Just curious, what would it take to make an old Charger run on ethanol?

[J-440]

  If you guys want power numbers from E85 motors, check out the latest issue of CAR CRAFT.  Dynomax offered a $25,000 purse to whomever could produce the most power through a set of their mufflers on pump gas or E85.  The top 5 guys (various twin turboed motors and one NA HEMICUDA) produced over 1100 horsepower.  These cars were fully streetable and licensed and insured.  The top 2 finishers used E85.  Now these motors were radically modified, but HOT ROD and CAR CRAFT are constantly showing the power made from this alternative fuel with little mods done to an existing motor. 
  Another problem with mass producing E85 is that the US needs a ton of land to make corn to power these future vehicles.  I'm assuming that the prices of all corn-based products will also rise along with the fuel.  But hey, better that me and my family pay a hard working farmer my US dollar than going to overseas oil producing countries such as Dubai.  Speaking of which, do a GOOGLE search on the business boom that's going on over there...friggin outrageous!!

[aussiemuscle]

yeah - then the price of corn will be on the rise, in turn the ethanol price will rise to about what gasoline is now

Hey! you've just figured out the oil company's plans!

For those worried about 'food for fuel', my company is looking at making ethanol from waste wood products (stuff they normally burn) (aka 2nd gen eth).

[charger_mike75]

You can make ethenol from other stuff besides corn     Down in S.America they make it out of suger cain and it is better than ethenol made from corn and cheaper to produce.

[suntech]

I used to play around with fuel a lot , when i raced boats. MTBE, wich is ether, has a huge oxygen content, and i used that mostly when we were having aspiration problems, due to small carbs, mandatet by the rules. That is the biggest advantage with MTBE, toghether with a healthy octane #. It also binds water with the fuel. a 2-3 % jet increase is close to what needed to make it work, with fuel containing 10 % MTBE, compared to fuel with no MTBE. A little power gain can be found, specially if you are on the small side with carburator, and you can use a little more spark advance.
E 85 needs app35 % more fuel ( give and take a little), and has a higher octane #, and can deal with higher compression ratio, and stiffer spark advance.
Gaskets and seals must ofcause be able to handle this fuel. I guy here in Norway did a lot of testing on a BB Chevy engine, originally built for 98 RON ( like 92 in the US).
He found a 7% torque, and 5 % hp increase on E 85, over the normal fuel.
I think i will do some dynotesting with my Hemi, and see how it works, when i get the engine ready
Rolf

[Mike DC]

 
People with very big brains have devoted decades to studying these issues.  They still say crude oil is by far the cheapest thing on the planet. 

Anything else that looks competitive is just a case of the costs being shifted around to other less-obvious areas of the economy.  Or it's an option that can't be done on a larger scale without raising the costs dramatically from their experimental lows. 



Having said that, the US gov't might very well push ethanol harder in the future for domestic fuel usage just for political reasons.  No harm in getting more familiar with the stuff.