E85 on 20v 4age Turbo?

[blacktop]

opinions?

I can see huge benefits to it, no detonation, lower running temps, and what not. but what are the negatives?

Specs:
4age 20v Silvertop
Stock internals
T25 Turbo
intercooler

I have a set of cams somewhere, not sure what the profile is but they were pretty tame, would it aid the build or make it a shit street car?

and I have no intentions of forgies or anything else for now.

[xero]

use roughly 30% more fuel than petrol.
needs larger injectors.
no many servos carry E85.
sometimes questionable quality of fuel at the servos.

depends on the specs of the cams. if they are tame im guessing they arent much bigger than 270 duration and about 8.5mm lift. cams like that 90% of the time wont be bad on the street and will provide some good gains with the turbo. but then again you could, like me, run much larger cams and still have a fairly street-able car (FYI i have 300 deg cams in a hi-comp 16v) but this would depend on your tuner.
you best bet would to discuss this with your tuner as to what sort gains your looking to get and your goals for the engine. if you looking for a just a quick street car to throw around the hills (in my opinion) the set up you have sound like it would be stupid fast and hopefully your tuner tunes the engine this was (IE plenty of power without running anywhere near the ragged edge). otherwise id if you plan on building a turbo engine later id keep it on the pump 98 and get those cams in and enjoy it how it is.

[blacktop]

found the cam specs
282 duration and 8.63mm lift

good guess!

what sort of longevity can I expect out of an E85 engine? I know Alcohol leaves this powdery residue (which can't be good) but will E85 do the same?

[trdee]

You are too vague on the questions, and too vague on your goals. What I can answer is as follows;

- E85 is magic. Proper magic. ESPECIALLY for turbo. You can run a fucktonne more boost, or the same boost and a fucktonne more timing, or any combination thereof, as the det limit is WAY higher than 98 octane. Fandio's 4AGTE levin (was in open class at WTAC this year) went from 228fwkw at 17psi on pump fuel to 273fwkw at 18psi on E85, and would have made more but was limited by spark (1zz coil on plugs)

- You will use roughly 30% more fuel to make *the same* power. But chances are you are using E85 to make more power, so you will use even more fuel. Take this into account

- E85 will attract water, so if left sitting in a car for a long time will result in water condensing in your fuel tank, fuel lines etc. So if you arent driving the car regularly you need to take this into account, basically flush the system of E85 and put some petrol in there instead, if you are planning on storing the car for a couple weeks or longer.

- Not many E85 stations around, so unless this is a track car, you also need to take this into account. If street driving, then you will pretty much HAVE to get a flex fuel sensor, and an ecu that supports it, and a tuner that knows how to use it, so that you can switch from E85 to petrol when you inevitably get stuck somewhere without E85. Pump E85 also varies in composition massively, so once again you need a flex fuel sensor. Unless you are buying drums of sucrogen and adjusting the ethanol content yourself with every batch.

- The cam specs you have listed there are - vaguely speaking once again - too aggro, unless you are planning on both boosting the engine AND revving the shit out of it. stock silvertop cams would be enough, and means you get to retain VVT.

- Longevity; nothing I've seen yet indicates that engines on E85 dont last as long as engines on petrol. State of tune, maintenance, quality of fuel and other fluids are generally much higher up on the list...

Finally, once again your goals seem vague. You are looking into E85 and big cams, but you are only running a T25 with a stock silvertop head. What do you want to do with the car? And how much power do you want to make? And then what kind of powerband do you want to have? Answer these three questions, and then you will be able to sort out your setup properly.