Running my GSX on alcohol.

[Guest]

Hi friends!

Last week I converted my GSX 750 es from 1983 to run on ethanol. It was really quite simple and my feeling is that it performs better than when running on dinosaurs. It also smells better, or less bad..

[tom203]

Hi friends!

Last week I converted my GSX 750 es from 1983 to run on ethanol. It was really quite simple and my feeling is that it performs better than when running on dinosaurs. It also smells better, or less bad..

Why did you do this, do you live in Brazil ?

[Perdikas]

Oh no. I just dont like to pollute the air more than necessary. Plus I wanted to know if it was doable. And it was.

[tom203]

Oh no. I just dont like to pollute the air more than necessary. Plus I wanted to know if it was doable. And it was.

Well, I'm convinced-I can hardly wait for the details. Like where do you buy straight ethanol ? or do you "brew" it yourself?

[hotrods316]

yes some more info please. jetting, engine mods,

[gs11ezrydr]

If I was correct in understanding that it would take 3 times more alky then gasoline. Carb, normal aspirated. So jetting through out the range would have to be 3 times larger,(example 100 jet is now 300) (15 pilot is now 45) besides the bowl volume needing to be larger also, Needle and seat sizes, including fuel flow. Probably would need to be pumped and regulated. Needle sizes and orifices, Lotsa changes to obtain any real horse power advantages, Besides the effects on rubber parts etc. Being hygroscopic and sucking up water. I have a friend that injected alky with decent results in his nostalgia funny bike. Again I understand that nitromethane needed was 9 times more then gas.

[nejeff]

Oh no. I just dont like to pollute the air more than necessary. Plus I wanted to know if it was doable. And it was.

So you joined the site to tell us what you did and now dissapeared again? I smell something funny

[Perdikas]

Sorry guys. Did not dissapeared. Only gone for a while..

I have an gsx 750 es from 1983. Changed main jets from 125 to 145 and pilot jets from 40 to 50. Put the needles in their highest position, and that was all. It now runs great on E85. Will try to lower the needles one notch to see if it still runs great on a little leaner setting.

[gs11ezrydr]

ASTM 5798 specifies the allowable fuel ethanol content as ranging from 51%-83% that is E85 denatured ethanol. The other is 15% gasoline. So depending where you are at and where you get your E85 the actual alky content is drastically different. Switching to methanol is what I was referring to in the previous post. Which requires higher compression and several other mods to make real horse power. Just switching to E85 or lower will most likely only result in less power and fuel mileage. That is why in most states they only allow E10 which is 10% ethanol and will for sure result in less fuel economy since your engine needs more to make the same power then with good high octane fuel. But for experimental purposes I wish you well and have fun. Need a hydrometer to measure your true alky content to obtain meaningful results. I would like to see the actual amount of ethanol you have jetted for.

[Dj66]

As i understand it, as long as he jetted for it he will not lose power,just fuel economy. But it would take at least a higher compression ratio (made possible by the higher octane rating of the ethanol) to gain power. He seems to be doing this for a decrease in his carbon footprint. Correct me if i am wrong.

[Perdikas]

As i understand it, as long as he jetted for it he will not lose power,just fuel economy. But it would take at least a higher compression ratio (made possible by the higher octane rating of the ethanol) to gain power. He seems to be doing this for a decrease in his carbon footprint. Correct me if i am wrong.

I use my bike mainly for joy rides and to not smudge the joy I wanted to reduce my carbon footprint, yes that is true. So, rejetted the thing, and according to my rear end dyno gained some power. Not sure about that though as that dyno is pretty subjective.. Perhaps my amazement over that the thing moves at all spills over to the ass feel..

[Dj66]

And the decrease in mileage is offset by the lower fuel cost right?

[Perdikas]

And the decrease in mileage is offset by the lower fuel cost right?

Precisely so. At least here in Sweden it works that way. It seems to me that I am winning all over. Perhaps I will have to stop more often to fill her up, but for a joyrider that is nog big issue. It´s coffee time by then anyhow..