Cogs, you make some good points.
One thing I'm not so sure about is the fact that we are burning Ethanol in solution with 98, and need to consider the ign properties accordingly, rather than in isolation. I would expect the unburned fuel in the form of HC emissions is vaporising in the exhaust manifold (~1100degF) after the combustion process. Obviously as the mix ratio increases (well beyond what we are talking about) the ign process becomes more critical, and incomplete combustion could become a factor, on the stock ign system at least.
In relation to VE, I'm not referring to the engines ability to ingest more air, but the effect of the additional O2 in the combustion mix effectively generating a higher volume of exhaust gas, hence more power, better spool. Same intake volume..more exhaust volume if you will.
 
Anyhow, not wanting to rant on, but I've now tried this blend on several JDM n/a cars to gauge the result without needing to consider the effect of boost. It's not been a comparative test as such, as I've limited the mix to 10% to keep AFR's in check.
The results in all 3 cases have been similar, although in varing degrees, but no where near the level I found on the 3SGTE.
In all 3 cases there was an improvement in general driveability, acceleration and responsiveness. In the case of a 6A12 & EJ20 more and quicker revability and with a RB25DE a much stronger feeling of low to mid range torque. In all cases there's been that perceived feeling of more power..maybe it's the boost in low/mid range torque causing that..need to be dyno'd to draw any conclusions.
By comparison, the gains I saw on the gen3/gt28/71 were almost jaw dropping when boosting up to 20psi, even in relation to my 98 performance tune. Also on the gen2 at 14psi the car just wanted to keep boosting (not bad for a lowly ct26) and I was more worried about the HG than anything else. I'd love to drop in a set of gen3 540's with fuel mods and up the mix ratio.
There really is big gains available here, for anyone wanting to stay with the stock ECU rather than go standalone, but there are limits of course, so a dyno tune on a gen2 with MHG & fuel mods is about the only way of determining where they lay.
Of course anyone with a standalone, or fuel/ign controller..sky's the limit where blends are concerned.
 
BTW, there was a very noticeable increase in power in all 3 cars during cold ambient temps, suggesting possibly AFR's were still very rich..just don't know how rich. 

well a failure for 100ron shell racing fuel for me (ther dont sell it there anymore) and also another failure on E85 (same story dont stock it or never heard of it)
 

Thanks man iil email and see what response i can get
 
cheers

Short answer, no I wouldn't suggest it. All these other cars have been tuned for JDM fuel, and there's a lot to be gained by running 100 RON or better. If the 2gr is tuned for 95 RON and your running that or 98, there wouldn't be anything to be gained by getting to 100 RON, without a re-tune. There are other gains coming from the properties of the fuel itself, but in your case I'd think AFR's would be close to a safe margin already. 
You could give a 10% blend a try, being relatively safe (E10 compliant) and see what you get out of it.

MuMan

Short answer, no I wouldn't suggest it. All these other cars have been tuned for JDM fuel, and there's a lot to be gained by running 100 RON or better. If the 2gr is tuned for 95 RON and your running that or 98, there wouldn't be anything to be gained by getting to 100 RON, without a re-tune. There are other gains coming from the properties of the fuel itself, but in your case I'd think AFR's would be close to a safe margin already. 
You could give a 10% blend a try, being relatively safe (E10 compliant) and see what you get out of it.

 
Thanks, pretty much what i gathered from what id read. Back to saving pennies for a new ECU.

with the whole thing about the ecu constantly advancing and retarding timing in response to knock, wouldn't running e85 in a car tuned for 95 still run more timing due to the higher knock rating?
 
also how much e85 would be needed to add to 91oct to achieve the same oct rating as 80/20 98/e85?
 
another thing, all the stuff about needing e85 compatible lines etc what about the fuel level sender? how would that be affected as that's something you can't change

copy and paste from email i got from caltex
Hi Steve

Sounds fine to me - there's no issue with blending the two products as long as the car has ethanol compatible components and the engine is tuned for it. If you've already got the advice that it works well then it's worth a shot in my opinion.

The blend will easily get you to 100 RON (our tests on E-Flex have consistently clocked up 105 RON). Sound fun!
I'm happy to share what I know and hope that will get you asking the right questions to the guys who service your car. I've attached a PDF of the recommended modifications to a vehicle by ANFAVEA (who are the National Association of Vehicle Manufacturers in Brazil - who as you know are THE ethanol fuel trailblazers of the world) which might give you some insight on what needs to be done to run ethanol fuels. The english grammar is a bit messy because of the translation, but the gist is there.




Blending 98 with E-Flex is going to give you about 56-68% ethanol so you do need to take extra care with it's use. If the components have not been changed to be ethanol compatible, such as the pipes, seals, adhesives and even some metals like aluminium then you should definitely not leave the fuel sitting in the tank for extended periods.

Any increased erosion/corrosion will be gradual but the likelihood increases with the time ethanol is in contact with the seal, adhesive, rubber etc, so it may be good practice (after the ethanol fix) to drain the tank and flush the system and lines with 100% petroleum to make sure it's all washed off.

So that's what I know -- I also know there are hundreds of people using it with great success so it's just a matter of knowing what's going on in the engine, the fuel and managing it. There are just some realities with some vehicles and ethanol but I think there can still be a lot of fun to be had.

I hope that helps.

Kind regards


if anyone wants to host the pdf file for me let me know and i will send it over
im not too sure how she got the 56-68% ethanol bit i will try and clarify that soon