E-85 Fuel

[e.z.nightrider]

Anyone know about running E-85 in an XS1100. Up here it sells for about $1.95 per gallon (that's not a typo). Wondering what onversion is needed. Thanks Much.

[D. P. Larmee]

I've been thinking the same thing. From what I understand, the only thing really needed to convert is to richen up the carbueration. The ethonal does not pack the same amount of energy as straight gas and you therefore need more of it to get the same power.

Don't quote me on any of this as I haven't tried it yet.

If gas prices continue in the direction that they are going, you might think about setting up your own still and making your own ethanol.

[Dragonrider]

Ethenol is VERY tough on rubber components...that would be my only concern...are the fuel-lines, carb float needles (some models have the rubber tipped ones), fuel petcock gasket/rubber, and/or octopus diaphrams compatible...

I don't know the answer...but for me that would be the question.

[Pat Kelly]

...and when everyone starts using it the fuel company will see the opportunity to raise the price on that too (like with diesel, remember when that was cheaper than gas?).

[D. P. Larmee]

Ethanol can also be pretty corrosive on aluminum. You might try 50/50 mix of gas and ethanol. This way you can still reap the savings and minimize the negative effects. Then, you can tell us allif it worked.

[Hobbit]

E85

I heard that E85 is a mix of ethanol, gas and tax subsidies.
It is very corrosive and does not have the BTUs that regular fuel has, meaning that the bike will run lean and after correcting the mixture, you will get condiderably less fuel milage.

[RiskyBusiness]

E85

There is a guy who goes by Special Green who converted a '92 Suzi to burn E85. His conversion was simply tuning to richen his carb up. Here is a post that he wrote on
this blog :

Here in the Midwest, we can buy E-85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) at some gas stations. I've been running my '92 Suzuki GS500 motorcycle on it for almost two years. The "conversion" wasn't so much of a conversion, as just plain-old tuning.

When I first put E-85 in the tank, I tried starting it, to see if it would run. It was waaay too lean. For fun, I put a bathtub strainer over the air filter intake, and put different sized disks in the strainer basket, to choke-off the air intake (make it richer). It was still too lean. Finally, I stuck a Dixie cup in the air intake, completely blocking the air intake (as far as I could see). Finally, it would idle (although not smoothly).

So then, I embarked on tuning the engine to run richer (without the Dixie cup). I enlarged both the idle jet (to 143% of stock jet diameter) and main jets (to 128% of stock jet diameter). After tuning the pilot air/fuel mix, I've been running in this configuration successfully. My best guess is that in spring/summer/fall, I'm getting about 75% the MPG as I did with gasoline.

Other changes I made are: use synthetic oil (Mobil-1), since dino oil does not mix at all with ethanol; went one plug hotter on NGK's scale; advanced timing from 5 degrees BTDC to 12 degrees BTDC. If I were serious, I'd use domed pistons to increase compression ($300 + labor), and change the sprockets to take advantage of the added torque. I suspect that I could get 90% of the MPG.

But for now, I'm happy to burn E-85 with minimal changes to the carburetor. Most people should do fine with just changing the carburetor jets and maybe switching oil. Burning pure ethanol would be similar, but the increases in jet size would be a little bit more extreme.

Note that motorcycles are good for this, because there is a short manifold from the carburetor to the engine. Cars have more complex intake manifolds, and may benefit more from a manifold heater.

I have a few notes about the conversion and E-85 at http://E85.SpecialGreen.Com . Feel free to drop me a note there.

-- Special Green (greenspun@specialgreen.com), February 20, 2005.

I could not find any info on the web site he runs (Specialgreen.com).

One thing to note is that he is getting only 75% of the MPG with E85. Not to be a spoil sport (I love the idea of alternative fuels) but let's run the numbers...

If you drive 40 miles a day for 5 days a week (that's my commute) then that is 200 miles a week. Let's say your XS is getting 30 MPG on your commute. If you burn gas at $3 a gallon (I paid about that today) you will buy 6.6 gallons a week and pay about $20. If you do the conversion to E85 and can buy E85 for $2/gal what will you save? Hmmm.. if MPG takes a 25% decrease... that's about *counting on fingers* um... 22.5 MPG which converts to 8.8 gallons to cover 200 miles. At a buck a gallon less for E85 that saves you a grand total of

*drum roll please*

$2.40 a week.

So maybe its worth it... maybe not. But if you do the conversion be sure and let us know how it went. We should get one of the guys with injection to burn some E85 since they can adjust their mix on the fly.

BTW, E85 gets mixed differently depending on the season. It's 15% gas in the summer but 30% gas in the winter. Keep that in mind when tuning.


-Risky

[e.z.nightrider]

I knew my mpg would suffer but didn't know by how much. Yes, it's cheeper here because of tax subsidies. Risky, my savings would be even less per week. Hardly seeems worth the effort.