Find Reviews by Make:
I recently ran into Moose, the famous employee of fabricating-badass Troy Trepanier and his "Rides" show on TLC. After tossing me in their award winning, Ethanol burning, Blowfish Salt Flat race car, Moose clued me into a new toy in Troy's shop: an EPA-blessed, plug n' play E85 conversion kit from Flex Fuel US. The bad news? Its only kosher for Crown Vic enthusiasts (for now). The good news: Troy's shop frequently cranks-up engine timing for extra power (20+ horsies) and marginal fuel economy losses (one to two mpg less) with the corn-fed fuel's 100+ octane rating. Sounds great, provided the government subsidies never run dry.
8 Comments on “E85 Hoonies and the Blowfish...”
Read all comments
I would think that’s a fairly complicated kit, since E85 is VERY unfriendly to virtually every seal and gasket (and other non metal parts) used in a regular gasoline powered fuel system in a modern car.
And if it’s NOT a fairly complicated kit (replacing all those bits that E85 is likely to erode after a couple of years), I’d be very wary of that drivetrain after a couple of years.
One to two mpg less? Off a regular CV’s fuel economy? That’s hard to believe; ethanol contains considerably less energy per unit volume (like 10K btus per some unit or other vs gasoline’s 15K). If engine compression could be increased, that would improve efficiency and regain some mpg but it seems unlikely that a “kit” would do that.
Hmmm… in fact, the FlexFuel web site says, “When operating on E85, or a mix of E85 and gasoline, your engine needs a greater amount of fuel injected into the engine to keep the fuel/air mixture in the optimum zone.” But no promises that I could see on actual mpg to be achieved.
blautens: the kit doesn’t look complicated at all on the Flex Fuel US website. Looks like a piggyback module that tweaks the O2 sensors into thinking the motor’s not getting enough fuel. (or something like that).
Perhaps its so simple because the Crown Vic is already equipped with a ethanol friendly fuel system? (it was equipped several years back, along with every 3.0L Vulcan Ford)
KixStart: not sure how Flex Fuel US’s Crown Vic kit and Troy Trepanier’s E85 handiwork fit into the equation. Troy’s gang has done their own work on V8 powered cars to make the claims I heard from Moose. (I expect the dual fuel cars from the OEMs have much weaker timing curves to accept both gases at any time, and their power and economy gains aren’t unbelievable over a stock E85 tune from the factory)
As you mentioned, increasing engine timing certainly helps, but increasing compression is the real solution. Well, aside from the other problems with E85.
KixStart, i think he means one or two less MPG compared to just running it on E85, as in after it’s been tuned +20 horse. I thought the idea of Ethanol was cheap not better.
CGraham,
Ahhh… OK, in that context, 1 or 2 mpg less makes sense. Thanks.
cgraham: no, I mean 1-2mpg less than gasoline. From what I’ve seen (and what Moose said) the deficit for running on E85 on a OEM-equipped tune is significantly worse than 1-2mpg. (its more like 5-7 mpg)
Put another way, crank up the engine timing to maximize the burn rate of 100+ octane fuel and the margin between E85 and gasoline becomes a lot more acceptable.
And yes, taking advantage of high octane equates to more power. Remember that most every OEM tune on an engine computer is on the conservative side: and this is bad news when you start running E85 instead of gas.
Just the Laws of Thermodynamics at work here.
I will still never understand how they got 1,200hp, albeit briefly, out of the 175cid four banger in that Blowfish.
Its pretty simple: turbo boost and programmable EFI are amazing. Just ask the Supra guys running 1000hp with a turbo swap and a little head/exhaust work. Make a Supra as unstreetable as the Blowfish and you’ll see way more than 1,200hp. At this point, its just a matter of how quickly you want to die.
And yes, the craftsmanship and attention to detail in the Blowfish is unbelievable. That thing could easily sit in a museum for decades, never bother with the 255 mph record, and still make my mouth water. No stone was left unturned on that car.