Most liked posts in thread: Chevron dropped their octane :(

Shell works fine

 

E85 actually designates 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.

I too would be interested in finding out what it takes to convert the MINI to run E85 from Mynes?

 

Awwww carp, I typed them switched, thanks!:blush2:

I put a tank of 100 octane Cam2 in Fungo this evening ($6.749/gal):eek6:. She likes it. I wanted to see if the engine management would detect the higher octane.

The Shell station manager said his gas had 0% ethanol, he wasn't sure if that was nationwide though.

 

The engine doesn't read gas mix directly...

it does it via the knock sensor. So it will advance timing to a fixed amount unless knock is detected. Then it pulls back. This isn't the banging that we're used to with crappy gas in an old V8 with a nasty cam, but it works on the sub-audible range and rides the noise.

FWIW, I was at a track and needed to fill up and was running late. I filled up with 100, about 11 gal, and my MPG went to about 35-40 at 85 MPH on the freeway. I'm thinking my tune has a bit much advance in it.... Anyway, it was sweet while it lasted....

Matt

 

True, but Chevron worked better. The tank after the Chevron fill up was Schell and everything dropped back to what I normally get. There was a big difference.

Jim

 

Here on the West Coast (and AZ), we generally find that Shell, 76, QT and Costco (in that order) tend to yield higher HP number. Chevron and mobile are ok, but they tend to pick up more knock than Shell. This scenario is also true for turbo cars such as evo and sti. But there are cars out there that like Chevron exclusively... the old saying goes, each car is unique

Matt is correct, the ECU detects the fuel element indirectly via the use of the knock sensor (higher octane => less knock voltage => ECU allows more timing => yield more HP)... it doesn't care about the fuel type, just the octane.

Yes and no. In order to run E85, fuel components should be corrosion-resistent. With that said, there are tons of evo's running E85 for more than a few years w/o issues on the stock fuel components. We ran the Green R53 on E85 when we were in AZ where E85 stations were more abundant. When we relocated to Cali, surprisingly, E85 stations are like goal minds, extremely hard to find. So we're back on the 91 octane. Fuel pumps and 550cc injectors are still the same ones, none of the parts needed changing. All in all, the Green car was on the E85 diet for about 3 months.

That is correct. E85 octane rating is typically from 98 to 103 depending on season (summer blend vs winter blend) and location.

The only part we changed to run E85 is the 550cc injectors, along with a custom tune, of course. On 91 octane, i was getting 24mpg (mix city and hwy); on E85, i was getting 16-18mpg.

Cost of 91: $3.05/ gal
Cost of E85: $2.05 /gal (20 WHP increase)

Caution: Not all E85 are created equally. When i drove the MINI to AMVIV 2009, i had to fill up in Kingman, AZ. As soon as i pulled out of the E85 station, car was acting up. Guess what, the E85 at Kingman was sub-par. I had to dial-down some maps for the car to run properly. E85 in Vegas was the same quality as the ones in Phx; so unless you have a way to change your maps on your own and understand something about tuning, it might be best to stick to pump gas.

 

Nice info. I'll stay with the local 93. Plus finding E85 can be a big pain in the a$$.

 

Here is some more tech info on E85: Race on E85

 

Are there any other brands that are Ethanol free? Google searches have not provided any usefull information.

Jim

 

Thanks for the list. I hope people add to it.