• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

E85 Conversion

Share this page

mrstinson

mrstinson

Senior Member
Offline
I have an extra 1275 engine and was considering converting it to E85 or E100. Has anyone else considered or completed the conversion?

I probably won't get to it this year, but I was just curious if someone already did it.
 
I haven't done it, but I am very curious about your project.

To get the most out of E85/100 you will need to increase your compression and advance your spark considerably.

You may consider using Megasquirt to control fuel and spark or at the least Megajolt to control spark.
 
sounds interesting, anyone ever think of NOS?

Patrick
 
As I have heard the alcohol is pretty hard on the SU type seals but that is the only drawback that I know of.
Bill
 
Here is the biggest problem with ethanol. My dad was in the gas pump, tank, bulk tank repair business for something like 40 years. If ya'll remember back to the gasahol days, it was pretty much the same thing. It was ethanol. The problem is that ethanol mixes with gas and mixes with water. High enough ethanol and it essentially allows gas and water to mix. Crooked people were adding water to the mix and creating more fuel, but watering down the octane, etc. Or when an underground tank got water in it from a flood etc, when it was pure gas the water could be pumped off the bottom, leaving the pure gas, but gasahol would just mix with the water. I'm sure that with gas at $2.50 a gallon the temptation would be more than enough for some people. We used to have a place nearby here in Hendersonville that published a paper called Mother earth news and they made their own fuel and had a couple cars that they drove around in but the demand just was not there. As for me I will buy the straight gasoline unleaded regular as long as it is available.
 
""""""I have an extra 1275 engine and was considering converting it to E85 or E100. """"""

I'ts NOT a simple deal.

For a start....

As Ethanol is a water gatherer the fuel tank s/b stainless or a compatible plastic.
Fuel lines s/b stainless and any rubber hoses SAEJ10 or better. Fuel filter stainless body.
Carb jet hoses and jet line o-rings need compatibility. The plastic in the jet would probably be suspect also.
About 10-15% richer fuel curve and about 5% more spark lead.
Stainless or Stellite exhaust valves.
Something decent for a top ring (not cast)
 
Why would you need stainless valves? I thought ethanol burned much cooler than gas.

I think this is a great convesation. I believe that it may be neccessary for the classic car hobby to embrace alternative fuels if it is going to survive for generations to come.
 
Right now I believe ethanol is the best bet for running my midget on alternative fuels. Politics aside, I don't want to run gas forever. I am just starting and was looking for information. Thank you all for your input and I will look at making the rest of my midget ethanol happy; tank, lines, pump, etc.

Like I said, probably won't get to this project until next year.
 
I'd go ahead and make a throttle body fuel injection via the megasquirt. Then you can have more control and materials that withstand ethanol better. A crank fired EDIS would also make it easy to dial things in.
 
I have been told to go up 2 jet sizes on the weber if you have one to go with ethanol as a ball park figure. I have made home brewed beer for years and have thought of applying for a permit to make some ethanol but just never have. It would seem like such a waste to burn it after all that work anyways /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
Off topic, but Kim, home brew rocks! I've been doing it for about 6 or 7 months now, I love it!!! I think I have done about 7 batches.
 
Atrus said:
Off topic, but Kim, home brew rocks! I've been doing it for about 6 or 7 months now, I love it!!! I think I have done about 7 batches.
Click to expand...
I have been at it off and on since 1994. I still have some from about every batch I have made. Real hombrew with the yeast on it keeps forever and mellows with age like all wines and liquors. Just keep it in a dar cool place and it stays good. I started brewing larger and larger batches. Last one I used a 55 gallon clear plastic drum for my fermenter and made 50 gallons. I still like bottling my beer. Bottled 628 bottles from that batch. Wife Complained and I have moved on to other things for a while.
 
Kim and Kevin feel free to send any home brew. I am sure you can find taste testers here.

Back to subject.

I know someone posted their fuel injection project but I cannot find it anywhere. If someone has a link, internal or external, please post.

What is the best TBI setup for a Midget?
 
I am slowly working my way though one right now as well. I am in the planning stage still, I'd hope to have it going by the end of summer. Might hold out for summer '08 though also - I wanna drive the car!!!!
 
Back
Top