If I put in four to five gallons of E85 in my CX-5 2.5L NA and fill it the rest of the way up with 91 octane, and my vehicle gains power not only in the low end but also in the high RPM range.
I know this will be super controversial, but I wanted to see if Callisto could give me any input on whether he has tried this or not.
I have read all the other websites, just like everyone else that says using anything over 87 octane is a complete waste of money and you won't gain any power.
But I have friends with turbo vehicles that mix in E85 with 91 octane fuel so that they can end up with around 93 to 95 octane fuel. So I thought I would try it in my CX-5 just for Giggles not expecting any increase in power, because every website and YouTuber states that you won't gain any power with higher octane.
So I put in 4 gallons of E85 filled the rest with 91 octane, and drove it around really slow while monitoring the long-term fuel trim, and after about 10 minutes it had drifted up to around Plus 17 under certain throttle conditions.
So after the long term fuel trim had settled down, I started rolling into the throttle pretty hard, and I was pleasantly surprised how well the engine pulled up in the higher rpms, and would pull all the way up to the Rev limiter.
The other thing I noticed was how much Super low-end torque I had gained. I no longer had to practically floor it off the line, or use manual shifting mode to get the stupid thing to go.
So I thought to myself well this doesn't make any sense, why would having 95 octane fuel increase torque everywhere in the RPM band?
So I did a little research on the skyactiv 2.5 L naturally aspirated engine, and it turns out it's actually a variable compression engine. The skyactiv engine adjusts the intake cam timing in order to change the compression ratio of the engine on the fly. So if your Sky Active engine detects detonation it will change the intake cam timing and you will just be blowing your compression out the intake runner.
That was another thing I noticed when running the mixture of e85, coming off the line the engine no longer went baaawaaahhh, and accelerated slowly. That sound the engine makes out through the intake, is actually you losing your compression and horsepower.
So how does Mazda make a 13 to 1 compression ratio engine run on 87 octane? Well it actually doesn't it lowers your compression ratio so you can run 87 octane. So if you want to make as much horsepower as you should be getting, you should be running the highest octane fuel you can find.
The only problem with all of this, is I have no idea how much E85 mixture a CX-5 can handle. I do not know what happens to the high pressure fuel pump with long-term use of E85 mixed in to end up with E33. I was hoping that Callisto could weigh in on any of his experiences, or maybe someone else who actually has used E85 in mazdas or other vehicles.

 

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

I hope you continue the thread about your Mazda project and include pictures!
Yes, I tried the E85 and Dyno'd the use with the mix you mentioned and also a few other on the scary side of percentages. I fried 2 primary/Upstream HO2s experimenting. Your mix should be on the safe side and as you are watching all the vitals of the engine you should be OK. You may want to see how the CAT temperatures are because they will be a true indicator of CAT health with the use of E85.

Personally, I do not use it because of the negative side effects with long time use. But using it as you are mixing with CA (sucks with what the governor/dictator requires be in the formula) amount of pump gas you should be ok? You may want to add a bottle of Chevron gas treatment every other tank full or every fill up if you can afford it. You may also consider going 1 step colder spark plug as well. Try some standard inexpensive Copper plugs gapped at .042. Next time you travel out of CA fill up with some Oregon or Neveda gas with your mix and hang on for even more power.


Now I have given you a few of my secrets...



I prefer xylene over E85....

 

Knowing that California already mandates 10% ethanol in our fuel in California, what long-term side effects have you seen with running 20% or 30% ethanol mixture in the gasoline of a CX-5? HPFP failure? Lift pump failure? Cat burns out?


I used to have a Honda Civic that I put a Jackson racing supercharger on it, and I did notice that the Plain Jane NGK V groove spark plugs worked better than iridium plugs. I seemed to have more detonation problems with the iridium plugs.
I guess having a little glowing iridium Center electrode is not the best for avoiding detonation.
I have also read theories that actually having softer electrodes that wear out give you more power, because that little glowing metal particles that are flying off the spark plug are actually what is igniting the fuel when it Sparks.
The cheap NGK spark plugs would only last about 8000 Miles though, and I could feel the car start to idle rougher through the stick shift.
What is your reasoning behind using plain copper plugs? Or what advantages have you found?

 

I don't use E85 with my Nitrous ever and never with CA gas alone and never will again with E85. And I love my N2O
As for long term effects... it simple our cars were don't designed with parts to use alcohol and E85, so parts will be affected sooner or later. And IMHO ECU calibrating with E85 is a PIA and very time consuming. If anyone tells or suggests other wise they either not doing it correctly or just lucky so far not damaging engines.

Copper plugs are inexpensive so you can change them frequently and they can be cleaned the old school way (bead blast them low psi ) to reuse them with between 90-98% performance comparing them new out of the box measured by way of the wave pattern on an oscilloscope.
The other reason is when I use more then a 50 shot of N2O O close the gap down to between .032-.035 so I don't burn the ground electrode completely off the plug . The gap I ran in my SuperGas Camaro was even smaller, but then I shot 100HP shot of N20 in that engine and a 3 stage system. LOL

Don't get me wrong, I have played with E85 since we all started to use it as a performance boost for engines. I just don't like all the less then positive attributes of its use.
I know strange commit considering I ran Nitromethane and methanol in may of my performance engines I raced.

 

I ran an airplane fuel/either mixture in my hydroplane outboard engine and worked great.
Until the day it caught on fire while I was doing a speed run down the lake.
I killed the dead man throttle which eventually killed the flames, but yeah, the motor was toast.
Fuel mixing is nothing I would recommend doing on daily driver, but then I'm retired and replacing engines is no longer n my budget .

 

NICE!
Funny you mention budget and engines, that is why in 1995 I retired running S/G 9:90 in NHRA !

As for the Mazda, even now in my Mazda one of the screens on my Ultra Gauge I frequently monitor has ECU AFR ratio voltage, CAT temp, bank one/upstream Ho2 voltage, so I can see what is going on instantly when needed.
I really should install a wide band sensor to get the exact AFRs and also an EGT sensor with gauge but it just means more gauge to figure out where to mount them.

 

Callisto,
Have you found any other tricks that work, like a 10 or 20 degree lower thermostat, or turning on the radiator fan on at a lower temperature?

What is the top simple mods that give real power you can feel?

Do you run 0W-20 synthetic? Or do you bump it up to 5W-30 synthetic to get the better NOACK numbers to keep you intake valves from building up deposits? And to protect your engine since your running nitrous.

I've noticed in most car manuals they say you need to run a zero weight in the United states, but in the rest of the world they'll say to run a five weight. It seems like the car manufacturers are trying to eek out that last .001 MPG for the fleet with their zero weight oils, and not caring about engine longevity.

 

Callisto,
I just thought of another question for you about your experiments with spark plugs. Supposedly our spark plug coils have a ion detection circuit built into them that can detect detonation or pre ignition by measuring the amount of ions in the combustion chamber.

Do you know if running spark plugs other than OEM iridium changes the calibration for this ion detection unit?

Running copper spark plugs might show less detonation to the ion detection unit, thus tricking your engine into running more timing and compression ratio?

Or it might go the other way and copper spark plugs show more detonation and you could lose power?

This is all just theory of course, I was wondering what your theory was or what your real world experience was on the dyno with copper plugs?

 

As a disclaimer, most everything I do on my Mazda is for fun and I dont claim absolutely that they would work if duplicated. I also NEVER post any of my Data regarding my theories and testing results. Saves argument and long drawn out debates that distract from the true fun of modding for performance.

I run a cooler thermostat and I do not use the ECU fan settings. I shut them off in the ECU PID that controls when the high low fans operate. I run them with a manual switch and also an aftermarket automatic fan control mostly for summer and or AC use. . Nothing that has not been done on cars for decades. I think I posted pictures making up the harness to be able to do that??? IDK can't remember now all the pictures I have posted there are just to many. Sorry. The funny thing was the connectors to the fans was the hardest part of the project to find the correct ones without cutting off the OEM ones.

I never have seen or read anything empirical about the coils. you mentioned. I have never seen any area at least in my ECU that would support that information either. The only coil that would be truly worthwhile in that sense would be a variable magnetic coil. But that is a different subject and not really supportive that I am aware of for engine with coil in plug design?
I do have a project building 4 pack of HVC coils for my Mazda. I did this on one of my MINI's wow talk about spark energy! The Mazda I am still working on the details so don't ask. LOL Mazda uses a 4-wire coil pack. Power, ground, Trigger and ECU feedback. There are no coils available that really support spark energy above 3500 rpm except HVC's. But that is another subject and as I said it in the theory and paper designing step right now.

I am old school and choose the viscosity of the oil for the climate and engine operating conditions. So I use a variety of viscosities. Doing oil analysis definitively indicates nothing I have chosen has had a negative impact on my engine. As far as MPG that varies and also not a subject, I have documented enough data to post anything I would call rock solid information. I already was banned from one forum talking about my choice of oil use and why. LOL

There is no mod that will have the most dramatic effect then a simple ECU performance upload even if it is a "CANNED TUNE". But next to that as far as a bolt on I would say a true Cold Air Intake. Currently there are likely less than a very small number that really work. I have yet to see any the work on a N/A Mazda unless the engine is run WOT for more than a mile. .At that point what the bother in investing in them because the OEM will flow the same amount of CFM the engine needs and the incoming air charge will be whatever the ambient air temperature is! A true CAI would expel warmer air before it is passed through the Throttlehold into the intake manifold.
The absolutely hands down biggest power increase is a performance head and cam set up. This goes without saying on any engine. But that is not cheap.
My cams I engineered are still in the testing mode right now. I have never done performance cams with an engine that varies it compression ratio. So it is a learning curve. And there are very few inthe business that offer them and want to talk about what they did?



Just a word of advice these things I am posting causes all kinds of BS debates on other forums

 

Hello Callisto,

Here is one of the pages i found talking about the ion sensor. Take a look and let us know what you think

ion_sensor-1281.html

Purpose/Function Detects ion generation in the combustion chamber for detecting pre-ignition. Detects ions which occur due to fuel combustion as current by applying bias voltage to the spark plug, which is amplified in the ignition coil internal circuit and input to the PCM. Construction Built into the ignition coil.