Ethanol - Tuning

[PYPE2L]

In MO, oil companys are forced to blend ethanol with gasoline whin economics dictate. Gasoline contains 125,000 BTU/gal. 100% ethanol is 84,000 BTU/gal. Therefore, a 90/10 mix of gas/ethanol is 120,900 BTU/gal. Thats a 4% decrease in energy per unit volume. All the places I get gas say it "may" have up to 10% ethanol. Most vehicles are designed to run up to 85/15. But what if I have removed the O2 sensor with TuneBoy tune and am running open loop so fuel/air ratios are fixed. Is the bike going to run right?

As an aside, if you buy 90/10 blend premium at the same price as gasoline regular, you are loosing. It should be priced 4% lower since energy content is 4% lower, information they are not very forthcoming with.
This is not considering the whole arab stranglehold issue though.

I'm no expert by any means. Any experience to share????

 

[hombre]

The bike will run fine, but your power will be down. Shell recently changed to 10% ethanol at our local stations, incurring my wrath. We ran back to back dyno runs on my R3 and power dropped from 267 to 263 on the 90/10 ethanol fuel. As you state... lost BTUs mean less HP. I'm considering going back to my "street blend" to make that up, but need to test for detonation with the SC boost.

 

[HeR3tic]

In MO, oil companys are forced to blend ethanol with gasoline whin economics dictate. Gasoline contains 125,000 BTU/gal. 100% ethanol is 84,000 BTU/gal. Therefore, a 90/10 mix of gas/ethanol is 120,900 BTU/gal. Thats a 4% decrease in energy per unit volume. All the places I get gas say it "may" have up to 10% ethanol. Most vehicles are designed to run up to 85/15. But what if I have removed the O2 sensor with TuneBoy tune and am running open loop so fuel/air ratios are fixed. Is the bike going to run right?

As an aside, if you buy 90/10 blend premium at the same price as gasoline regular, you are loosing. It should be priced 4% lower since energy content is 4% lower, information they are not very forthcoming with.
This is not considering the whole arab stranglehold issue though.

I'm no expert by any means. Any experience to share????

Excellent point!

How much impact is ethanol having on the world at large. It it really worth all the starvation

God meant for corn to be eaten; it's questionable as to what it was intended. The next eco-savings will be the forcing of eating fish and vegetable proteins so as to reduce the demand on red meat. There's a red blooded tube worm at the oceans depths that might be the forced substitute. I read there were some red blooded clams dredged up in the same discovery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin There was never enough dinosaurs to produce the quantities of spent and reserve oil deposits on this then tiny planet.

 

[Bluemarlin]

I think the only way it would be worth it is to cook it in your backyard from grass clippings!

 

[HeR3tic]

The Eco-Terrorist have this world in a frenzy. They're not driving nails to save the trees as much as they are the driving force behind the new world religion. Tal Brooke speaks on the matter in his book: One World

http://www.scp-inc.org/president/index.php

The scp.org home page: http://www.scp-inc.org/ckbody.php just in case you don't find it otherwise.

 

[W. Tripp]

Ethanol is not a bad thing... good for bourbon and all that.

Fuel ethanol SHOULD be made from sugar cane, sorgum, sugar beets, etc. for 4 times the ethanol per acre as corn, or from switchgrass for even more efficiency. But that will come with second generation biofuels - when politicians and the corn growers get out of the issue. It is not going to cure the current fuel issues, but it does help to reduce the fuel imports and keeps the tree-huggers happy.

Now for gearheads, E85 is a dream come true. 112 octane, great vaporization, improved power/torque, etc. If the engine is built for E85 (increased compression, boost, timing, intake and exhaust designs, etc.), the mileage is the same or even better - despite what you may have heard from those who have never run it.

With the recent availability of E85 locally, I am highly interested in converting one of my bikes and possibly a new hotrod project to be run on E85 exclusively. However, I can buy pure methanol at USD $1.75 per gallon. Even at a rate of 2:1 compared to gasoline, methanol is looking like a great value.

If you have never experienced the torque/fun of alcohol based fuels, I highly suggest it. A splash of nitromethane (at 10%), and it even tunes like gas.

 

[wilbur-t]

By the time a gallon of ethanol is refined and delivered to the pump in this country, it has taken a couple of gallons of oil to get it there. Where's the sense in that?

We have an ethanol station near the shop where I work, and believe me, that stuff causes check engine lights galore.

 

[hombre]

Here's my "street blend":

5 gal. 93 Octane pump gas
1.5 gal. Toluene
12 oz. NitroPropane

Resulting blend is 98 Octane... gave a nice boost when my R3 was naturally aspirated.

 

[W. Tripp]

How much impact is ethanol having on the world at large. It it really worth all the starvation

I can't speak for the rest of the world, or even for large parts of the nation, but I have seen too many ranchers in MT sell their land and get of of cattle due to cheaper foreign beef and overpriced land taxes. In The South, many farmers moved to catfish or shrimp farming, then went bankrupt due to cheaper foriegn supplies. When the US dollar is so low that fuel prices make growing and bringing produce to market (as food or fuel) too high to be profitable, then there is no reason for ranchers and farmers to continue.

Most of this land is still around, sitting untilled or ungrazed. A bit of rearranging the farming and fuel subsidies, and it will make farming profitable again.

If the old farming/ranching families get out of the industry, the chance of new ones taking their place is slim... to none. It is only the bigger outfits that can make a profit in the current situation.

This isn't a new problem, it has been coming for decades. It is only now that we are seeing the results.

 

[PYPE2L]

energy

The longer we wait to deal with the energy crisis, the more painful it will be. Remember when gas shot up to $2.00 / gal. People were wanting the gov to pull oil out of the strategic reserves!
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Is does take more energy to make ethanol than it contains. But, if you do the math, ethanol sells for about $38/ million BTU, and the coal that provides the processing energy is about $1.20 / Million BTU.
But you can't drive your car on a trunk load of coal.
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Problem is, politicians will lie about anything to get elected, and delay facing issues that are eventually emminent.


That my 2 cents