[minutiesabotage]

With gas prices going up to $3/gal this summer, I am curious...what would need to be done to turn a normal vulcan into a FFV?

 

[Damon]

Originally posted by minutiesabotage@Feb 23 2004, 05:29 PM
With gas prices going up to $3/gal this summer, I am curious...what would need to be done to turn a normal vulcan into a FFV?

Probably alot.

Car companies have taken heat recently in the news for "alternative fuel cars" that use non-gasoline products. There are only something like 350 ethanol-85 filling stations in the US currently, and they are mostly in the midwest. However, millions of cars that have the ability to use ethanol fuel are sold each year on the basis that someday you will be able to use ethanol gas.

Car companies are taking heat because they are making these claims and selling their cars on this point, yet the pollutants they put out are MORE than the average car.

When a car is designated "fuel flex" or the like, the government allows less emissions restrictions on the car, as a bonus for making the car "flex fuel friendly". This is done because the general thinking is that alternative fuels will become popular in the near future. However, the reality is that alternative fuels are many years, perhaps decades away from being readily available, and that car companies are taking advantage of this feature to make less fuel efficient cars that are more pollutive.

If I find the story on CNN again, ill post it.

In other words, if you want a FFV vulcan, youre probably better off buying one. And if you buy one, I dont think youll see the benefits in the near future.

-Damon

 

[ffvulcanpowah]

yeah, converting a regular vulcan to ffv is waaay too much trouble to see any benefits from it. Wiring, sensors, computer, and on and on...

I have an ffv myself, and it has never seen a drop of e85 ever. This may be beacause i live in the GW bush oil capital of the universe...Texas.

 

[cincyses]

FFV gives you no mileage benefit when using regular gasoline or E85. When using E85, you will actually experience slightly LOWER fuel mileage, but the E85 costs less per gallon (so you may save money in the end...). But, if you're like most of us, you've never even seen an E85 pump, so you'd be getting the same mileage as my regular Vulcan....your wallet would just be lighter from the cost of the conversion...

P.S. The reason for E85 is not mileage or money, it's just that it burns cleaner than regular gasoline....

 

[sabledale]

If you have an ffv car and are having trouble finding gas I found a few useful site that will tell you station locations that carry it.
The first one is a good list I found for my home state Minnesota.
http://www.alamn.org/outdoor/e85fuel.asp
The 2nd one is nation wide
http://afdcmap.nrel.gov/locator/LocatePane.asp
If you can't find a pump near you these may help. I had to reasearch the Antartic Wildlife Refuge and oil drilling for school and research fuel alternitives and I ran accross these site.
Here is another useful site for learning about these alternative fuels.
http://www.afdc.nrel.gov/