Im in CA, gas prices are horrible...e85 is 2.69 lol

Would a conversion to hopefully e85 be worth it/viable?

It's a 99 ls400

 

My thoughts, no. The lower energy fuel ratio may have you a bit lower or interpret that as similar to what you'll get on conventional fuel for the price. (This may be better discussed in Car Chat if you would like this thread moved there.)

 

Sure.......

 

normal gas is already around E10

 

well if you drive a GT-R, it's definitely worth it......to get more HP

 

Is E85 even available in California? Most of it is produced in the Midwest, where the bulk of the country's corn crop is grown. GM and Ford, with the popularity of their products in the Midwest, routinely design engines that can handle E85 with no damage...for other brands, consult the factory recommendations.

 

California only goes up to E10. Not even E15.

Ethanol has roughly 2/3 the energy content by volume that gasoline does. So if pure gasoline cost $3/gallon, to get the same energy at a fair price, pure Ethanol would need to cost $2/gallon. So if you're thinking of switching to E85 to save money on fuel costs, you need to factor this in.

 

Damn, when E85 was available in Vegas it was somehow more expensive than regular gas.

I've never bothered with it, although when tuning for performance it usually offers a benefit to run E85. My truck is tuned, but i'm just running premium unleaded.

 

In my area there are 4 stations one of which is a mile from me.

 

Average gas here is 4.29, and e85 is 2.69

 

Depends.

As another member noted, E85 is well documented and supported in the R35 GTR community. Even with this level of product and support infrastructure, it is still quite expensive to install a kit, which presumably would be flex-fuel (run either E85, Unleaded 91, 89, etc.) in your LS400.

Off the top of my head, here is a list of items recommended to effectively run and tune E85:

• High flow fuel pump(s)
• High flow fuel injectors
• Flex fuel kit
• Fuel filter kit
• Tune?

Some of those items or none of those items maybe required, so you might be able to get away with just a 'fuel-up and operate' scenario; however, my research has yielded some uncertainity and doubt with that approach, thus the resulting list above.

The above investment was/is expensive and may mitigate any savings experienced from making the switch.

Let us know if you venture down the path of E85 conversion...I don't recall ever reading about an LS400 converted or running E85.

 

This would be a terrible idea. While the E85 is cheaper, your MPG and range will be far lower. I think the Tundra goes from 15mpg combined to 10mpg combined.

 

Tundra isnflex fuel?

 

Yea I can't find any mention. But I just filled up my wife's van with half of what I would've spent on 87 octane

 

That sounds about right, considering that ethanol has about 30-40% less energy per gallon than gasoline.

The flip side, though, is that alcohol is considered safer...that's why it is used in many racing leagues instead of gasoline. It has a lower flash-point than gas, and, in general, doesn't catch fire as easily. But when it does catch fire, it burns with a very light blue flame (and no smoke) that is much harder to see than the bright orange gasoline flames and black smoke.