and E85 will dissolve it and plug up your fuel filter. E85 is not as corrosive as methanol, but it is more corrosive than gasoline -- especially if you get water in the E85 or let it sit for a long time.

Google e85 and edelbrock carbs...not a lot info out...mostly Holley...Although there is one place that will convert the eddy from gas to e85 but it can not be switched back like a Holley can.

We run e85 in our race cars.

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how much improvement , did you pick up running it? I can switch back and forth (supposedly) w/ my fuel inj. set up. just curious, is it worth the extra cost and maintainance ?

 

[70aarcuda]

Only extra cost was the buying of the carburetor...still using same fuel pump and fuel line, I had to change out fuel filter, can not use a paper element now using in line screen. Maintenance?....Only time I drain the fuel system is over the winter months...and this winter off season was pretty short so I did not drain....Then again...there is not much moisture in the air out here in Vegas. We run the carb dry after each race while it is parked in the garage...

My comment above was a cut and paste job...that would be too much thinking for me to write all that....

 

[1Fast340]

Tuning a lean condition offidle stumble can be done by adjusting the linkage to the accelrator pump and by swapping to larger squirters. I doubt most of us can get an edelbrock carb to run perfect on E85 but they can be made to run ok no doubt about it.
A friend ran a pair of 500cfm edelbrocks on E85 feeding a tunnelramed 13:1 383chevy,ran nice on the street and 11.0 in the 1/4 Think he ended up running the biggest squirters,the biggest jets and the smallest rods and that was just about enough to get good readings on the oxygensensor.

 

[T56MaxTorq]

Try playing with the needles and springs to get the quickest enrichment curve and maybe drill the lever a little lower. You can set your total timing to 36 or higher and run vacuum advance as well. Find the timing that works well at idle