Convert Your Car To Run On Ethanol With New Kit

I've already got an E85 car. It's a Chevy S10 flex-fuel. I don't have that nifty yellow gas cap though :(

regardless, ethanol is great and all, and I'd use it if I could. but you can't even get it in Southern California. There are 2 stations, and one is on a military base, leaving only 1 available station somewhere in San Diego.

Being in orange county, that makes the only station about 90 miles away.

There is a company very close to me in Long Beach that makes E85 available, but they told me they would only sell me a MINIMUM of a tanker full. Most of their customers are the military and large private vehicle fleets.

So yeah, as clean and wonderful as ethanol might be (debate debate), I can't even get it.

Maybe an interesting novelty, but I sincerely cannot see the value of this product (with corn as a feedstock). I'm a supporter of biofuels (specifically biodiesel and perhaps a perfected cellulosic ethanol, or perhaps biobutanol?). The most cohesive and pursuasive argument I've seen against corn E85 has recently come from Robert Rapier - "Vinod Khosla Debunked: Ethanol is NOT the Answer," http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2006/7/24/202222/351
BTW, his personal blog is wonderful.

1) Flexfuel vehicles have a sensor that detects the ethanol percentage in the fuel and adjusts for differences. These systems appear to use a simple switch that increases the fuel volume to account for the lower energy density of ethanol. If you mix e85 and regular gas you may have percentages anywhere between.
2) No auto manufacturer in the U.S. has certified these devices and so there use violates your warranty.
3) In spite of any claims of engine protection, ethanol is hard on seals and hoses so I would be cautious about running ethanol in a vehicle not designed for it.

Where do you flick the switch to when you have half a tank of E85 and half or regular?

I would guess you will have a seperate tank for the e85 because it is corrsive to non e85 fuel lines and such so you can't just put it in your gas tank and expect it to work. Any e85 capable vehicle such as the s10 above has different fuel lines and fuel pump than the non e85 capable version of the same vehicle.

Their website says you can run on a mix, but if that's the case why do you need to flip a switch?

I think it has a separate small gas tank for cold weather. Engines don't like starting with E85 when they're cold. Once the engine warms up you switch to E85.

When it comes to corrosion E85 can cause damage, since prolonged exposure to high concentrations of ethanol may corrode metal and rubber parts in older engines (pre-1988) designed primarily for gasoline.
The hydroxyl on the ethanol molecule is an extremely weak acid, but it can enhance corrosion for some natural materials. For post-1988 fuel-injected engines, all the components are already designed to accommodate E10 (10% ethanol) or higher blends through the elimination of exposed magnesium and aluminum metals and natural rubber and cork gasket parts.
Hence, there is a greater degree of flexibility in just how much more ethanol may be added without causing ethanol-induced damage.
With Full flex Gold you do not need to flip a switch to go from gas to E85 or back it takes about 20 min to install. Flex Tek tells you need a certain lubricant to run your car on E85 which is unfounded, call any car dealer that sells flex fuel vehicles and ask what special lubricant they need to run their vehicles. Any other questions please contact us a www.fullflexint.com we have Live support as soon as you get onto the site.

Does anyone know of a conversion kit for a '76 Chevrolet 350 engine? I had a friend years back that raced winged sprint cars that used alcohol for fuel, it had a (Hillborne?) fuel injection system and plastic fuel cells with "pills" or jets which allowed him to regulate fuel entering the intake system. I was wondering if a system like that could be used as a day to day power system for a regular vehicle, because the system he used typically produced over 500 hp and used a large amount of fuel which wouldn't be economical in the vehicle I plan to use it in.

The only way I'd use this is to distill my own at home. Even then I'd need a license and regular proof I wasn't making whisky!
Also, bio ethanol is only 2p cheaper around here, pointless

Ethanol can be made for 1 dollar a gallon using expired fruits.

I have a 1997 Ford Explorer xlt.5.0 ltr.motor.Gas driven.How can I use this e-85 ?Will it be safe for my vehicle,and what kind of gas milage can I expect,etc.Also is their a proper kit for it ?

There should be no corrosive effects from ethanol in a vehicle made for it. I've been running E85 non stop in my 06 Impala for a year and a half now. When I switched from gas to E85 there was an immediete power boost, and with the cost currently at 1.93 a gallon, who cares about the 4 miles per gallon i loose.

I'm not seeing where there is an increase in feed costs from ethanol production as there are more corn crops being grown in the US now than there ever have been to date. Additional crops have been planted to supply for ethanol. In addition after the refineries have extracted from the corn, the left over corn pulp is dried and used for animal feed.

commenting on CHS post. . .

CALIFORNIA.. . . WE NEED MORE E-85 STATIONS!!!

According to an interview I heard on NPR yesterday, ethanol is actually DIRTIER than gasoline, when the landclearing involved is taken into account - so using it actually makes the greenhouse gas situation WORSE.

Well I heard theres this home fueling system thing called Efuel100 which makes ethonal as cheap as 1 buck a gallon. And the thing only costs about 5,000 bucks if you get it at an approved store. but the question I have is because it says it makes Ethanol 100 and it claims it can be used with anycar but I don't want to risk ruining my buick on a chance of false advertisement. so what's the differnce between ethanol 100 and E85 Ethanol. because if I can use that Efuel100 with my car I may just buy one. I'd rather pay 10bucks on suger and yeast then 30bucks at a 711 for the same about of fuel.

E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler is what your talking about. E-Fuel Corp have for sale a machine that allows homeowners to make their own Ethanol. It can make 35 gallons a week. Uses sugar and cost only $1 a gallon to produce.

It cost around $9000 but worth every penny.
You don't need to pay for one on your own, why not get your entire neighbourhood to collectively purchase one.

It's a tax deduction if purchased under a business. Don't you know a tradesman in your neighbourhood who runs his own business.

You can also on sell ethanol to other people and make good money for yourself.

I don't know about you but I'm tired of America being dependant on Arab oil.

Come on America, wake up.

The difference between Ethanol 100 and E85 is E85 has 15 percent gasoline in it for lubrication and/or so it's not so corrosive, I believe. So using the above kit with Ethanol 100 should be good. I'd say but a car that runs but is a piece and convert and if its good convert your car.

How would you plan on sharing a Efuel100 system with your "whole nieghborhood" if it only makes 35 gallons a week????? I need about 60 gallons a week just for one car.

can i make a 79 chev el camino to run on ethanol

most people dont know that u can also blend isopropyl alcohol and ethyl alcohols 50/50 and run your car smoothly and entirely without gasoline and actually last longer in your tank, because the amount of usable fuel energy in blended alcohols burn differently and cleaner than gasoline with up to triple the length of burn time as long as u carefully regulate and meter the amount of filtered air being burned with the alcohol based fuels thru the engine. the exact same amount of pure ethyl alcohol will burn three times longer than the exact amount of regular gasoline and burn over 95% cleaner producing very little almost no soot, whereas gasoline literally belches huge smelly clouds of black pollution.if you use alcohol fuels to power your vehicle you probably need to use a spark plug that can throw 2 different sparks at the same time, one spark gap gauged for regular gasoline and the other spark gap gauged for burning the alcohol based fuels, per spark plug ,that way u can switch seamlessly between using 2 different types of fuels without doing much else to your car, as long as using alcohol based fuels wont corrode the parts in your car. u really dont have to worry about corroding aluminum parts or stainless steel parts using gas or alcohol fuels and usually rubber and plastic parts that can withstand direct continous contact with gasoline wont corrode nor fall apart when used with pure alcohol or blended fuels.the only metal parts u have to be concerned about possibly corroding when using alcohol based fuels is just iron metal parts, but still only if your alcohol based fuels contain more than 1% water contaminaint every day for months or even years.u can do a simple test with parts you are not sure of if they'll stand up to alcohol based fuels is simply to soak the part in the type of alcohol based fuel for 5 minutes, and if it does not corrode right away, then it should last, then next soak the same part in your alcohol based fuel for 1 hour to test for any rust build up, if there is none, the next step is to do exactly the same thing soaking the part for 24 hours overnight. after the end of the waiting period, just check the part for corrosion or rust buildup, if there is no degradation, then it is safe to use with alcohol blended fuels or even pure alcohol based fuels. the only real danger is only if you have a lot of water in the fuel for long periods of time that have extended contact with unpainted cast iron parts that could cause rust over a long period of time.
thanx 4 your time-Utopian Websurfer jan/09

Sure, E85 can be used in gas-designed engines with a few replacement parts and a tweak of the PROM, but think about where your ethanol is coming from...

Big Government is taking bushels full of cash from corn-producing lobbies and driving the price of domestic corn through the roof!!!

Fact: Soybean ethanol is 8 times more efficient than corn ethanol, Hemp Ethanol is 15 times more efficient than corn Ethanol !!!!!

Hemp is less costly and easier to grow than corn, soybeans and even wheat, why do you think they call it WEED? Because it is.

For centuries, Hemp gave us food, clothing & fuel...
What happened? Our beloved Government decided that Hemp is "evil" and that all of us, children, could not have it.

It's time for each of us to stand up and demand our rights.

All gasoline these days already contains a fair percentage of ethanol, so corrosion shouldn't be a problem for modern cars. You would definitely not want to mix gas and e85 in the same tank with this product. You'd either be running too rich or too lean. I'd like to know how well e85 really runs in engines not designed for it. I always though that not only did you have to run richer with e85 than with gasoline, but you also have to increase your compression ratio significantly.