Those using E30 fuel...

[KrisR]

Are you blending it by yourself (with say 25% E85 and 75% 91/93 premium pump fuel) or are you buying it at a station that sells it from the pump? I suspect that the 'pump' E30 is blended with 87 fuel so it's effective octane level / knock resistance is lower than what you'd get if you blended it yourself?

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[Gnx300]

I blend it at the pump myself mixing E85 with 93 octane. I use this calculator everytime http://www.intercepteft.com/calc.html

 

[NewSVO]

Blend yourself, extremely easy. Divide the fuel tank capacity by 4 then put that much e85 in the tank (3.8 gallons) and the rest 93 unless you don't fill your tank on every fill up then that will make it a bit more difficult.

 

[cthomas5714]

For me I never run it to empty so I just add in half tanks so you just divide 15.5/8 and you put in 3/8s gas and 1/8 e85. It's real easy and you get used to it pretty fast.

 

[KrisR]

Yeah I'll probably blend it myself typically. There's a station that sells E30 that is sort-of on my way home from work, but it's probably better to just do it myself and not trust the 'E30' blend pump from the station.

Thanks

 

[KrisR]

Some spark advance data I acquired from my logs yesterday on E30 fuel, to compare to other logs on 93 from previous days. Note, ambient temp yesterday (around 68*)was around 25 degrees warmer than previous days.

Here's three screenshots comparing spark advance (column D) during a full 4th gear pull, with the log from yesterday on E30 on the left, an older log on 93 on the right. Mind you, air charge temps reached 130 degrees on the log yesterday, and was only in the mid-80s when I logged previously on 93.

Notice how much cleaner and more consistent the spark advance is.

Now, here's the spark adder per cylinder data (column AG is cylinder #1, AH is cylinder 2, etc) at around 6000rpm at the top of a full pull yesterday in fourth gear, again at 130* charge temp, E30 fuel...

The PCM is able to add all the spark it wants without having to pull it out because of knock activity.

Now, here's the same 6000rpm rev range from a previous pull in similar 130* air charge temp (but cooler ambient air) on 93 fuel (this was actually from Saturday's dyno session)

Now, here's the same spark adder dataset from a second backup pull (around 5 minutes later) with air-charge temp up to 146* at the top of the pull, 93 fuel:

Yikes, goodbye timing! Probably why it lost 20hp above 5500rpm on the second dyno pull. No, not exactly related to the E30 topic but I found it interesting.

Anyway, I'm impressed so far on what only 30% ethanol can do with these cars. Anxious for another dyno session to test it out!

 

[higdominator]

http://www.intercepteft.com/calc.html

Use this to maximize E30 potential. I ran it exclusively for months until jumping onto the E85 boat.

 

[ultimate warrior]

What blend would benefit a stock EB?

Occasionally on mine, when part throttling 2nd gear I can get a ping and light timing pull back.

 

[KrisR]

I don't think a stock tune will run properly on anything more than E15. Just try to run the highest octane premium fuel you can find.

 

[chadhtx40]

Its a good idea to test your e85 at your gas station as well. Not all e85 is created equally. Some may have 75% ethanol while others maybe just 80%. Get a good little tester off of ebay to make sure the calculations are on par - http://www.ebay.com/itm/QUICK-FUEL-...m2ea6a91f51:m:mjZFyrSpn8woTI6LpN_0eGw&vxp=mtr

 

[paullyd210]

Its a good idea to test your e85 at your gas station as well. Not all e85 is created equally. Some may have 75% ethanol while others maybe just 80%. Get a good little tester off of ebay to make sure the calculations are on par - http://www.ebay.com/itm/QUICK-FUEL-...m2ea6a91f51:m:mjZFyrSpn8woTI6LpN_0eGw&vxp=mtr

you sound like you've done this a couple of times, in your experience if you test a single gas station and its for example 70% is it consistent and almost always 70% or does the ethanol content change even at the same gas station in between fill ups?

 

[KrisR]

Its a good idea to test your e85 at your gas station as well. Not all e85 is created equally. Some may have 75% ethanol while others maybe just 80%. Get a good little tester off of ebay to make sure the calculations are on par - http://www.ebay.com/itm/QUICK-FUEL-...m2ea6a91f51:m:mjZFyrSpn8woTI6LpN_0eGw&vxp=mtr

Yes, thank you, I'm aware of the E70-E85 range depending on season in my area. I've had probably 6 different E85 combos in various cars in the last decade or so. Yes, the ethanol mixture can vary, and yes it does cause slight variances in air/fuel ratio on open-loop systems, but ethanol fuels are so forgiving it didn't matter, and as long as it's close to being the correct ethanol % with regard to the tune, the fuel trims will take care of it on closed loop systems in my experience. I've never owned or used a tester. I'll watch fuel trims and make adjustments to my mixture ratio accordingly.

The last tankful I figured we still had around E70-E75 in the tank at my local station because of the spring season, plus our everyday pump fuel is E10 around here already, so I used a 1/3 'E85' and 2/3 premium pump ratio and according to the fuel trims in the logs I got it pretty much dead on.

That being said I've never had a setup that was tuned so aggressively that a slight change in ethanol percentage would have any catastrophic effect. That would just be silly on a daily driven street car anyway.

 

[KrisR]

http://www.intercepteft.com/calc.html

Use this to maximize E30 potential. I ran it exclusively for months until jumping onto the E85 boat.

Thank you, I saved the link on my phone so I can always have it handy!

 

[Tune+]

There is an ethanol calculator app in the play store and apple store. Download it.

 

[KrisR]

There is an ethanol calculator app in the play store and apple store. Download it.

Good plan. I'm guessing it's similar to the online version 'higdominator' posted above?

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