E85Forum.com

conig · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

im looking to convert a drag 4 wheeler to e85 just cause. it should prove to be easier then methanol and by my math make so close to power its a clear winer when i won;t have so many hassles.

i havew my base line jetting worked out and know my carb can gravity feed flow the amount of fuel i need. but can;t seem to find an oil that lists itself as stabil in ethanol only methanol.

i can;t be the first to try this can I? biodiesel is out of the question i have about 100hours and god only knows how much money rapped up in this motor.

any ideas let me know. i have open inquirys with alot of the racing oil manufacturors like klotz, maxima, etc but havn;t heard anything yet.

cessna · Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 52 Location: Iowa

I talked to a sprint car racer that uses ethanol sometimes and he uses Klotz.

conig · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

talked to klotz about 5 minutes ago there super techniplatre and caster 927 is.

i called maxima and bought there caster 927. i normally use there oils. hate to change the stickers on the trailer now. if i can get the right main in time ill report my findings.

conig · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

any concern with normal fuel line?

bikes got a plastic tank but ill be purging at the end of the day and draining the tank.

conig · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

found some more info, ive not seen any problems with a plastic gas tank. or rubber fuel lines. I am purging my carb, fuel lines, and motor with standard gas though.

found a dyno figured id share.

any tips for reading plugs with e85 what am i looking for, brownish tan or gray like methanol. should i go by the heat ring instead of porcelin color.

Alcohol · Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 634 Location: Central Wisconsin

conig- was the graph from your setup?
- what fuel was "test 598"?

As far as reading the plugs- I am not sure about your engine type but a Taurus FFFV I run had the plugs changed at 55,000 miles because that was Ford's recommendation- color was a very light grey and no erosion or metal deposit (looked like wasted $ to change them). I do not think there are enough gasoline compounds in e85 to "tan" the plugs.

A friend's non-flex 1990 Ranger plugs were pulled out after 50,000 miles of e85 (>total of 250,000 miles on odometer)- he is all factory equip and no kit. These plugs were white, no erosion, and under a hand held microscope did not show metal deposition even though he tows with it and runs lean.

conig · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

the above graph was one i found. 598 was VP U4

im up and running and pulling like a freight train im getting alittle bwown on the plugs im hoping its not from the oil becoming unsuspended. im also running my carb dry(gravity fed). I do think ill have this hammered out soon. I ran into alot of issues finding parts for the carb rich enough.

heres a plug shot.
left plug has a purge right does not. i can;t find any real info on what the plug should look like. i do need to know though id hate to melt it down.

hotrod · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 872 Location: Colorado

Color should be similar to gasoline only a bit lighter in color.

Discoloration of the ground strap electrode tells you if your heat range is right, If it gets that heat band down too close to the spark plug shell it is running hot, if the heat discoloration on the ground is very close to the tip the plugs are too cold.

Just watch for signs of detonation it will show up as very fine almost dust sized balls of aluminum on the electrode and insulator, you need a 10x magnifier to really see them well. If you see that you went too far, it is aluminum blown off the heads and piston crowns.

http://www.dragstuff.com/techarticles/how-to-read-plugs.html

The above page gives a good example of reading the heat range indicator on the ground electrode. Mixture is more iffy on E85 than it is on a gasoline car, the coloring is not nearly as strong.

I need to make some pictures of various mixture conditions one of these days so people can see. I mostly depend on a wideband for mixture anyway, get down near 0.76-72 lamda under WOT and you should be good. Lambda in the low 0.80s are too lean except for light throttle cruise.

The other problem with reading plugs for mixture is you are only reading idle or low load cruise unless you make a hard pass and do a clean cut of the ignition under high load WOT.
Larry