E85 and Cats..... keep or delete? Help!

[WildHorse]

If you mix 2 gallons of race E85 and 14 gallons of 91. You get a E19.5 & a 1 point increase in octane. Now your fuel trims have to work extra hard & that 1 point will yield only a very marginal gain in power. and if you run that on a FLEX it's to little for the tune to notice. Either run 91/93/94 or straight E85.

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[Dave2013M3]

This was discussed also ad-nauseum on the M3 boards. People who logged their cars with an E85 blend. It turned out for the S65 powerplant you couldn't go above E30 without issues. Those cars were only rated to E10 not E15 like our cars. E85 is already a blend of regular fuel and ethanol. You just are blending in more of an ethanol content. The Mustangs fuel system will more than tolerate an E15-E20 blend, I know guys running E30 without a tune. I won't do that...

I have never had an issue with my car or my M3 when I had it running that blend. I was using Torco in my M3 for a while but it turned my plugs all orange which is a problem with the S65 powerplant (E9X M3 V8) as the plugs are ionized and use them as the knock sensor, so coating them with the MMT and other chemicals is not a good idea. The good news is in Cali we get the good E85 at 105 octane, so you don't have to blend as much.

 

[Dave2013M3]

If you mix 2 gallons of race E85 and 14 gallons of 91. You get a E19.5 & a 1 point increase in octane. Now your fuel trims have to work extra hard & that 1 point will yield only a very marginal gain in power. and if you run that on a FLEX it's to little for the tune to notice. Either run 91/93/94 or straight E85.

Well thats the issue you can't get 93 or 94 octane in Cali. I also run 2 gallons of VP 101 Streetblaze with the 2 gallons of E85. My car runs like a scalded dog!! The car is rated for E15 so my E19 blend is having no issues. Also you are actually at 92.8 octane due to the fact we get the real mccoy when it comes to E85, we have to as it will be taxed like regular gasoline if it falls below E85, in fact most stations that sell E85 test out to E87.

 

[Adamone92]

good info from both of you. Ive seen similar things with the e85 not increasing it much @WildHorse

I personally will continue to only mix race fuel or boostane with my pump gas as recommended by lund until I go to fuel system and straight e85; As I have no reason to mix the e85 with my pump gas, make sure its true e85 over and over..etc. My setup is running great as is as far as fueling is concerned. its an interesting topic though.

 

[Adamone92]

Well thats the issue you can't get 93 or 94 octane in Cali. I also run 2 gallons of VP 101 Streetblaze with the 2 gallons of E85. My car runs like a scalded dog!! The car is rated for E15 so my E19 blend is having no issues.

is there a reason you also add the e85 instead of just the vp 101 that I am missing? Seems like the results would be about the same. Genuinely curious as im currently in cali too as you know.

 

[WildHorse]

This was discussed also ad-nauseum on the M3 boards. People who logged their cars with an E85 blend. It turned out for the S65 powerplant you couldn't go above E30 without issues.

Good for the BMW crowd. And good on the 18+ Mustangs with PFI & DFI. On my 17 it did not like any ethanol content about 15% or so without a tune. The short term were working to hard to feed it. But, to each there own. I stick with 94. And at the track I use 5 gallons of MS109.

 

[Dave2013M3]

is there a reason you also add the e85 instead of just the vp 101 that I am missing? Seems like the results would be about the same. Genuinely curious as im currently in cali too as you know.

Ahh, yea!! E85 is $2.15 a gallon....VP101 is $9.99..

 

[Adamone92]

Ahh, yea!! E85 is $2.15 a gallon....VP101 is $9.99..

I feel the pain on the race gas price. same here lol
so the e85 is purely for an extra ~1 point boost just to be safe I assume?

 

[Dave2013M3]

Good for the BMW crowd. And good on the 18+ Mustangs with PFI & DFI. On my 17 it did not like any ethanol content about 15% or so without a tune. The short term were working to hard to feed it. But, to each there own. I stick with 94. And at the track I use 5 gallons of MS109.

I was buying 5 gallon pales of MS109 for $74.00, but its getting harder and harder to get it in Cali. California now makes you sign a waiver that you are using it for an off road event. A lot of the shops that I bought it from stopped selling it as they are worried about Cali CARB busting them. I can get VP101 from the pump believe it or not in Cali just 4.5 miles away and their are a multitude of E85 stations in Los Angeles.

The E9X M3s make 8-10rwhp more with 93 than they do with 91, it wasn't such a suttle difference. I noticed it definitely on my car as it had a 93 octane tune. For the whole 7 years I ran the car it not once ever had 91 octane in the car except when I got it from the dealer.

 

[Dave2013M3]

I feel the pain on the race gas price. same here lol
so the e85 is purely for an extra ~1 point boost just to be safe I assume?

It gives me almost 2 points if you see my chart above. The VP101 gets me almost to 94 with the E85. Also the extra ethanol does cool down the fuel charge more, maybe just a tad but its not just for octane.

 

[Adamone92]

It gives me almost 2 points if you see my chart above. The VP101 gets me almost to 94 with the E85.

interesting..
we only have one gas station with 100 and e85 nearby. fortunately its like 10 mins away.

maybe I should also add 2 gallons of e85 each time with my 2 gallons of 100...

or just use boostane I guess and not worry about always using that same gas station.

 

[Dave2013M3]

interesting..
we only have one gas station with 100 and e85 nearby. fortunately its like 10 mins away.

maybe I should also add 2 gallons of e85 each time with my 2 gallons of 100...

or just use boostane I guess and not worry about always using that same gas station.

I may start using Boostane or something of the same ilk to replace the race gas. I make it a ritual I drive late at night when there is no traffic to the station on Pico and Barrington in W. LA and I pump 2 gallons of VP101 to blend with my 2 gallons of E85 then fill up the rest with plain old 91.

When I had the M3 with test pipes the smell of MS109 though was glorious. Where in Cali do you live again?

 

[Adamone92]

I may start using Boostane or something of the same ilk to replace the race gas. I make it a ritual I drive late at night when there is no traffic to the station on Pico and Barrington in W. LA and I pump 2 gallons of VP101 to blend with my 2 gallons of E85 then fill up the rest with plain old 91.

When I had the M3 with test pipes the smell of MS109 though was glorious. Where in Cali do you live again?

I almost prefer boostane since I always know how much itll boost. Race gas and e85 at the pump can fluctuate with their quality, especially in places that not many people use them. Im trying to upgrade my fuel system and use e85 asap..

I live in central coast, Vandenberg AFB. around santa maria. about an hour from santa Barbara if that helps

 

[Dave2013M3]

I almost prefer boostane since I always know how much itll boost. Race gas and e85 at the pump can fluctuate with their quality, especially in places that not many people use them. Im trying to upgrade my fuel system and use e85 asap..

I live in central coast, Vandenberg AFB. around santa maria. about an hour from santa Barbara if that helps

Shit sorry forgot about Vanderberg AFB

 

[Adamone92]

Shit sorry forgot about Vanderberg AFB

no worries! appreciate your info so far btw. same to you @WildHorse . I don't claim to know everything, but id like to learn, so these discussions are awesome.

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