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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
Comments: cc: Adrian Bertarelli <abertarelli@GMAIL.COM>
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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