Considering swapping the coupe to E85 - I know E85 can be hard on rubber joints but what would I need to change, did a search but can't find a list of items - things like the tank filler neck?

I think the lines under the car are metal with sort rubber joiners?

My aftermarket pump is E85 rated as are my injectors.

How about the plastic swirl pop in the tank?

Any info would be great

Dink is your man for all the info. The fuel lines under the car are a ridgid plastic

I dont know but there is a discussion starting on turbo124

http://www.turbo124.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8917

E85 is fantastic for a high boost turbo engine but the main problem is availability for a road car.

Same for 20VT, thinking of the future Coupe ownership here.. in 20 years or so!

E85 isn't hard on rubber parts, that's methanol rather than ethanol. The problems come when changing to E85 after years of pump fuel, the ethanol does a lovely job of cleaning all the varnish off the inside of tanks and pipes and then bungs up injectors. A good clean out of the tank and a new filter which gets changed again shortly after the change over. Great fuel, det resistant in the extreme.

It IS damaging to certain materials as well.

Like what?

Metal. From having a relation with a pharmacist some years ago.

Metal you say, aluminium possibly?

I didn't ask further back then - other stuff was more interesting at that time.

But... I had a quick search on Google and this came up - interesting reading and includes the comments on metals (and yes... aluminium seems to be a problem sometimes):

http://www.ethanolmt.org/switch.html

Another quote: "...Aluminum pulls the hydroxyl group away from the ethanol but this would destroy the molecule (leaving who knows what)..."
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=8951&page=2

Wikipedia also mentions:
drawbacks of using high concentrations of methanol (and other alcohols like ethanol) in fuel is its corrosivity to some metals, particularly aluminium. ...

Some other quotes:
"Alcohol will carry an electrical current and gasoline will not so the higher the percentage of alchol the more "galvanic corrosion" you get in your fuel system due to electrical current between unlike metals and also erosion of incompatible materials. Incompatible material are rubber and aluminum which alcohol is exceptional hard on over time."

Don't know what is needed in these respects to 'upgrade' the Coupe to run on E85.

According to this site, some plastics and rubbers can be damaged by ethanol:

http://www.fuel-testers.com/ethanol_fuel_disadvantages.html

It's a shame it's not sold more widlely

I emailed saint about the E85:

The fuel system is pretty resistant to E85, the under car fuel lines are ok, they are nylon, the o-rings don't suffer too much, the only thing that will perish in the long term is the rubber damper in the fuel tank. It holds the fuel pump. It's highly possible you don't even have that part in your car as some 16VT's have the old Q4/delta2 style in tank assembly, some have the never 20VT style. In any case, it's an easy fix, get rid of the rubber and pop the pump in without. I'm running my car on this E85 stuff for several years now without any problems so i would tend to think it's safe.

Thanks all

I managed to get hold of Dink, he runs E85 exclusively but it would seem in France in it much cheaper than petrol and is on pump handy to him.

your right 1NRO it cleans the system out and he was concerned about the rubber fuel pump damper in the tank which 20vt have, only based on reading rather than any actual problems he changed it (older 16vt and Q4's have a different setup using rigid plastic). The lines under the car are nylon but his seem to handle it, and he has upgraded injectors and pump both rated for it anyway.

Advantages - well high octane, very resistant to detonation, runs cooler, more advance allows more BHP, and those green credentials, also seems in some parts it is pretty cheap

Negatives, well you need to inject 10-30% more of it (some fuel savings lost) and corrosion issues.

E85 is not cheaper here in NZ (considered a race fuel), and not so readily available so dual maps would be the best - which is another challenge

timing is everything

pm'd you about twin maps on the p8 mate,msd can sort you a switch board to run 2 maps.

Very interesting. Will you start the conversion soon Saint?

I was thinking of converting my Coupé but I don't have time for it. Looking forward to see your result