Skipperx wrote:
Dear Ethanol users,
The below information (re: modifications to car to run on ethanol) is
incorrect in my experience. I live in Brazil and I export conversion kit
(petrol to ethanol) to Australia. Kits in Australia are being used in
both vehicles manufactured by both Holden (GM) and Ford. Here in Brazil
the kits are used in Fiats, VW's, GM's, Ford's, Nissan, Honda's, etc,
etc. with NO modifications; that is on MULTI POINT fuel injection
vehicles. These included 4, 6 and 8 cylinder cars.
This is consistent with the Flextek company statements.
There is no need to increase the compression of petrol engines vehicles
produced in the past 5 years or so. The new engines in car produced
today have higher compression ratings than in the past. Not as high as
the flex power engines, but higher than previous petrol engines.
I believe you are misunderstanding what I'm trying to communicate.
Here's what I wrote:
"It would also be helpful to increase compression pressure by some
means, if ethanol will be the primary fuel."
Helpful is not mandatory. A conversion certainly doesn't have to have
its compression pressure increased. Ethanol is, however, more
resistant to spontaneous combustion and as a result, can be squeezed
harder without risk of detonation. This will improve the thermal
efficiency and power of the engine. Much research supports this idea,
and I have a lot of experience running gaseous fuels in converted
gasoline engines to substantiate my claim.
There will be a need to change the fuel pump at some stage (2 to 5
years) as the ethanol corrodes the copper used on the bushes of the
pump. The ethanol pumps use graphite instead of copper, and silver wires
instead of copper wires. It costs about US$ 50.
This makes sense. Thank you for clarifying.
I wouldn't bother trying to change a carburetor based engine, these
engines were always a hassle for cold starting even here in Brasil where
it is quite warm (compared to Canada) all year round, and where the big
car amnufacturers here producing 100's of thousands of units. The
conversion kits can come with small ptrol tanks (1 litre) which is used
for cold starting.
Most of the information that's been available for ethanol conversions
in North America was published in the 1970's and 1980's, when
carburetors were still the dominant fuel management system on
automobiles. Within the last few months, a trickle of information
concerning electronic fuel management for ethanol conversions has
become available. I would really like to run my truck on ethanol, if
the legal issues can be worked out.
robert luis rabello
"The Edge of Justice"
Adventure for Your Mind
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=9782>
Ranger Supercharger Project Page
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/
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