Fuel Cells/E-85

[Nailbomb]

Mike mentioned on another topic he was toying with the idea of using e-85 as a source of fuel, and said he might have to give up on that idea due to the larger fuel requirements.

I was also toying with the idea myself with the belief that with more tq more gear should be easy to handle and with a switch pitch, i could make a sort of poor mans overdrive. E-85 has been proven to make more tq than equivalent race gas*(1) and with 105 octane at command and a boost in compression to around 12:1 on a engine that made(stock) 445ft/lbs at somewhere in the 2k RPM range with 10.25:1 compression i could stick highway gears in the back end and still be able to run like a banshee so long as i can get the power to the ground...

in theory it sounds good, but...

what size fuel cells are all of you guys running right now? I know most t-buckets i see right now have the 14 inchbed, but i've also seen 20 inch ones also? would the larger bed size give enough room to run a large enough cell to make it worthwhile?

*(1) I'm making reference to a primedia mag(not sure which one, PHR, hot rod, or car craft) where they took a race engine and tested e-85 against 107 octane race fuel, and the 105 octane e-85 made about the same HP, but more TQ(suposedly from the cooling effect the extra fuel atomizing had on the incoming air charge, this is all theory though)

[Nailbomb]

Further research shows E-85 has corrosive properties when mixed with aluminum, funny, they never mention that in the primedia articles...

this creates problems for any of you wanting to make your vehicle run on it and driving it a lot, however if you have a trailer queen that only sees track use this won't be a problem.

possible solutions depending on application are, use iron or stainless steel, or get your aluminum parts that will cantact the fuel anodized. Kits are made for you DIY guys out there, but its not practical in my own application as i will have a aluminum fuel cell.

too bad too, i would have loved to have ran 12:1 compressionon the streets...

[Mike]

Ethanol is hard on parts. While there are different engine parameters to run E-85, the vehicle has to be capable of withstanding the stuff.

Put an anodized AN fitting in an ethanol/methanol application and the alky will strip the anodizing right off the inside of the fitting.

[Nailbomb]

wow, so even anodizing won't solve the problem? Thats crazy...

is there any other type of coating or plating that might work?