Switched to E-85 Fuel

[73 Sanger Flat]

I switched over to E -85 last week on my new 555 Chevy .I tested it Saturday . We got the new carb fron BLP out of Florida and beside it being a little lean on the idle circuit, I had to back the idle mixtures screws out a little more than normal.(2.75 turns instead of 1.5 turns) .  It had a small hesitation on take off when i would stomp it to floor from a standstill  , the carb and E-85 ran good . . I email BLP and he is sending me a smaller air bleeds for the idle circuit to help the idle circuit to get more fuel .  , Might need to go up a little on the squirters also to get the hesitatoin to go away  .

Overall I am happy with the switch so far . I will need to do dome tuning and testing to get it where I want it , but for out of the box performance , The new 1050 carb that flowed 1289 did pretty good . The plugs are just an off white so it is close on the jetting.

I do not have any rpm numbers to compare the race fuel to the  e-85 fuel , plus a went up in gears so I do not know how the boat is doing . Hopefully I will get some time and be able to start doing some tuning and get some GPS number to see how it is doing.

The price of the E-85 at Kroger gas staton was 2.15 a gallon . The smell of it coming out the hot headers will be something I will have to get used to , but it will be easy with the price that cheap .. It does go through more fuel than it did with the race fuel and the 1250 carb , but it will still be worth the money to switch over .I will still be saving about 5.00 gallon even with the extra fuel consumtion .. about 30-40 more fuel consuption .

I might not picked up any speed , but this thing is a torque monster  :smile16:

 

[J C Gordon]

Sounds pretty cool. Glad ya back on the water enjoying yourself.. Keep us posted on the pro's and con's of the E-85 may be something worth looking into in the future.. :smile17:

 

[78Kona]

I am goung to E-85 also in my 523 Ford but I am leaning towards the Ron's Terminator setup. By the time I upgrade my fuel system and carb the injection will be about the same cost.
From what I understand the hp is real close tto race gas but the torque is much better.
I can't wait to get it finished.
Alan

 

[J C Gordon]

What does the exhaust smell like? Burnt french fries? :smile16:

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

Smell like maybe  moonshine or everclear .  Smell like something you should be drinking and not burning in your engine.

Once I get it tuned for the e-85 , I think it will be nice for the price .

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

All I did was install the carb and adjusted my fuel pressure , did not change anything but the carb so far .. The mechanical edlebrock fuel pump kept up just fine so far .. I went through some fuel in an hour for sure ..

 

[turboed-tx-20]

I've bought some stuff from BLP and it was top notch.
Curious how much that carb cost ya.

 

[slow67]

Did you increase your total timing from before?

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

Currently I am still running 36 degrees.Same as i was on the race fuel .  I am checking to see if I can bump it up a little , maybe go to 38 degrees . This is all new to me so trying to be carefull ..

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

Well my smaller air bleeds and larger squirters was sent out Thursday , I was hoping to get them today for testing  Saturday . Oh well , that just means I have to take the boat back out again the following weekend for testing .

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

update , just got the box at home according to my wife from BLP . They are top notch so for on parts and service . Will let you guys know Monday on how she runs with the air bleeds and bigger squirters

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

Did you increase your total timing from before?

No , according to my engine builder and few other people I talked to , the timing will be the same as race fuel set up . The flash point is close to the same or something like that . All I know , my engine build said to leave it where we have it set so I will ..

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

Recieved the larger squirters and the smaller air bleeds and the Carb did great . So far I am happy with the switch .
I need to try a few different props to get my slippage down a little and  it should be a nice little lake boat ..

The new engine has a lot of torque

JJ told me it gad 29 gears in it , we was suprise that i could still get it to prop burn .It time to try a different prop . My prop my be just wore out and not bitting good enough on take off , plus the slip is about 19%

 

[Devilman]

No pics or vids of the testing & tuning? C'mon mannnn... :cheesy:

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

I know , I am bad !!!
I forgot my camera , but I think EO took some picture yesterday . I need to buy a digital video camera ..

I only GPS my first run and it did 103 mph at 6700 rpm  . I think the last few runs I aired it it a little more and I am sure I got 105 out of it . I forgot to  turn the dam gps back on for those last few runs .. I am happy with it so far ..  Need to borow a few prop and get my slippage down some ..

Sorry Kenny , no video this time out ..

 

[Devilman]

haha just yankin yer chain Billy... :wink:  And if its runnin that hard & yer havin fun with it, well thats the main thing isn't it? :smile16: :smile17:

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

I have not heard of it gumming up , I think what happen is people put it in fueltanks that has old fuel that had dried up and varnished in there and the E-85 actually cuts all of that crap loose and then it get to be a mess.

The only proplem I think most people have is the e-85 getting moisture in it , anf if you let it sit over winter the e-85 evaporates and leave a white chaulky stuff in the carb .. I going to drain mine and then put some race fuel of av gas with some marvel mystery oil in it for the winter ..

 

[73 Sanger Flat]

haha just yankin yer chain Billy... :wink:  And if its runnin that hard & yer havin fun with it, well thats the main thing isn't it? :smile16: :smile17:

Yeah , I am happy to be back on the water .. It is leaving and launching the boat like it wants to fly .. If I don;t have enough down  cavitation plate in it when you  nail it running about 30-40 , it will actually just jump out of the water .. I stood it on it tail a few weeks back by doing that . They thought I was going to get wet . It actualy hurt landing that hard . I am trying not to do that again ..