Converting MS3 to E85 / Flex Fuel?

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Beltonius

Member
Anyone on here performed the necessary conversion to E85? (changed injectors and fuel lines etc?) If so, how'd it go and where did you get the parts and how much work was it?

Anyone looked into it and decided against it?

Yes, I know mileage goes down, but I'm predicting that E85 (hopefully derived from switchgrass or otherwise from something other than ears of corn) will end up being cheaper per joule (eg less than 70% of the cost of gasoline, so actual cost per mile decreases) in a few years. Anyway, so I just figured I would look into if it was even possible, and then how much work it'd be.

Anyway, thanks for any responses.
 
Buy a bicycle.


For realz though.... you relly want to switch to E85? I think it's a mistake. Prices for that stuff is gonna sky rocket
 
Beltonius said:
Anyone on here performed the necessary conversion to E85? (changed injectors and fuel lines etc?) If so, how'd it go and where did you get the parts and how much work was it?

Anyone looked into it and decided against it?

Yes, I know mileage goes down, but I'm predicting that E85 (hopefully derived from switchgrass or otherwise from something other than ears of corn) will end up being cheaper per joule (eg less than 70% of the cost of gasoline, so actual cost per mile decreases) in a few years. Anyway, so I just figured I would look into if it was even possible, and then how much work it'd be.

Anyway, thanks for any responses.
Click to expand...

you shouldn't need to change much except injectors, and tuning. with an octane rating over 100 it would be worth it if your shooting for more power
 
It might not seem the smartest thing to do to our car, but I can see it might be worthwhile down the road in a few years.

Especially if you have a ready, cheap source of the fuel.
 
This topic has been talked over a few times on evo forums, for us, they say that the cost per mile is actually more than for gas because of the loss in miles per gallon. Now, if your looking into big power too its an option to think about.

The other thing is with the tuning available for evos, they give you a switch to flip between gasoline maps and e85 maps...
 
you wont get as good gas mileage out of straight E85, and in a few years price is gonna skyrocket cause we arent gonna be able to make enough corn for fuel and produce....

If you are worried about fuel economy, buy something like my friend's yaris that gets about 42 combined driving (NOT a hybrid and only cost $12k). If you try to make this car more fuel efficient, its not gonna be fast anymore, so just buy a different car or something

My dad is about to buy an old TDI Jetta for 2 grand, a biodisel kit for $2,500, and already found 2 chinese food restaurants who will give him all the oil he can carry for free.
 
Don't buy into the E85 crap. This isn't Brazil. The more people push E85, the more it drives up the cost of food. The more crop that's used to make E85, drives up the cost of feed that's used to feed beef and pork. Not to mention that most of the crop is human edible and will drive cost up itself in makeing/getting to your grocer.

Use your right foot wiser, that's how to be a fuel miser.

Uh... that's was fukkin' corny... dammit, did it again. I'm soy silly. Dammit!!

:D

Now, I'm not totally against E85. But it's cost (+impact) to bring to big market is tremendous. From the plants that are used to make it, to the implementing of the fuel stations across the nation. The only company with plans for nationwide distribution of E85 setups en masse in the near future is Walmart... at least as heard late last year. The other companies are focusing on existing product. After all, they've been building power on it for decades. To them, nothing is broken and no matter the price the consumer will pay it.
 
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using corn for ethanol is just stupid. Grow hemp and other crop rotations with biofuel alternatives is the smart way to go
 
best thing is to convert this car into hydrogen. i dont see e85 as long term solution for our fossil fuel dependence. Hydrogen and electric will be the future of transportation. I was actually looking into "kits" for hydrogen conversions but there are no fuel station in my area so i cannot get any fuel.

you are already probably pumping ethanol into your car. most of the gas stations have stickers that say "This product contains at least 10% ethanol" at most of the stations around my area.
 
Think of all the money McDonalds and Burger King could be making off selling their old oil for even .25 cents a gallon.
 
If I remember properly, there was also the issue of some seals/rubber having to be up to spec to cope with the alcohol. Considering the mazda already has a turbo, for all out power, such a mod wouldn't be as crazy sounding as it may initially seem.

Tough i think the cost involved with the conversion means it might only be done in a few experiments, unless it's taken up by Mazda itself.
 
E85 is a hoax. Less energy in a gallon of E85 than a gallon of gasoline. E85 costs WAY more to produce than gasoline. Unless the car is a "flex fuel", the seals and gaskets cannot handle the corrosive properties of ethanol.
 
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