Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 15:54:52 -0500
Reply-To: Matt Roberds <mattroberds@COX.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Matt Roberds <mattroberds@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: E85 in vanagons
In-Reply-To: <20070521181003.PZJV6147.eastrmmtai102.cox.net@eastrmimpi03.cox.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
> From: Adrian Bertarelli <abertarelli@GMAIL.COM>
> Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 12:03:56 -0600
>
> I haven't seen this question asked so i thought just for the
> discussion, what would it take to convert our stock engines to run
> on e85.
The first thing you have to do is make sure all the soft parts of the
fuel system are compatible with E85. E85 will eat some kinds of rubber
and plastic. Most newer hoses will be able to cope with at least E10,
but E85 may be too much for them. Unfortunately most aftermarket
suppliers won't know the answer to this question, so "fill it up and
see what starts leaking" is sometimes used as a test method.
If you do nothing else, the ECU will probably more or less deal with
the different fuel. If you do want to twiddle something, things in the
direction of making it run richer may help a little. E85 has less
energy than gasoline, so your engine power will be down. If it's engine
rebuild time, you can bump up the compression to get some of the power
back. If you bump it up enough, though, you have to run premium gas if
you're not running E85.
If you like the _idea_ of E85 but the above makes you uneasy, there is
something else you can do. Run regular gas in your van, but once a year,
drive out into the countryside. Find a farmer and hand him a couple of
hundred bucks, cash. This will achieve the same goals as E85 production
without all that fooling around with corn and combines and trucks and
refineries and stuff. By most accounts, ethanol from corn takes more
energy to produce than you get back from burning the ethanol - a lot of
the ethanol stuff is a way to subsidize farming without appearing to
subsidize farming. Yes, I know you can get a net energy gain by using
crops other than corn to make ethanol, but as far as I know, this is not
done in the US.
Biodiesel is _probably_ a net energy gain - you usually get more out
than you put into it. I don't think there's enough farmland for the US
to grow all of our fuel, but we can probably make a useful dent in what
we import if we decide we really want to.
The absolute sure-fire 100% guaranteed way to save money on gas is...
drive less! :) Then, do all the things that you've heard about since
1974... make sure your tires are full of air, change your fuel and air
filters regularly, keep your engine in good tune, drive sedately, etc.
When it's time for another car, consider one of the hybrids or the newer
common-rail-injection diesels. You will have to look in Tokyo and/or
Wolfsburg; Detroit isn't interested in building efficient cars. In
2007, there's no reason why your "daily driver" sedan shouldn't average
45-50 mpg.
Matt Roberds
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