E85 Conversion in '87 Monte SS, exploring options

[y5e06]

Hi all,

I’m about ready to pull my abandoned ’87 SS out of storage and start cracking the whip.
One of the plans I have for it is to convert to E85 (because I WANT TO!). I’ve been trying to scour available articles on the compatibility of E85 with particular materials & fuel system components. I know a number of the auto manufacturers already have flex fuel vehicles.
Short of transplanting a complete 5.3L setup from an ‘01+ GM truck, I would like to do a budget (read cheap or parts yard) build and keep the SBC1 design. Currently my G-body has a bone stock drivetrain and fuel system, including Q-jet. E85 can be very unfriendly to steel, aluminum, and natural rubber parts etc. Stainless and some newer plastics and synthetic rubbers may work. I think viton is ok too (o-rings, seals etc)

Fuel tank:
Starting from the rear, in the mid ‘90s cars started appearing with plastic gas tanks instead of steel. I’m thinking it might be easier to retrofit a production tank into my SS for the E85. Anything aftermarket would be expensive and require more fabbing. I just ran across a thread here about retrofitting a plastic mid 90’s B-body tank into a 1st gen camaro (both filler necks behind in the rear). Any ideas if this plastic tank would be compatible for E85? What about the internals including the pump, hangers etc? Would it even fit into the G-body? I don’t mind welding and cutting the car a little to massage things to fit.
If I had to run an external fuel pump, are there any good E85 units out there? Could I adapt a flex fuel tank from a truck or use the pump & pickup setup?
Ideas?



I would run stainless lines from the tank up to the engine bay, those are fine for E85.

Fuel Rails & Injectors
I recall reading somewhere Holley (or maybe edelbrock?) manufactures an E85 compatible car, so that would be an easy way to go. However, I would like to convert to FI. Are the fuel rails on LT1 & TPI cars stainless? Could I use those with the appropriate manifolds? Or would I need to source something else such as a custom setup? I would think proper Teflon lined braided hoses meeting the stainless hard lines to fuel rail is the way to go to supply the fuel rail. I could use stainless AN fittings and some kind of adaptor fitting to the rail… or just weld on the proper bung.
What about injectors? Are the TPI/LT1/SVO injectors E85 compatible? Do they have internal parts that will degrade with using that fuel? Obviously the modern GM injectors (5.3L, various v6’s etc) are compatible, but it is my understanding those do not work in place of the older style. They are just sized & fit differently.
What about fuel pressure regulators? I would suspect older stock type FI regulators have a rubber diaphragm, so they would fail eventually.

Most modern engines have the composite plastic intakes & aluminum heads. I’ve been curious if there is a notable amount of damage on the aluminum heads from the corrosive E85. Would there be a problem if I used Iron heads? I’m thinking of cobbling together some TPI parts including intake rails, sensors as well using megasquirt with my stock long block (for now) for this. I might consider doing the LT1 intake/SBC1 conversion instead since I already have one of those intakes.

Let me know what you guys think (aside from those comments suggesting it is a waste to even bother doing the conversion….)
If in the end I decide it isn’t working out, I could just change my megasquirt program to run standard gas-o-line


Oh, other plans for the car include LT1 T56, SC&C stage II, C5 brakes, 17” wheels, and torque arm rear setup (ditching the crappy triangulated 4-link) along with solid body bushings & boxed and strengthened frame.

[y5e06]

I swear I looked! but just saw this post not too long ago. similar but not as detailed...
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=38666

[bochnak]

Check this site out:

http://e85forum.com/index.php

[y5e06]

thanks.
I just now joined

[MonzaRacer]

E85 is not corrosive its M85 that is.
The big trick is to use proper venting (ie the system has to be closed all the time except when running)as for ethanol compliant if your not trying to build super high horsepower you can use the ford Motorsport(FRPP?) 30lbhr injectors as they are ethanol compliant.
big trick is areyou using a flex fule setup or E85 only?
I am working on a FlexFI setup and the prototype is doing good so far and we used the Megasquirt setup the big trick is getting it setup for the sensor(still working on that part) .

[y5e06]

I drive by an E85 pump 2x a day, so my thought it to do E85 only not FFV. I'll be using the car as my daily commuter. When thats all sorted out a budget high compression mill will be in the works to take advantage of the compression