E85Forum.com

kchmn · Guest

Friday there was a special promotion of E85 at a local gas station. I decided to give it a try. I had almost 1/2 tank of premium unleaded and topped it off with the E85. the next day I had a 100 mile trip to make that I have taken almost evrey weekend for the last 3 years. I took along a 5 gallon can of gas to add to get back home on. After getting there and finishing what I had to do I started the siphon to fill the tank from my gas can. I was pleasantly suprised when it began to overflow with only about 4 gallons in. This puts my milage over 20MPG, and I was really impressed with the increase in power. it hardly takes any time to get up to 75 or 80 MPH. This is in a 1973 International pickup that I have driven for the last 5 years. it usually gets around 16 mpg. I am going to continue to use the E85 and keep a record of milage to see how it does over a few months. So far I am impressed. Has anyone else out there tried E85 in an older vehicle, and what were your results?

specialgreen · Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 3:08 pm Post subject:

Congrats, it sounds like your truck likes E85 just fine. Smile

I have a motorcycle whose engine design and fuel system haven't changed since it was introduced in 1976. Even for 1976, it was a conservative design: air cooled, with 2 vavles per cylinder, like a VW Beetle.

With this "old school" engine, I was not quite as fortunate as you. I had to adjust the carburetor to burn E-85; it would not even idle with the stock jetting. Also, I have seen a decrease in gas mileage of about 20-25% on the highway. But that could be because the carburetors aren't perfectly adjusted.

It sounds like you go a good thing going with the old International truck.