Last I heard, from my manual, my 07 5.4 FFV gets another 10+hp and 30ft/lb. The difference to the butt Dyno is NOT subtle, and the engine sounds angrier.

I'll let y'all know about cost/mile & MPG after I get back from Denver in two weeks. Gonna try it across the hot, high (compared to Minneapolis) great plains. Will be pulling a 6x12' U-Haul on the way back.


Anyone wanna do the Eisenhower Gauntlet while I'm out there? Need 8100# of trailer and a WD hitch.... LOL

 

All this talk about E85.....I just filled up with 93 octane with no ethanol and bumped my timing up to +1.75 and the difference is noticeable. Cost $2.39 a gallon. My 07 5.4 ffv seems to like the pure alcohol stuff, kinda like his owner.

 

Where are you finding Premo for that? We're paying that for 87 in MN. PREMO is 40¢ higher.

 

Currently, e85 is about 20 cents cheaper than 86 here. I decided to not run a tank of it this last weekend. Didn't seem like I needed to. Now, I would LOVE to find a station in my area that has e0.....

 

Topeka, Kansas

 

Cool. I just filled E85 in Iowa for 1.699/gal. 13.9mpg, somewhere around 11.5¢/mile. Would have to get about 21mpg to do the same cost/mile.

I don't see that happening at 70mph without non-oxy gas and a tune.

 

Just filled up with 91 pure for $2.39, averaging 17.7 hand calculated. The 93 pure is across town and I wasnt over that way.

 

From OBDLink. 70mph flat ground. MPG is still set for gas, not E85.
Made it to Denver. 72mph cruise, E85 averaged 12¢ per mile. Around Grand Island Nebraska, where regular was 2.14, it wouldn't be worth the switch. Otherwise, the truck ran hard and smooth all day, had no trouble with I80 or I76.

I saw much more appropriate spark timing on the scanguage, don't think it was ever less than 23° at full torque, 260ft/lb. 87 would have pulled that number below 10° for certain.

There was definitely more gas stops at 14mpg, but we were ready to stop after 300 miles.

 

Return trip, 6x12 U-Haul, combo weight just under 10,000, saw probably 9.5mpg average for the whole trip. Spark timing was great, and it pulled real nice up the hills. Still needed to lock out O/D between Omaha and Des Moines, those hills were kinda killer. But, we got home... now it's time to try clean out the trans thermostat.

e85 price in Colorado wasn't bad, except this one Cenex in Sterling. ***k that place. Gothenberg NB was about $1.90, but the only other logical option was e0 at $2.499/gallon. that's a pretty good option right there.

 

thought-riffin': these 5.4 3v engines were made for 93 octane, all the tuners say that's what they need to use for max power...
When I was a summer jobbin' high-school/college student, I was working at a local Cenex/Farmer's Union station. They left the manuals out, and I talked a lot with our tech guy about things. This was right about the time when MN went to mandatory e10. At the time, our e0 was 87 octane, and our e10 was 89. That e10 was our 87 with 10% ethanol added.

2 octane per 10%

There's been a bit of a push towards e30, deep in the engineering side of the automotive world. Small engines with turbos and needing more economy, et.c. Somewhere there's an article about the shortage of octane in the world and how it's almost necessary to keep on with the engines getting smaller and more stressed. Your mom's lazy Buick 3800 with 165hp is long gone, now she's got a 3.5 (or smaller) with 300hp and 4 valves in each cylinder.


2 octane numbers per 10%.
87 octane e0
89 octane e10....
hmmm...
91 octane e20?
93 octane e30? <-- is this where Ford was going from the beginning with the 3valve?

I did that Denver trip on e85 because I didn't feel like watching my ignition timing dropping WAAAAY below where the supercharger guys run every time I pulled a hill. (it was heading towards 0* on some easy hills on my daily commute, I didn't need to see 1,800* EGTs when 2 tons heavier & dragging a brick). Ignition timing rarely ever went below 23* the whole trip, and that was almost all done at stochiometric AFR... About the worst ever if you're actually trying to make torque.

I'm going to keep digging into this, there's a gas station on my route that has e15, e30, e50, and e85.
Right now my tank is at about e45, and I'm still not seeing any excess ignition timing pull. I'll try e30 and see what happens... hopefully they started their blend with a decent 87 octane gasoline and it's close to 93 octane. Buggers won't answer my email.