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Has anyone given any thought to converting a regular run of the mill gas burner to run on the E85 fuel?

 

I have this fuel available in my area, so I experiment with it in both my legacys with ej22s. I have tried a lot of different mixtures of straight gas and E85. A mixture of 6 gallons of gas (87 octane) and 5 gallons of E85 works best. The octane for alcohol fuel is around 105, so mixing with the gas is a nice boost to stop the pinging I get with low octane gas at a 30 cent savings per gallon at the pump.

 

It would be nice to have a flex fuel vehicle conversion, possibly to straight alcohol.

 

Just trying to find someone else interested.

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Honestly, you may think you are saving money but in reality - eh, not so much.

It is a proven fact that the E85 fuel gets lower miles per gallon than the common 10% ethanol fuels do.

 

so sure, you save a few cents at the pump, but, you would be going back more often (fewer miles) so essentially you are not saving anything and possibly causing damage to and/or reducing the lifespan of your engine & its components since they are not actually designed to run on this fuel.

 

from an article at cars.com:

Will E85 Save Me Money?

At its current price per gallon, E85 doesn't save you money, and it might cost you more. As of September 2008, a gallon of E85 was 15 percent less than the cost of a gallon of gasoline nationally, according to e85prices.com. However, E85 produces 27 percent less energy per gallon than gasoline, so on average it ends up costing more.

 

For example, the flex-fuel 2010 Chevrolet Impala equipped with a 3.5-liter V-6 engine gets an EPA-estimated 18/29 mpg (city/highway) on gasoline and 14/21 mpg when burning E85. The acceleration is pretty much the same, but the car's range is shortened. In other words, you'll be filling the tank more often when using E85.

 

Do the math and you'll discover that E85 must be priced roughly 28 percent less than gas just to break even. For example, if gasoline is $3 per gallon, E85 would have to be priced below $2.16 per gallon. There are regions in the Corn Belt where E85 reaches this threshold, making it cost effective.

 

link to full article: cars.com

 

and another article: Why fuel mileage drops with E85

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