E85 USE

Other than a specific carb, what are the pro/cons/pitfalls.. of racing with e85? I know that e85 can be non standard at the pump, e80, e30....

need screen style fuel filter...paper will dissolve

Make sure your Fuel system can handle the 25%+ in volume.

It starts a little sluggish in cool weather.

You need to be ABLE to tell your friends that have never ran it and think it is from the Devil to shut up and learn.

When the tune up is right spark plugs last a long time. Fuel burns clean

You MAY have to do more carb maint. because the fuel can adsorb moisture from the air.

Engine runs cooler and should be more consistent and have a bigger tuning window where it is happy.

I love it.

30+ years ago I had an altered than ran on methanol. We ran and upper cylinder oil with the methanol. Same deal with e85? Very frequent oil changes?

The guys that say this don’t know what they are talking about. Learn the secrets and straight alcohol is a breeze and a blessing. 165.00 a barrel, never having to cool down an engine, less battery drain, and more consistent. I make a pass and turn off my fan an water pump and open the lean out valve. Drive it back to the pits and wait till next round. Get heat in them and you will never have a moisture issue. I myself wouldn’t run E85 unless it was a street car too and I don’t have that issue.

Do you need to get a bigger carb or stay with the same cfm as gas carb?

I took my 800 pump gas Holley off my engine and APD switched it over to alcohol for me

Found some misleading or confusing info. Alcohol and aluminum are not a good mix. Most modern electric fuel pumps are aluminum bodies and also the fuel filter canisters. Then there's the aluminum fuel cell and aluminum fuel lines. Ran alcohol in the moon tank of the altered with no issues that I remember. Was that the other benefit of the added lube?

I use VP C85 instead of pump, and love it.

Most of the problems with pump 85 have been solved using the C85.

Has lube, and corrosion inhibitors in it, draws less water, and is consistently blended. Only down side is it's twice the cost of pump, but half the cost of a good race fuel.

Typically I burn less than a half gallon per pass accounting for warm up, and to and from the lines in total for the day.

The only downside I personally have with it is that you can't let it sit for long periods. If you do it sort of creates this gel/goo build up. If you keep the fuel fresh/run the car often it's fine.

Mine has been on pump e85 for 7'ish years now. I don't even bother checking the % of the fuel anymore unless I'm really going to turn up the wick. Out of all the times I've ever checked the Alcohol %, it's only been off by more then 1% ONE time... (measured at 83%).

From my personal experience it's not as "non standard at the pump" as people would make you believe.

I've used pump E85 for over 5 ears now in my S/P car with a AJ modified and prepped carb., the first batch was winter mixed and tested to be E75 which required jetting down 3 let sizes to get the most power and torque on a DTS engine dyno
All the other pump E85 I have bought since then has tested to be E85 out of the pump
I use plastic 5.5 gallon fuel jugs and when they sit in the winter full to half full the fuel in the trailer they will test in the spring to be E87 to E89 I bought around 16 gallons three weeks ago for $3.10 a gallon
I was told that the gasoline evaporates out of those jugs making the alcohol content denser
As far as consistency run to run from early morning to late afternoon at the track I love it

was there any difference in performance using vp c85 over pump e-85?

I tested C85 on the dyno against pump. C85 was better top to bottom, and almost 5 percent better at peak. Jetting was higher with the C85. Went from 8 .144 jets to 8 150 jets. On 2 1250 dominators

C85 has MTBE and a few other oxidizers, one of which is one of the propanes.

I’m on my second year of using it and love it. It has proven to be more consistent than race gas for me at a fraction of the cost. Get a good carb by someone that knows what they are doing and make sure your fuel supply system is up to the increased demand. I even let the fuel sit in my metal fuel tank over winter with zero rust or corrosion issues. Just added a little Lucas E85 stabilizer and all is well. I have not noticed any oil dilution either. Just make sure if you start the engine, always let it get over 170* before you kill it to vaporize the fuel. Takes a little getting used to, but is worth it in my opinion.

this is what I do.