popular with BRZ/FRS owners that want to tune their cars.. 30 extra hp Sorry if I made you choke on your donuts :stickshift: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14471
E85 does keep engine temps a bit cooler, turbos spool faster + more HP and torque - it also burns cleaner (transfers the pollution)
Over in Priuschat, in MPG competitions, 100% gas can give a hypermiling Prius about a 5 to 10 mpg boost over a Prius using E10 fuel mixture. The new Plug-in Prius has a warning sticker on its gas cap not to use anything more than 10% ethanol mix so E85 could invalidate its warranty. During the fall and winter months the regular Prius has a more difficult time keeping the engine warm when in urban-suburban stop and go driving environments so the ethanol's drop in thermal energy density is a fuel efficiency minus for winter time when driving a Prius. Ethanol does not improve a Prius' Atkinson cycle gas engine's hp or torque output. Ethanol burns cleaner but regardless of whether one is running with E10 or 100% gas the Prius emission levels are already 50% less than most other cars. Hypermiling the Prius drops the emission levels even further.
I'm sure the Prius has not been optimized for E10, is it available in Japan?. I dont think the EPA uses it when they test cars so perhaps savvy manufacturers are tuning cars for whatever fuel the EPA uses and to heck with the customers. Perhaps the EPA should change that since E10 is the law of the land.
Agree on testing cars with E10. If we're stuck with it, let's see how the auto manufacturing lobby likes being held to that and high fuel economy standards. If we get stuck with E15, then let's go with that instead. I don't know if "tuning" for E10 would buy much. I'm sure flame speed is a little different but it's still regular octane fuel so they can't jack up compression or anything. At most you might adjust the base spark maps by a couple of degrees to keep peak cylinder pressure in the butter zone. But I doubt it would make much difference. It depends on if you would advance or retard for E10 vs. straight gas and I don't know offhand which way around it is.
These guys are running big turbos & injectors and will get more HP with E85 or better if properly tuned for the right Fuel/Air ratio. If that makes them happy then have at it I say. Just don't race on public roads.
This dude who started the thread is DEFINITELY talking Turbo. See his website: http://www.vtune.us/ft-86.html
he does turbo conversions also, the thread I linked was for a conventional car.. blue is stock on 93 octane, red is tuned on 93 octane and green is tuned on E85 and here is a turbo aplication, 450hp.. they also offer a milder turbo application at 275hp.
Trying to work out the rpm from that mph chart. Comparing to the chart at Insideline... It looks like that hp hiccup starts about 3200 rpm, and redline is 7500. That means the bottom of the chart is about 2000 rpm. Even the bottom end of the chart is getting into the "fun" range. http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2012/04/dyno-tested-2013-scion-fr-s.html
Did you guys know this car has a 12.5:1 compression ratio from the factory?.. I would be interesting if an expert did an all-out fuel economy test on it using premium vs regular. Clearly this car will benefit from ethanol.