My MKIII Supra conversion to e-85
By Figgie – Supramania.com and supraforums.com
The contents represented in this paper are the steps I undertook in my 87 supra Turbo to convert it from running on straight gasoline/Petrol to run with e-85 or gasoline/Petrol. This is based on my research with numerous fuel pump companies, hose companies and stand alone companies. Credit is noted where the information came from at the end of this paper.
Introduction
Well I have been a supraforums.com member and supramania.com member for quite some time. The objective of this project was to do something no one had ever done in the supra community and that was to run e-85 in the Turbo MKIII Supra as a daily driver. What this means is that I would use E-85 exclusively unless there was none available. For Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota this is not an issue as E-85 is available at 87% of all gas stations within the Twin Cities. The other reason for my undertaking of this project was to see if I could do it without any major help from any professionals. I am a Senior Server analyst by day time so this was a completely different that what I am used to J
The guinea pig
The project required that the car was capable of running on E-85 on the original engine, meaning no custom head and no custom block. The recipient I chose was a Black with Grey interior, 1987 Toyota Supra Turbo. I am the second owner of this vehicle. I have owned this car since 1994 when I purchased it in Rapid City, South Dakota. It has gone to Miami, Florida a couple of times then from Florida to the Minneapolis, Minnesota where it currently resides under my ownership still. The car suffered an engine failure at about 200,000 miles from rod knock, so this is what got this project going.
Research
Digging through the internet was a valuable asset as there was ethanol conversion from the early 70 during the first initial oil crisis here in the USA. Of course back then all cars where carburetor based so it was a bit different but the fuel requirements stayed the same. With the introduction of E-85, ethanol started to become readily available and this made the conversion possible. E- 85 is slightly corrosive. No where near the level of Methanol or MTBE. Now with that said it is still corrosive to rubber and mild steel. So if there is no plating on the mild steel it needs to be replaced. Rubber will expand and become to soft to contain any pressure, meaning that all rubber hoses and O-rings (fuel injectors) need to be replaced. The fuel pump needs to be swapped to an e-85 fuel pump.
And now on to the project
This is where the fun begins.
(DISCLAIMER: This is a presentation only and not to be construed as a step by step on how to do this conversion. I hereby release myself from any damage caused by you, either by consequential or inconsequential use of this presentation. If you decide to do this, you do it at your own risk.)
Needed:
Electrical know – how
Motor operation Theory
EFI Operation theory
Wideband sensor and guage
E-85 compatible fuel pump
Alcohol compatible hose
Someone that can TIG weld mild steel
Tools
Optional:
MIG or TIG Welder
Standalone ECU or piggy back (E-manage or MAFT-PRO)
Buddy
Beer or Soda
Pizza
Ok with this project there are certain aspects that we must address. Any mild steel that has not been plated has to be removed. Any aluminum where the E-85 is in constant contact has to be anodized (the fuel rail is an example, the head is not as the E-85 is in an suspended state and does not puddle in the head). Any rubber part has to be replaced with either Stainless lines or Teflon lines. Aeroquip hose will work but has to be inspected regularly. If the hose is Teflon lined it is Alcohol compatible.
With this in mind,
The first order of business is to remove the stock 7M Fuel rail. This is to address a couple of things here.
By Figgie – Supramania.com and supraforums.com
The contents represented in this paper are the steps I undertook in my 87 supra Turbo to convert it from running on straight gasoline/Petrol to run with e-85 or gasoline/Petrol. This is based on my research with numerous fuel pump companies, hose companies and stand alone companies. Credit is noted where the information came from at the end of this paper.
Introduction
Well I have been a supraforums.com member and supramania.com member for quite some time. The objective of this project was to do something no one had ever done in the supra community and that was to run e-85 in the Turbo MKIII Supra as a daily driver. What this means is that I would use E-85 exclusively unless there was none available. For Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota this is not an issue as E-85 is available at 87% of all gas stations within the Twin Cities. The other reason for my undertaking of this project was to see if I could do it without any major help from any professionals. I am a Senior Server analyst by day time so this was a completely different that what I am used to J
The guinea pig
The project required that the car was capable of running on E-85 on the original engine, meaning no custom head and no custom block. The recipient I chose was a Black with Grey interior, 1987 Toyota Supra Turbo. I am the second owner of this vehicle. I have owned this car since 1994 when I purchased it in Rapid City, South Dakota. It has gone to Miami, Florida a couple of times then from Florida to the Minneapolis, Minnesota where it currently resides under my ownership still. The car suffered an engine failure at about 200,000 miles from rod knock, so this is what got this project going.
Research
Digging through the internet was a valuable asset as there was ethanol conversion from the early 70 during the first initial oil crisis here in the USA. Of course back then all cars where carburetor based so it was a bit different but the fuel requirements stayed the same. With the introduction of E-85, ethanol started to become readily available and this made the conversion possible. E- 85 is slightly corrosive. No where near the level of Methanol or MTBE. Now with that said it is still corrosive to rubber and mild steel. So if there is no plating on the mild steel it needs to be replaced. Rubber will expand and become to soft to contain any pressure, meaning that all rubber hoses and O-rings (fuel injectors) need to be replaced. The fuel pump needs to be swapped to an e-85 fuel pump.
And now on to the project
This is where the fun begins.
(DISCLAIMER: This is a presentation only and not to be construed as a step by step on how to do this conversion. I hereby release myself from any damage caused by you, either by consequential or inconsequential use of this presentation. If you decide to do this, you do it at your own risk.)
Needed:
Electrical know – how
Motor operation Theory
EFI Operation theory
Wideband sensor and guage
E-85 compatible fuel pump
Alcohol compatible hose
Someone that can TIG weld mild steel
Tools
Optional:
MIG or TIG Welder
Standalone ECU or piggy back (E-manage or MAFT-PRO)
Buddy
Beer or Soda
Pizza
Ok with this project there are certain aspects that we must address. Any mild steel that has not been plated has to be removed. Any aluminum where the E-85 is in constant contact has to be anodized (the fuel rail is an example, the head is not as the E-85 is in an suspended state and does not puddle in the head). Any rubber part has to be replaced with either Stainless lines or Teflon lines. Aeroquip hose will work but has to be inspected regularly. If the hose is Teflon lined it is Alcohol compatible.
With this in mind,
The first order of business is to remove the stock 7M Fuel rail. This is to address a couple of things here.
- The rubber O-rings in the injectors NEED to be changed to Viton/Viton II based O-Rings.
- The Aluminum fuel rail has to be anodized and preferably type III anodization.
- The fuel injectors need to be replaced with a bigger injector. Recommend at least 20% bigger which happen to be the 550cc/min injectors for the LEX-AFM mod.
