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E85 Bike...why not me!

Dave8338

Dave8338

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
I was thinking last night while filling up the Explorer :-k ...what would all be envolved in converting an old YAMAHA to burn E85? As I'm not running the original carbs, with enough hunting and selective materials choices, why not!

Anyone with input? Pros and cons? Anyone...
 
I think the biggest thing would be can you get it locally. Some of the downsides are it's supposed to be hard on aluminum and rubber hoses and o-rings. I've also heard it can be hard starting in the cold. It absorbs moisture and can promote rusting in gas tanks etc. You need to re-jet to get around 30% more fuel.

With all that being said I'm looking to convert in my dragbike. Its alot cheaper than race gas and is supposed to be more consistent. Not effected by the weather as much as gas is. My plan was to drain it out of the fuel system and replace with gas after every saturday of racing.
 
rosco15 said:
I think the biggest thing would be can you get it locally. Some of the downsides are it's supposed to be hard on aluminum and rubber hoses and o-rings. I've also heard it can be hard starting in the cold. It absorbs moisture and can promote rusting in gas tanks etc. You need to re-jet to get around 30% more fuel.

With all that being said I'm looking to convert in my dragbike. Its alot cheaper than race gas and is supposed to be more consistent. Not effected by the weather as much as gas is. My plan was to drain it out of the fuel system and replace with gas after every saturday of racing.
Click to expand...

...several of my thoughts as well. I used to run alcohol in several different cars and liked it for it's ability to raise compression numbers greatly or equal to av-gas at a reduced price. Living here in the farm belt, it is readily available and in my opinion, should work well. Think that I'll do some more digging and see what I can come up with. \\:D/

As you can see...a re-jet is the least of my concerns...
virago1.jpg
 
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alcohol engines are effected 20%~25% MORE by atmosphere and temperature changes.

more fuel , more tunning , more jets , E.G.T. gage and Density Altitude meter are needed for consistent tune up.
 
trippivot said:
alcohol engines are effected 20%~25% MORE by atmosphere and temperature changes.

more fuel , more tunning , more jets , E.G.T. gage and Density Altitude meter are needed for consistent tune up.
Click to expand...

Where did you get that information. Everything I've ever read stats that ethanol and methanol are effected less by temperature changes.
 
rosco15 said:
Where did you get that information. Everything I've ever read stats that ethanol and methanol are effected less by temperature changes.
Click to expand...

I know that we would rejet the Holly's as the season progressed, but that was only to gain "optimum" performance as the temps dropped. As far as starting was concerned, we did start them on gas (dump a little in the bores) just to make things pop off right away, though starting them in the shop was a flip of two switches and hit the botton. :|
 
there's a chance you are already running ethanol in your bikes anyways. A lot of states for the past few months have been putting at least ten percent in regular unleaded to lower the costs. It's funny that we never saw the price reduction as a consumer though. Also only a handful of states require the vendor to publish that ethanol is in the fuel.
 
andrewclaycomb said:
there's a chance you are already running ethanol in your bikes anyways. A lot of states for the past few months have been putting at least ten percent in regular unleaded to lower the costs. It's funny that we never saw the price reduction as a consumer though. Also only a handful of states require the vendor to publish that ethanol is in the fuel.
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the ethanol in your gas is to replace the mebt there taking out. it has nothing to do with price. adding ethanol cost more. you lose on the end of the deal. poor a measure of gas and the same of ethanol on the ground and time how long it takes both to evaporate. next put the same amount in a cup and see how long it takes to evaporate.

http://www.practical-sailor.com/tools/ethanol-fuel-and-outboard-engines.html

here is some more good info on fuel and storing motors.

http://environment.newscientist.com...iant-microwave-turns-plastic-back-to-oil.html
 
I've noticed that almost all of the web sites that I've looked at have shown conversions to E85, with one hitch...everything mentioned is for vehicles using the full gammet of todays technology ie. mass air sensors, O2 sensors, MAP sensors...throttle position sensors, and on and on and on! We were doing this in the early to mid 80's, where the most complex component of the whole system was the electronic ignition module.

I do remember (the older I get the less I remember) that I spent some time hunting down Viton seals and EPDM gaskets by phone (in the era before the internet) and we were not the only ones running alcohol...

I did find a local link that I'll have to investigate as to parts ect. but am I getting to the point that carburation is a lost art? :confused: It was less difficult then than it seems to be now.
http://www.e85carbs.com/

It has now become a challenge and I love a good challenge! :? :-D
 
Running on E85 will result in pi$$ poor mileage. Expect only about 40% of the mileage you get now. Instead of 160 miles a tank you might get 80 if your lucky. Add to the that the shortage of E85 stations and your not going to be taking long trips.

E10 and E85 are turning out to be bad ideas we are going to be paying for and living with a long time.
 
All of the aforementioned, as well as commodities like chicken, beef & milk that are fed with grains have increased in price because of the whole supply/demand thing.
 
hp1000s said:
All of the aforementioned, as well as commodities like chicken, beef & milk that are fed with grains have increased in price because of the whole supply/demand thing.
Click to expand...

one by product from a ethanol plant is feed. it is a bit higher than just feeding striate grain. low on sugar and high in protein.
 
Another byproduct of ethanol plants are horrible odors. Maybe they should locate them next to any organization pushing for more ethanol, like ADM's offices. Miss Fabulous has an extended thread or two on the ethanol plant being built in Dunkirk next to her house.

It takes many gallons of water to make a single galoon of ethanol. Depending on the type, it can require up to 18 gallons of water to produce a single gallon of ethanol. Ask the Sierra club about that.
 
Not to change course of thread but water is cheap, at least where I live. It doesn't have to be treated or very clean to make ethanol, the problem is that the waste water is fun to clean up, high quantities of organics, alcohol, etc. Plays havoc with most traditional treatment plants unless they are designed for ethanol.

Here in Ohio, it is nearly impossible to find gasoline that doesn't contain a minimum of 10% ethanol. Gas mileage stinks, eats old fuel lines in weed eaters, chain saws, mowers. Softs up plastic and rubber components of old carbs. Farmers like it, corn, beans, wheat at historic prices.
 
There is an old saying that ethanol is made by mixing corn and tax dollars and heated by all the hot air from washington.
 
we have a ethanol plant near my town. you can smell it few county's away. part of the deal for them to move here was thay got a few of the towns old water wells. strange since the town said thay were going bad and we needed new ones.

i know it does take a ton of natural gas, and water to run the plant. and a few chems that if thay started a fire i would need to evacuate the town. the ethanol plant has its own fire department and waste water treatment plant.

now for the fun part. corn and beans are taking over. seen a farmer cut out all his peach trees and apple trees to plant corn. fertilizer is made from natural gas. takes a lot of diesel to get the corn to the ethanol plant. then from the plant to the blending station. ethanol can not be piped long distances. so it can not go thew the gas pipe lines. you find all kinds of good info when you start looking at the whos, whats, ware and whens.
 
The best part of this is MTBE was declared a ground water contaminant and we can't go back to it. Or rather, refiners COULD use it but then the enviromental groups could file lawsuits against them for polluting the environment. Congress could have exempted and protected them from lawsuits, after all they write laws for things like this, but I'm sure a lot of money was spent to make sure no such thing happened.

Here is the punch line: The Clean Air Act of 1990 MANDATED the use of MTBE in areas the EPA determined to have bad air quality.

GM runs these commercials about how all these cars are E85 ready when you can't buy it in most places, funny how they don't post mileage figures for a Yukon running on E85. A Ranger PU gets about 14MPG on the stuff, what does a 5000 lbs SUV get on corn?
 
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