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E85 and Carter Carbs #982465 04/29/11 10:29 AM 04/29/11 10:29 AM
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 277 Cincinnati, Ohio C chargincharles OP enthusiast
chargincharles OP enthusiast C Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 277 Cincinnati, Ohio	OK- this may be a no-brainer, but- With regular gas now at $4.15 a gallon (and Rising), I can get E85 for $3.29. My current set-up is the following- 318- stock block/oiling. 97 Iron Magnum heads- compression ratio in the 9.5-9.8 range. Eddy Air-gap intake. Carter AVS (340 spec) 1970-1 vintage- rebuilt and running well on gas. Factory Mechanical fuel pump backed up with Carter Electric pump and Fram can-style filter. I have a Holley Regulator, but haven't needed it. New steel fuel lines through-out. Braided hose for transitions from Pump to carb and modern rubber hose from tank to pump. Now- I know that there are problems with E85 and Aluminum and the rubber in fuel lines. I can find NOTHING on the Edelbrock/Carter/Federal Mogul websites that tells me if I'm OK with the Electric Pump- it's the old-style gerotor pump they have been making for decades- or the carb. So- before I go melting things- what's the opinion on here as to whether this is going to work? I know I'll be changing the jetting and needles and upping the fuel pressure a bit to comensate for the E85. But that's about it. Any feedback would be appreciated. CC.

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: chargincharles] #982466 04/29/11 12:33 PM 04/29/11 12:33 PM
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,300 Northern Indiana Dunnuck Racing master
Dunnuck Racing master Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 3,300 Northern Indiana	I don't have much personal experience with E85,but I had looked into making the switch before.One thing to keep in mind is EVERY circuit in the carb has to be reworked.Just jetting it up and adjusting the mixture screws won't be enough. You could try looking at some of the websites for guys dong E85 conversions,but most guys are doing it to Holley type carbs. You will need to modify air bleeds,and other passages in the carb to flow enough fuel. That and the fact that you need to burn more of it to make the same power usually means larger pumps and fuel lines if you are close to stock now. I'm not trying to scare you off of it,just some things to look out for. Keith www.dunnuckracing.com

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: chargincharles] #982467 04/29/11 12:39 PM 04/29/11 12:39 PM
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 301 California C court9155 enthusiast
court9155 enthusiast C Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 301 California	Quote: OK- this may be a no-brainer, but- With regular gas now at $4.15 a gallon (and Rising), I can get E85 for $3.29. My current set-up is the following- 318- stock block/oiling. 97 Iron Magnum heads- compression ratio in the 9.5-9.8 range. Eddy Air-gap intake. Carter AVS (340 spec) 1970-1 vintage- rebuilt and running well on gas. Factory Mechanical fuel pump backed up with Carter Electric pump and Fram can-style filter. I have a Holley Regulator, but haven't needed it. New steel fuel lines through-out. Braided hose for transitions from Pump to carb and modern rubber hose from tank to pump. Now- I know that there are problems with E85 and Aluminum and the rubber in fuel lines. I can find NOTHING on the Edelbrock/Carter/Federal Mogul websites that tells me if I'm OK with the Electric Pump- it's the old-style gerotor pump they have been making for decades- or the carb. So- before I go melting things- what's the opinion on here as to whether this is going to work? I know I'll be changing the jetting and needles and upping the fuel pressure a bit to comensate for the E85. But that's about it. Any feedback would be appreciated. CC. Do some more research. There are several websites dedicated to this exact topic. This is for an eddie carb, not carter.. http://www.e85carbs.com/?gclid=CIzu3vGHwqgCFSU6gwodRnHqpA I know turboforums has tons of info but typically with regards to boosted applications. I can tell you that it takes 30% more E85 than pump gas, typically for the same results. I do know E85 has an octane rating of 105. There are also several folks on the mustang forums cutting it in with pump gas 87 octane at 9:1 ratio and jacking up their timing to get the performance they need. Last edited by court9155; 04/29/11 12:42 PM. 67 charger

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: court9155] #982468 04/29/11 01:24 PM 04/29/11 01:24 PM
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 277 Cincinnati, Ohio C chargincharles OP enthusiast
chargincharles OP enthusiast C Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 277 Cincinnati, Ohio	http://www.e85carbs.com/?gclid=CIzu3vGHwqgCFSU6gwodRnHqpA Thanks for the Link! That's pretty much what I needed. Looks like it is feasible, but the cost to convert the carb makes me think- I gotta burn A LOT of extra gas to justify the conversion. Looks like I'll stick with good 'ol Gas until it reaches $5.00. Then I'll have to start riding my Moped again (Juuuuuust Kidding). CC.

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: chargincharles] #982469 04/29/11 03:41 PM 04/29/11 03:41 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 31,021 Oregon A AndyF I Win
AndyF I Win A Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 31,021 Oregon	I don't think it will work unless you're really hard headed and have time and money to burn. Edelbrock tried to develop a line of E85 carbs and after a couple of years they gave up. They have a lot of resources including engineers, dyno rooms, technicians, etc. and they couldn't make it happen.

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: AndyF] #982470 04/29/11 03:45 PM 04/29/11 03:45 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 75,004 U.S.S.A. JohnRR I Win
JohnRR I Win Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 75,004 U.S.S.A.	Quote: I don't think it will work unless you're really hard headed and have time and money to burn. Edelbrock tried to develop a line of E85 carbs and after a couple of years they gave up. They have a lot of resources including engineers, dyno rooms, technicians, etc. and they couldn't make it happen. Considering how well the performer 750 works I'm not surprised ... I was hoping to be able to switch a carter over to E85 use but it doesn't seem like a worthwhile venture .

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: JohnRR] #982471 04/29/11 03:55 PM 04/29/11 03:55 PM
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 277 Cincinnati, Ohio C chargincharles OP enthusiast
chargincharles OP enthusiast C Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 277 Cincinnati, Ohio	The link provided shows that they will do a working E85 conversion on the Eddy carbs, but it is EXPENSIVE. And once done- you cannot convert it back again. Not really something I want to do to a 1970-1971 vintage carb. I really, really hate Holleys, but in this case it would be easier/cheaper to buy a used 4150 and have it converted. My main concern was if the fuel would eat the aluminum housing of the carb- but apparently that is a non-issue. Might be worth a shot.... I went to the 1/2 fuel line when I re-plumbed everything (wanted to be able to do a big-block conversion in the future), and the pump should be OK...... Hmmmmmmmmmmmm CC.

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: chargincharles] #982472 04/29/11 06:50 PM 04/29/11 06:50 PM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	I was considering it when E85 was about 1/2 of E10 or non E10 regular (here in Lincoln) & yes the (web) sites have alot of critical info. IIRC want very high SCR to take full adv of it plus carb mods and prob more mods but now that it's within a buck or so of regular I got off it as w a complete rebuild of that order, the money I'd put into it it'll take alot of time/miles to get ahead. live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: chargincharles] #982473 04/29/11 08:45 PM 04/29/11 08:45 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 31,021 Oregon A AndyF I Win
AndyF I Win A Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 31,021 Oregon	No, I think the reason Edelbrock never released the E85 version is because the E85 does eat the carb. The prototypes that I saw were coated or anodized. But evidently they couldn't get it to last or else they ran into some other problem that I don't know about. Even E10 eats the Edelbrock carb body. The 800 cfm carb that I had on my pickup truck needed to be taken apart and cleaned out every year due to internal corrosion. My guess is that E85 would be much worse.

Re: E85 and Carter Carbs [Re: AndyF] #982474 04/29/11 09:48 PM 04/29/11 09:48 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 6,392 nielsville, minn. Q quickd100 master
quickd100 master Q Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 6,392 nielsville, minn.	If you want a cheap carter E-85 carb go with a thermoquad. Look in the members in print section on Moparts. I did an article on it in the Feb.,2004 Mopar Action. The carb worked great and all you need is some basic tools and brass set screws. Dave

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