How hard is it to maintain a fixed ethanol blend for tuning?

[coyfish]

So I have done some research and will be getting FEMTO unlocked and tuned with BM3 or MHD on ethanol soon. Adjustable flex fuel kits like visconti seem like a no brainer however the concept of wiring this in seems like a potential for long term issues. A few years from now will this go bad and become a headache? A simpler way to go seems like just adding in an ethanol content sensor and maintaining an E30 blend. That being said is it a pain to achieve E30 consistently when filling up (how close are E30 blends from the gas station?). Is it a big risk if you are E25 vs E35 on an E30 tune? I appreciate any advice.

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[razorlab]

So I have done some research and will be getting FEMTO unlocked and tuned with BM3 or MHD on ethanol soon. Adjustable flex fuel kits like visconti seem like a no brainer however the concept of wiring this in seems like a potential for long term issues. A few years from now will this go bad and become a headache? A simpler way to go seems like just adding in an ethanol content sensor and maintaining an E30 blend. That being said is it a pain to achieve E30 consistently when filling up (how close are E30 blends from the gas station?). Is it a big risk if you are E25 vs E35 on an E30 tune? I appreciate any advice.

If you are going to add a flex fuel sensor you are 95% of the way there to having full flex fuel. It's just Power, ground, and CAN hi/low.

TLDR, if you are going to add a sensor, go all the way and do full flex fuel. Just not Visconti because he is a jerk and his customer service is horrible. Unless you like to be yelled at and belittled. Then go for it.

Both BM3 and MHD have full plug and play flex fuel kits.

 

[Awales74]

I raw dog it. I fill up when I'm near empty -- get the little fuel reserve notification -- and put in about 3.6 gallons of e85. If I'm caught in no-mans land then I drive her near empty and fill up with 93 and and change from tune 6 to tune 2 (JB4), takes all of 5 seconds, but with much sadness

 

[Thraxbert]

It's not difficult at all. But just go flex. You're already doing most of the work with everything else. There's no reason to skip flex on this platform.

 

[coyfish]

Thanks for the replies. Yes it seems like the full flex fuel kit is the way to go but installing that aftermarket "computer" on my car to actively adjust the tune scares me a bit. Maybe I am overcomplicating a simple thing?

 

[gixxersixxerman]

Maybe I am overcomplicating a simple thing?

Yes

 

[razorlab]

Thanks for the replies. Yes it seems like the full flex fuel kit is the way to go but installing that aftermarket "computer" on my car to actively adjust the tune scares me a bit. Maybe I am overcomplicating a simple thing?

It's just a signal that goes to the OEM ECU, the ECU does the adjusting. I would trust that more than your human error in mixing.

 

[kaj]

I raw dog it. I fill up when I'm near empty -- get the little fuel reserve notification -- and put in about 3.6 gallons of e85. If I'm caught in no-mans land then I drive her near empty and fill up with 93 and and change from tune 6 to tune 2 (JB4), takes all of 5 seconds, but with much sadness

...which is fine as long as you are testing the e85 each time you use it, in order to do all the math. Otherwise... I guess "close enough" could work.

Flex Fuel is a game changer. My last car was tuned on FF and it was SO NICE after years of busting out an Excel spreadsheet every time I wanted to get an EXACT mix. LOL. I remember dumping all my pump gas out via the drain plugs to fill with e85 (map switching... still kinda sucked). The headaches. The messes.

FF FTW, every time. DOOOOIIIIIIIT!!!!

 

[skyviper80]

I have BM3 tune and Flex fuel kit, it's is stupid simple to install.

 

[Iambatman]

If you are going to add a flex fuel sensor you are 95% of the way there to having full flex fuel. It's just Power, ground, and CAN hi/low.

TLDR, if you are going to add a sensor, go all the way and do full flex fuel. Just not Visconti because he is a jerk and his customer service is horrible. Unless you like to be yelled at and belittled. Then go for it.

Both BM3 and MHD have full plug and play flex fuel kits.

If one were to place an order, what do you recommend as far as a full flex fuel kit? I’m currently running HMD with full bolt ons. Is it as easy as something like this (or would it require ordering anything else?): https://coloradon5x.com/products/mh...4dSZqyDPlucx5UjEfb7mv6d0sFKJ0hjRoCGLUQAvD_BwE

 

[ColonelAdama]

With JB4 it is easy since I can just mix roughly 1:3 ratio of E to gas to begin, and the datalogs will tell me if I need more or less ethanol. With BM3 or MHD, I'd probably just go for full flex tune and flex sensors.

 

[suprawr]

Supra has the advance menu if you hold down the dash button and it gives you exact amount of gas left in liters just do some math'ing and you can get pretty exact every time. i was on JB4 so i could only do e30 or 93 no flex

x+y=13.7
.1(x)+.85(y)=(13.7)*(.3)
obviously this has some assumptions made like the e85 is actually e85 and not like e70-e50 and 93 has 10% in it and not 8-9% adjust formula accordingly you will get very close.

 

[coyfish]

Appreciate the responses! I will go with the flex fuel kit than. Just waiting for the snow / salt to hit and then I will send the ECU away while supra hibernates.

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