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370Z Purist · 06-21-2012, 02:56 AM

E85 is effective because it is largely ethanol, and has an octane number greater than octane itself, so yeah, anti-detonation qualities are good.

Unfortunately, for the regular joe (or anyone who runs pump fuel), 15% ethanol fuels will probably mean we pay the same price for less gasoline and more grain alcohol/moonshine in our fuel, lower fuel economy, while maintaining mildly better emissions at the loss of power.

In other words, this is terrible news and I would go with pure gasoline if it were still to be found.

I'm sure a professional tuner could figure out a way to change engine characteristics to make more use of the high octane numbers, but unless someone figures out an effective compression ratio updated to use E15 (perhaps a 11.5 or a 12 to 1) to preserve the literature value of crank horsepower, the next generations of Zs might have a lower power output merely due to the change in fuel. If only we have something like SkyActiv... that **** is crazy. 14:1?

06-21-2012, 02:56 AM	#6 (permalink)
370Z Purist A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Zion, Illinois Posts: 1,873 Drives: '09 370Z-T BS M6 Rep Power: 19	E85 is effective because it is largely ethanol, and has an octane number greater than octane itself, so yeah, anti-detonation qualities are good. Unfortunately, for the regular joe (or anyone who runs pump fuel), 15% ethanol fuels will probably mean we pay the same price for less gasoline and more grain alcohol/moonshine in our fuel, lower fuel economy, while maintaining mildly better emissions at the loss of power. In other words, this is terrible news and I would go with pure gasoline if it were still to be found. I'm sure a professional tuner could figure out a way to change engine characteristics to make more use of the high octane numbers, but unless someone figures out an effective compression ratio updated to use E15 (perhaps a 11.5 or a 12 to 1) to preserve the literature value of crank horsepower, the next generations of Zs might have a lower power output merely due to the change in fuel. If only we have something like SkyActiv... that **** is crazy. 14:1? __________________ -Phil "Since one of my brake light bulbs just went out, the forum told me that my piston rings are about to blow." Last edited by 370Z Purist; 06-21-2012 at 02:59 AM.