E85 fuel with a holley 94

[1931flathead]

Has anyone try to run e85 fuel on a holley 94 carb trying to find out if could happen

[JSeery]

...

[scicala]

The E85 will probably attack the accel pump piston (if rubber type) and the power valve diaphragm. Only designed for 10% ethanol.
A Stromberg 97 may be a better option. No rubber type parts. Just my opinion.

Sal

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by scicala

The E85 will probably attack the accel pump piston (if rubber type) and the power valve diaphragm. Only designed for 10% ethanol.
A Stromberg 97 may be a better option. No rubber type parts. Just my opinion.

Sal

Very good and important point Sal!!! I was just thinking about the octane.

[1931flathead]

It's on a blower motor with no power valves at all compression is 9.4 and boost is around 8 to 10 with 4 of them if I'm not wrong it will be around 13 or so with boost

[tubman]

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Wouldn't you have to install larger jets? When I vintage raced, the guys with midgets running alcohol just drilled them out.

[1931flathead]

I was told when I was going to run gas to run 51 in all of them yes I think I need bigger ones

[tubman]

The midget guys were running almost 100% alky, and if I understand the naming conventions, "E85" is 85% alcohol. Given the circumstances, I think the proper term would be "a lot bigger".

Might be a good idea to see if there are any old-timers that ran carbs and alky back in the day. There are probably a few hiding in the weeds right here. My knowledge comes only from "bench racing", but some real serious bench racing (alcohol was involved).

[1931flathead]

Don't do much good to run bigger jets if the the rest of the carb is not drilled out

[Charlie ny]

Hmmm,
I build a few 94's each year and all are quite happy with e 85 or e 87.
I'm probably wrong but I thought the number was the octane not % of alky. It seems
to me (4) 94's will pass all the air a Flathead would ever need, even with a blower.
Invest in an A/F meter, run with mufflers so you can hear detonation and keep us posted.
Charlie ny

[hotrodart]

Originally Posted by Charlie ny

I'm probably wrong but I thought the number was the octane not % of alky.
Charlie ny

E85 is 85% corn-gas, 15% petro-gas.....not octane rating.

[tubman]

There is some disagreement about the exact number among the experts, but E85 has an octane rating over 100. Some late model performance freaks build their engines to use it on purpose.

[Charlie ny]

Art,
Thanks for the info on e 85........our reg here (New York State) is 87 octane
unleaded which is I guess way different than e 85. What is the significance of the e
preceding the 85...never too old to learn.
Thanks,
Charlie

[1931flathead]

I will have to do more checking on it

[1931flathead]

On 4bbl holley they have a driffents fuel block and bigger jets and bigger needle valve 30% bigger jets size

[50fordcoupeman]

Originally Posted by hotrodart

E85 is 85% corn-gas, 15% petro-gas.....not octane rating.

You are exactly spot on!

[scicala]

If you run E85, I would estimate a good starting point would be main jets about 25 to 30% larger than the #51 jets. Also use a leather accelerator pump piston. This is assuming you have the power valve blocked off.

Sal

[Charlie ny]

So I took a minute and googled E85.....could be as high as 105. That E makes a big difference ,not to be confused with 85 or 87 oct.

Charlie ny

[cadillac512]

E-85 is Ethanol-85%. That's what the "E" stands for.



Terry

[hotrodart]

Originally Posted by Charlie ny

Art,
Thanks for the info on e 85........our reg here (New York State) is 87 octane
unleaded which is I guess way different than e 85. What is the significance of the e
preceding the 85...never too old to learn.
Thanks,
Charlie

The "E" is for ethanol. I would bet that your 87 octane unleaded gas is E-10 (10% ethanol)......there will be a sign on the pump.....pretty much the standard blend in the U.S. east coast. The non-E fuel here is 90 octane, and costs about 20 cents more than E-10.