Can I run my Jag XK8 on bioethanol?

[Spookyman]

This is my first ever post here, so hello everybody!!

Can anyone out there help me?

I have a UK spec 1999 Jaguar XK8 and I am interested in running it on bioethanol.
Do you really get more power from ethanol? If so why doesn't everyone run on it?
The engine is a 4.0 litre AJ V8 with Nikasil liners. I have had the liners checked and they are in good condition.
I have asked a couple of Jag specialists and they are not sure if the mod can be done.
If it can be done, can anyone tell me how?
If it can be done, would it also work in a XKR or would the supercharger complicate matters?

[GavinPearson]

Spookyman said:

This is my first ever post here, so hello everybody!!

Can anyone out there help me?

I have a UK spec 1999 Jaguar XK8 and I am interested in running it on bioethanol.
Do you really get more power from ethanol? If so why doesn't everyone run on it?
The engine is a 4.0 litre AJ V8 with Nikasil liners. I have had the liners checked and they are in good condition.
I have asked a couple of Jag specialists and they are not sure if the mod can be done.
If it can be done, can anyone tell me how?
If it can be done, would it also work in a XKR or would the supercharger complicate matters?

Ethanol in E85 form has an octane rating of about 110, based on what they sell in the USA. In theory, you can get more power if you up the CR to take advantage of the fuel's resistance to knock.

However, the fuel has way less energy than petrol so you need a lot more of it to go into the cylinder to make the same power and as the air to fuel ratio is different you need much bigger injectors to get to where you would be with petrol.

In addition, ethanol is highly corrosive, so the fuel system needs changing to stop itself falling apart.

Theen you have a problem that E85 isn't available everywhere so you need to be able to run 2 fuels. So you can't really up the CR, and you need to have sensors to see what fuel you are running. You also need lambda sensors that account for the new fuel's burning characteristics.

So after you have changed all the components, you need to totally remap the engine, and for that matter look at the transmission map otherwise the shifts will be super rough. Generically the process is the same whether the engine is supercharged or not, but the conclusion is the same: it really isn't worth the effort.

[eliot]

Whereas if you had a turbocharged engine, you could crank the boost up when on the e85. Cheap-as-chips megasquirt has support for e85 already!