RE: [Chrysler300] Drivability Problems Related To Ethanol?

["Rich Barber" <c300@xxxxxxx>]

Not arguing, just hoping to clarify.  Pure ethanol has about 34% fewer
BTU/gallon as compared to regular gasoline, so a 10% mix might have 3-4%
less energy--maybe about 1/2 MPG.  Ethanol, MTBE and methanol all have
higher octane ratings than gasoline, so their addition does help raise the
octane of the mix.  

I burnt a lot of 10% ethanol while driving through the Midwest this summer
and observed a nearly 1 mpg drop in my Durango while pulling a Chrysler on a
trailer.  Drivability was not a problem as I believe my '05 Durango
automatically adjusts its timing to match the anti-knock/octane value of the
fuel.  Using higher octane fuel did not seem to affect drivability or MPG.
In some of those states the ethanol fuel was higher octane, but lower
cost/gallon due to taxpayer subsidy.  The information at the referenced site
also indicates the ethanol will contain 4-5% water.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioethanol

Fuel injected and computerized engines will tolerate a wider range of fuels
with power limits pretty much defined by engine displacement, altitude and
effective octane of the fuel.  Carbureted engines are a mix of compromises,
none of which considered the more volatile and less energetic fuels and
their attendant different combustion characteristics of today.

Installing a modern fuel management system on one of our old letter car
engines might seem sacrilegious, but would make a sweet combination.  I
wonder how much of that I could hide in my batwing?  Keep in mind that
dragsters and other racers have used fuel injection, supercharging and
exotic fuels successfully for years to get 1,000 HP+ (briefly) out of our
old hemis and it is written that the stock '55's would turn 130 MPH using
just carburetors, 8.5:1 heads and whatever was in those tanks marked Flock
Juice.

C-300'ly,
Rich Barber
Brentwood, CA

-----Original Message-----
From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Ray Jones
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2007 6:30 PM
To: Tony Rinaldi
Cc: Ray Jones; Chrysler 300 Club
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] Drivability Problems Related To Ethanol?

Tony and all;
I'm sorry,  I don't  believe that the alcohol raises  the octane. If it 
did, it would be Sunoco 95 or something.
It does burn hotter, which is why alcohol fueled engines have 
everything in the combustion chamber chromed, to withstand the heat. It 
  doesn't help gas much tho.
Bottom  line is that when you burn anything you get X amount  of BTU's 
out of a given amount of fuel. And when you cut the Gas by 10% by 
adding Ethanol, you cut the octane, period.
We are paying more for less and having to buy more to go the same 
distance, period.
So, in our high performance engines, we just aren't getting the power 
(BTU's) we once did. It's just that simple.
You must compensate for the crap we are getting, being sold as gas.
I'm sure this will start arguments, but you can't get out more than you 
put in, basic physics.
Ray

On Aug 19, 2007, at 1:07 PM, Tony Rinaldi wrote:


  I asked the question from many people:

  Why do I have to advance the spark with this new lower octane fuel?

  Did not get a reasonable answer, until I asked Thomas White from 
Whitehall
  Restoration (Hopkinton, MA) when I met him at Carlisle last summer.

  He said that the increased alcohol had higher octane and was more 
volatile.
  The new gas burns hotter in hot weather and would do the opposite in 
cold
  weather.

  So, there it is. Maybe if your car is running like crap, in hot 
weather,
  when it never happened before:

  ADVANCE the timing??

  You all play nice now.

  Regards,
  Tony Rinaldi

 
   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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