Gas Versus E85 - Converting To Corn

E85 Carburetors
Since the air/fuel ratio for E85 is much lower than for gasoline, the carburetor has to be specifically calibrated for it. Carburetor manufacturers have put a lot of R&D into their E85 carburetors to run this new fuel. Many have built carbs for methanol racing fuel for some time now, and their internal passages are significantly larger than those of a gasoline carb. Since the volume of fuel needed for alcohol applications is higher, the metering system has to be dead-on in order for it to run correctly. Simply modifying a gasoline- or methanol-style carburetor with jet and air bleed changes isn't enough for the conversion. Since alcohol has a tendency to pick up water from the atmosphere, the gaskets and other sealing materials can't be sensitive to oxidation. PHR contributor, David Vizard, has done quite a bit of experimenting with E85. He has found that doing only a carburetor swap to convert to E85 on a 10.5:1 engine yielded a 6hp gain. In this case that was a 2 percent change. While changing the carburetor by itself doesn't give a huge power boost, it is the first and most crucial change to make.

AED Performance
With almost 30 years of experience building carburetors, AED has it down. Like other custom shops, they can build you just about any size carburetor to run E85. Their E85 carbs use cast metering blocks because they prefer their sealing characteristics to the billet units for these carburetors specifically.

Barry Grant
Currently, Barry Grant has Mighty Demon E85 carburetors for general competition, and drag-race specific versions in 650, 750, 825, and 850 cfm. They will be adding their line of King Demons to the E85 product list late this summer.

C&S Specialties
C&S builds every carburetor tailored to a particular engine. Among the factors they consider are engine size, compression, purpose, altitude, and of course, fuel type. C&S builds their E85 carburetors to flow the additional 30 percent over gasoline, and they install stainless steel needles and seats. C&S doesn't charge a different price for E85.

Pro Systems
As a custom builder, Pro Systems can make just about any carburetor you want. They build 4150-style units from 750-1040 cfm, and 4500s from 900-1800 cfm.

Quick Fuel Technologies
Quick Fuel Technologies offers 4150-style E85 carburetors in 650-1050 cfm ratings. They've built E85-specific billet metering blocks and base plate to get the most power out of the alcohol/gasoline mix.