Is e10 fuel good for vf commodore

[Banjo79]

HOLY CRAP!!! I filled up last week with Caltex E-flex (E-85) and it was about $1.07 !!!!

That price pretty much makes it at least as economical to run as 95/98. You could probably barrel it up for profit to anyone paying over $1.50!

 

[blackve76]

HOLY CRAP!!! I filled up last week with Caltex E-flex (E-85) and it was about $1.07 !!!!

The modern avgas so much better this time of year with heat cools the engine.

E10 is fine in a car, years ago had my ls1 tuned on it with 232/234 cam and ran sweet and cheap to run was doing 150kms a day then

 

[Forg]

^ I’ve not been keeping-up with fuels; can you get unleaded avgas these days?

 

[Skylarking]

^ The avgas wiki is an interesting read about the different aviation fuels and the certification requirements associated with the migration to unleaded aviation fuel.

Not sure what is sold today in Australia, but BP website only lists “avgas”. You need to dig down into BPs fuel data sheets to find out they manufacture avgas 100 (lots of lead), two types of avgas 100LL (low lead) and two types of avgas UL91. Actual fuel availability is anyone’s guess but it won’t be cheap in any case. Note that unleaded avgas seems to have a lower ocatin than the old 100/130.

E85 seems to be a better fuel choice if chasing performance in road cars. It’s availability is also a problem in some places.

 

[wetwork65]

^ The avgas wiki is an interesting read about the different aviation fuels and the certification requirements associated with the migration to unleaded aviation fuel.

Not sure what is sold today in Australia, but BP website only lists “avgas”. You need to dig down into BPs fuel data sheets to find out they manufacture avgas 100 (lots of lead), two types of avgas 100LL (low lead) and two types of avgas UL91. Actual fuel availability is anyone’s guess but it won’t be cheap in any case. Note that unleaded avgas seems to have a lower ocatin than the old 100/130.

E85 seems to be a better fuel choice if chasing performance in road cars. It’s availability is also a problem in some places.

Not surprising that low lead has a lower octane rating. The FAA will continue with lead but at a lower level than in the past, since its removal will cause such a reduction in effective Octane, they say, which can lead to engine failure and also reduce engine performance. The point of adding lead was to reduce engine knocking and as a ratings booster, in the good old days before we cared about any peripheral issues such as lead in the environment!
I am old enough to remember the changeover to unleaded rubbish and the internal company memos that listed whose company cars needed to remain on leaded fuel due to turbo engines needing lubrication of valves blah blah etc etc!
Enough of my ramblings - we all made the transition without much pain.

Back to E10, when I had cars tuned in the past, the tuners always instructed me "don't use E10" or 91 for that matter. But I would question that logic.
Additionally, I see that the pumps in NSW show E10 as 94 Octane, which "may" have a different way of rating. RON is measured at 600 RPM, MON at 900 RPM. Fuel burn rate and resistance to pre-ignition at high compression ratios will not equate to actual energy content or usage rate.
So should you use E10? I wouldn't. It is attached to too many water molecules and does not give any cost benefit due to faster burn rate than ULP91.

 

[1985VK]

just put 98 in it

$1.273 for 98oct & $1.549 for E85

Shouldn't that be the other way around?

 

[losh1971]

In Australia you can not buy avgas, unless you fly a plane or copter. Around 20 years ago you could buy it at the race track but they have since banned its sale. Also get caught using it in a car or bike you can land hefty fines. A tune for E85 would give you similar octane levels and probably as good performance wise.

 

[rognvald261]

I think if you have a flex fuel car that you should alternate fills / top-ups, running 100% petrol or e85 is nowhere near as good as determining the best fraction.

 

[PeteSS]

In Australia you can not buy avgas, unless you fly a plane or copter. Around 20 years ago you could buy it at the race track but they have since banned its sale. Also get caught using it in a car or bike you can land hefty fines. A tune for E85 would give you similar octane levels and probably as good performance wise.

I thought that if you're part of a car club and it's purely for track use or a pre ADR27 car you can still purchase it ?

 

[losh1971]

I thought that if you're part of a car club and it's purely for track use or a pre ADR27 car you can still purchase it ?

It used to be that way. But they stopped it because of the risk people would not just run it at the track. Blokes in historics used to use it, i could have but never bothered. Then they stopped the sale and no one could use it any longer.