Setting up my Drag car on E85

[bigdaddy198]

I race a 3800 lb beast of a car its a 1980 Olds Cutlass with a 461 BB olds thats @720hp and have been shifting it @6 grand thats been running a 1050 Dominator and a Magna Fuel 500 pump, Filter, and big 2 port Regulator.
all summer on a ported Torker intake with a set of stage 2 ported iron heads. The car is at 12.5 to 1 compression and its running a turbo 400 Ati 4000 converter no brake and all thru a 12 bolt full spool all Moser rear end with 4.11 gearing and 29.5/10.5/15S MT Drags. Currently its been as fast as 10.90 at my local track but as fast as 10.80's at the last owners track. I am putting on a QFT 1050 thats on a 4150 flange its been converted with all QFT parts and metering blocks. The guy I bought the carb from says it came off his last motor a 514 BBF @700 hp shifting at 6grand. Its still set up with his tune I am wondering with our motors so close in performance what should I watch for when I put the cornburner on my motor. I also plan on running E85R Renegade Race Fuels version of e85 only because where I live the fuel stations do not order the e85 in large quantities and it tends to water up real easy as it makes alot of condensation in a almost empty tank in the ground. I am very Anal when it comes to my Fuel my way of storing it and my fuel jugs. I dont put anything in my jugs except my race fuel and I keep my drums off the ground and covered with a moving pad so the temp changes do not seem to effect the moisture build up. I also buy my e85 in new Renegade drums and store it in my garage hi and dry. My main question is after I mount the carb should I be able to work off of the last cars tune up and get my car to adjust off of his tune or do I re jet and start over. I am just not familiar with setting up my tune up off e85 even though I have ran it in the past and with great success I have never set my own car up with a different fuel set up.

[butterbean]

Hello BigD and welcome, I think you will be ok trying the tune thats in the carb now, I would run it and see how it does and if you like it (I know you will) but I would have your gas Dominator converted, I know your E-85 carb says 1050 CFM but its not the same as a Dommy, I've done it my self and the Dommy will work better, anyway I had a 71 Buick GS 455 that was all Buick power N/A w/T-400 and 12 bolt and 430 gears and it ran 10.59 @ 124.00 on 110 race fuel and all I done was put a E-85 Dommy that was built by Justus (the owner of this site) and it went 10.42 @ 126.50 and I changed nothing but the carb. you will have to lower your fuel pressure to 6-6 1/2 lbs and get rid of any paper filters that you have the fuel will break down the glue that holds it together and use S/S filters, good luck and happy tuning.
P.S. there is a sticky on here that will help you with tuning/reading plugs

[Big D]

Thanks Bean your reading my mind I swear. I talked to Mark Sullens a couple months ago but it would have killed my season to sendoff my Dom as I had nothing to put on it but I figure when the Dom comes off I will send it out to Mark right away then put it on for next season as I know Mark will get a good baseline on it and I can slways have a backup carb. I had one of Marks carbs on my Fairmont it came out of Brown County Dragway in Indiana that car was BAD to the bone on the the E wow kept the wheels up all thru 1st gear and made spot on passes. I was sick when I sold that car but the guy who bought it loves the E set up and has never owned a Drag car before. Its been nice to hear him say this car runs great no matter what the weather is and its fast as heck. Just a pleasure to get on fuel thats just so much easier on the parts. Thanks Bean I will keep you posted Keep up the good work. Bigdaddy198

[butterbean]

the guy that own's this site does them as well and does a great job, I had him do mine and when I put it on it was spot on, he took my tune and used it to convert it, it worked perfact, give him a call and see what he has to say, anyway you could text me a couple of pics of the Olds?? 772-626-8044

[Big D]

I did not know that so now I may have to get with him about doing the conversion. Either way I know when the Dominator is Converted I dont want to even act like I know what I am doing cause when it comes to high tech stuff like that I want someone who knows what to do as far as a set up. I had a guy here in a suburb of Detroit who sells brand new E85 carbs and swears he knows how to do a set up on them and his shop is no lie 30 minutes from where I live told me to mail him my carb and gave me a off the planet price of 575.00 plus shipping. I asked why cant I drop my carb off your 30 minutes away he told me he works in a very secure building and I am not allowed to hand deliver my carb to him. Those kind of people are not who I deal with. How can I trust someone with a high dollar carb when I cannot be trusted to hand deliver it to the shop where they do the conversions. I also got a real creepy feeling just talking to him he had nothing good to say about any other builders out there but he is suppose to be doing work for John Force and the Pedrigons and alot of other big names. I will contact the man who runs this site as I like what I heard so far and it seems like we are on the same page I just want things done as they tell me. Not smoke blown up my butt. I will get you some pics off too thanks for the heads up.

[mattjewell]

It was my carb, and it worked great. You will get good info and feedback on this board.It helped a great deal when we started making changes 3-4 years ago.

[Big D]

Thanks Matt this is John I just bought your old QFT 1050 I cannot wait to put it on the car. I have a full drum of E85R Renegade Race Fuel and I will be making big noise on Sunday!!! Thanks Matt again !!! I take it these guys gave you some pointers on doing your conversion great deal.

[butterbean]

Remember to turn your fuel pressure down a little to 6-6 1/2 lbs

[Big D]

Well I got the system cleaned out and hooked the E carb up today and she took right off. The car sounds great alot more responsive than the old Dominator was on race gas. I cannot believe the difference in the way its like on the pipe now. This car has had a ton of porting done to the intake and heads and its woke up real good now. I plan on taking it out tomorrow and making some passes in it. We were really pleased with how well it reacted to the Renegade e85R it tested out perfect I added some Lucas ethanol conditioner to it and after we fired it up it took just shy of 14 minutes to hit 140 degrees with no Fan at all then at 150 we turned on the fan and it stayed right there. Its got 96 jets in the primary's and 104's in the secondary's so its not even made any type of a off sound its like this motor was built for e85 I cant wait to go try it out. I will post some et's tomorrow when we get done but from the way my butt felt in the seat its running very sweet.

[butterbean]

its jetted 96/104, does it have a power valve in the front??

[bigdaddy198]

Yes it does

[bigdaddy198]

I made 7 passes on his tune which was a comparable motor to mine. I was hot lapping a couple rounds but all first passes were 7.084/7.085/7.084/ 7.078 my hot laps were 7.11 /7.14 /7.17 / it likes a good round with about 160 on the temp snd I checked the plugs the electrode is a bit green and the rest is a darker brown from what I seen it was low on the rear bowl so I adjusted the float up to where it was the same as the front bowl as the 7.14 / and 7.17 passes it stumbled after coming out of first gear its not running hot but its just a jetting issue right now. I was running 6.94's on Race gas 110 but it was a sloppy
Tune hard to let idle and pulled good but not crisp at all. I know I can jet up for speed but today is a rain on and off day waiting for them to call the race I think I need 98's in front and 106's in secondary's should improve I have my fuel pressure set at 6.5 lbs

[bigdaddy198]

Hey Bean what kind of plugs were you running in your buick I have a old set of accel 134's in the Olds and would like to find out what I should be running colder plug or what what type of gap. Got Msd 6al Msd didtributor and Msd coil.

[triplenickel]

Welcome bigdaddy! Looks like Da Bean has got a BOP buddy to BS with! What type of plug does your motor take? Is it the small short tapered seat plug?

[triplenickel]

You said it stumbled coming out of first gear. Was it kind of blubbering or fluttering & just not clean & smooth? E85 will generally kind of blubber when it's too fat & will be lazy but clean when it's lean!