loki993 said:
what is the extensive conversion it takes to run E85 in a carbed vehicle? not trying to argue with you or anything, but i was under the impression that all it would take would be a carb adjustment or maybe a jet change, possibly messing with the timing a bit also, am i wrong?.
Try it... you'll see how wrong you are
Suffice to say, its great for a race car. Try starting a race car on a cold day or try putting 50,000 miles on a race car in a humid climate and you will be a firm believer in fossil fuels.
loki993 said:
i also would like to know about how to make a current non FF computer controlled car run on E85.
the way i see it, and what some people seem to not get, is its not only about cheaper gas or better fuel economy. its about independance from foreign oil companies. dont you realize this? brazil uses straight ethanol in most of their cars and have COMPLETE energy independance. the foreign oil companies and OPEC have too much control over our economy right now and its not right. they should not be able to reduce production of oil to raise the price and make the market take a dump, they can right now. whay would happen if there was an embargo? wed be screwed and gas would be $7 a gallon, just a guess, its not right. i for one like e85, not for the environmental advantage it may or may not have, our gas cars run pretty clean now and they can be cleaner probally, not because it gets better milage, im ok with the fact it dosnt, my primary concern is giving the foreign oil companies less of my money. id rather give it to hard working american farmers, who need something to grow again that can be profitable. I have no problem paying more for it in the long run either, because the moneys going somewhere good, not stinking rich foreign oil barrons that hae 10 bentleys and can shut us down on a whim if they feel like it. remember you can make ethanol from anything that can be distilled, not just corn. brazil user sugar, it can be made from sawdust!! there is any abundance of places we can go the get the materials for it and it can be made cheaply. ethanol is one of the fuels of the future it has to be, unless you feel comfortable being at the mercy of another country that dosnt really seem to like us very much anyway.
Since you didn't use any paragraphs this is going to be tough but I'll give it a shot.
#1 Don't believe the propaganda about Brazil being energy independent. Only 13% of their energy comes from renewables like ethanol. Twice the US, no where near the hype.
Brazil mandates only 20% ethanol in their gas and that is all they run (buses may run 100%, but in the US we have way cleaner CNG buses). They DO NOT run 100% Ethanol in cars. That was their goal back in the 70's, (and your grade school textbooks probably treated their "goal" like it actually happened, but it didn't).
Ethanol is cleaner on paper, but Brazilian cities still have some of the worst smog and Air pollution in the world. I'm still trying to figure out why this is so, being the Ethanol utopia and all.
If you are worried about $7.00 Gasoline, Ethanol isn't the answer. Even at $4.00 gasoline the vast resources of the US will rear their Ugly heads.
We have a 500 year supply of $4.00/gallon gasoline, 30 feet below the surface of montana in coal. There is another 500 year supply of $4.00 Gallon gasoline 100 feet below the surface of Colorado in oil shale.
Just like Brazil, the US realizies that it is currently cheaper to be energy dependant than it is to become independent.
If you are building a race car, E85 is great. If you are looking for an alternative to fuel your FFV SUV (like the current GM go yellow hype), E85 sucks.
If GM spent 1/2 the "go yellow" marketing money on a L6 4.0L Diesel, they might actually make a difference.