Alcohol Sensor install

[Preloader]

I FINALLY got around to ordering the correct female pins from Speartech.
Delphi E78 pin BTW. They were a whopping 45¢ each, so I bought a dozen.

I only need 2. So if anyone is interested in doing this conversion, I can throw 2 of the extras in an envelope and mail them to you free of charge.

 

[Eric Smit]

I FINALLY got around to ordering the correct female pins from Speartech.
Delphi E78 pin BTW. They were a whopping 45¢ each, so I bought a dozen.

I only need 2. So if anyone is interested in doing this conversion, I can throw 2 of the extras in an envelope and mail them to you free of charge.

let me know if they work.

 

[Preloader]

It finally done!!!!!!:banana:

Got my flexfuel update from Vince and my log shows 81.17648% alcohol. He said that is typically what e85 is.

I'm nervous to pump normal gas for the first time. I've been a prisoner of e85 for so long that I've become institutionalized.:blankface:

 

[rdss]

Why would you when you have a station within a mile of your house?!

Congrats in finally get that sensor doing its job!

 

[Preloader]

With the MZ0 we couldn't even take the Preloader to Clear Lake last weekend because it was over 250 miles round trip, and there were no e85 stations near our route.

It bugged the sh¡t out of me.

 

[rdss]

I guess the Preloader will be going on more road trips now.

 

[Swordsmith]

I've been running sensor since before I had alcohol injectors, I really have no frame of reference for the idea of being prisoner of E85. I guess it's similar to what people describe with their electric cars (other than Volt's), "range anxiety?"

I really couldn't face that, wouldn't have done the E85 conversion without the sensor.

 

[Preloader]

Yes, range anxiety is an accurate description.

 

[ungawd]

I've been running sensor since before I had alcohol injectors, I really have no frame of reference for the idea of being prisoner of E85. I guess it's similar to what people describe with their electric cars (other than Volt's), "range anxiety?"

I really couldn't face that, wouldn't have done the E85 conversion without the sensor.

That will be my route as well but with the 42# injectors. I figure I'm near maxing out the stock injectors anyway so there's no downside. The closest station to me I've found that carries E85 is 65 miles away so I can't do without the sensor-first approach. Everything should be in the mail now; I just haven't sourced the fuel lines yet.

 

[Preloader]

Here's all the part numbers I accumulated when designing my alcohol resistant piping.

post49

No p/n for the braided hose, but it's standard 3/8" teflon core SS braided hose.

 

[Graham]

Will it sense hi octane race gas?

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2

 

[Preloader]

It senses percentage of alcohol...... So I'm not sure if it can sense and utilize performance based on octane.

 

[Swordsmith]

I thought all the tunes could "sense" race gas, which is to say none of them sense the octane rating at all, but rather run crazy advanced timing as though they had high octane and then backed off until the knock sensor stopped. At any rate I have happily run 93, 87, and a wide variety of mixes of gas plus ethanol, with no problems. Perhaps race gas's octane is so high that the tunes don't normally start with timing that insane?

 

[ungawd]

Your understanding coincides with mine. What I have gathered is that the Sonic, stock tuning mind you, has 2 maps; one that's mild and can handle around 90 AKI octane and another safe map that will handle 85 AKI or less. Whether the mild map will pull timing or shift directly to the safe map is where I am uncertain. Our octane rating (AKI) is the average of two methods for determining octane, RON and MON. This is what you see depicted on our gas pumps in the equation (R+M)/2. Purpose-built engines are used to test a fuel's RON, the same may be true for MON; if not it's derived through chemistry.

 

[Preloader]

I filled half my tank with 91 yesterday.

So far so good. My MPG seems to be climbing and taking off from a stop seems less touchy.

I may consider building flexfuel kits next time I'm laid off, but in order to make it worth my time/effort, I'd have to sell them for approx. $350.

It would include the sensor, wiring harness, and SS braided fuel lines.

Does that sound unreasonable?

The braided lines and pressure testing are what drive the price up.

 

[rdss]

Preload, that sounds more than reasonable, especially to another quoted kit price.

 

[NewZJ]

Preload, that sounds more than reasonable, especially to another quoted kit price.

The other price quoted included injectors which are ~$300

I filled half my tank with 91 yesterday.

So far so good. My MPG seems to be climbing and taking off from a stop seems less touchy.

I may consider building flexfuel kits next time I'm laid off, but in order to make it worth my time/effort, I'd have to sell them for approx. $350.

It would include the sensor, wiring harness, and SS braided fuel lines.

Does that sound unreasonable?

The braided lines and pressure testing are what drive the price up.

$350 for ~$150 in parts might be a bit much

 

[Swordsmith]

Man I haven't even gone into business yet and the competiton is already undercutting me. The automotive game is rough!

 

[Preloader]

The injectors are more like $175 for four.

If you want real Bosche injectors, they are about $150 each.

Also, I wouldn't be making the kits as a business adventure. Trust me, I make much more at work per hour than I would making the flexfuel kits.

Parts are approx 150. But add up the time spent ordering parts. Paying shipping, finding the ECM pins, making the AN fitting braided lines and pressure testing for leaks.

I'm more intersted in building the kits to fill the void that the vendors haven't filled. It's symbiotic too. More people are likely to buy e85 tune kits from Trifecta and BNR as a result.

If $350 is too steep for my valuable time, spend $150 and make your own and let me know how that goes.

@Sword, I wasn't aware that you were considering making kits or intended to undercut you.

I was just playing with the idea when I thought about how disappointing it is that more people aren't going flexfuel yet.

 

[rdss]

The other price quoted included injectors which are ~$300

Where as this at? If it was swordsmith I do not remember reading that as part of the deal (if you have quick access to the post please link). As preload stated, you're almost double the cost of knock offs and 300 under on real Bosch injectors.