Definitions:
E85- a blend of Ethanol and Petrol available from a non-typical ‘gas-station’ pump. Blended at the rate of 85% Ethanol & 15% Petrol.

Petrol- gasoline available from a typical ‘gas-station’ pump. I am calling it ‘Petrol’ because of a personal dislike of the term ‘gas’ (a gas is a vapor) and ‘Petrol’ sounds better to me than ‘gasoline.’

Gasohol- an older term for blends of gasoline and alcohol

eN- a DIY mix of E85 and Petrol, resulting in your own Ethanol concentration for example, e37.

Octane- a rating of a fuel’s ability to ‘control’ its rate of combustion, in other words, a measure of the fuels stability for, and during combustion. 100 being the octane of a ‘pure’ Petrol. (for more useful info see the end of this primer). The octane number referred to in this primer is: (Research Octane + Motor Octane)/2, seen on many pumps as: (R+M)/2.

Combustion- i.e., burning: the exothermic chemical combining of fuel and oxygen.

Heat of Combustion- energy released as heat when combustion occurs.

DigitalManagementElectroincs (DME)- by Siemens, version DME MEVD17.2.2 in the Cooper S, N18

Open Loop – a system for operation where the parameters of operation are preset and not adjusted by feedback, or rather perhaps: the input to the system has no feedback from the output, calling it a loop is a bit of a misnomer, it’s more a line; what goes in is not adjusted by the output.

Closed Loop – a system for operation where the parameters of operation are preset but also continuously adjusted by feedback, or rather perhaps: the input to the system has feedback from the output, thus a loop; what goes in is continuously adjusted in regards to measurements of the output.

AirFuelRatio [AFR]- the fractional representation of Air to Fuel as relegated herein to the internal combustion machine, particularly the N18.

Compression Ratio [CR]- again, a fractional representation of two quantities, this time of air: uncompressed and compressed (the former being: the volume of the engine’s cylinder, as measured when the piston is at BottomDeadCenter (BDC), from the piston’s top to the cylinderhead, and the latter being: the volume of the engine’s cylinder, as measured when the piston is at TopDeadCenter (TDC), from the piston’s top to the cylinderhead. For the Cooper S N18 engine this ratio is 10.5:1, whilst the JCW N14 is 10.0:1, yes, the Cooper S has a higher compression, however, it can have this because its boost settings are lower than the JCW.

Stoichiometry- the complete molecular combining of a fuel with its reactant, into components parts, without leftover molecules. Here’s an analogy: Various size families (the fuel and its reactant) come to a gathering (the combustion chamber). They meet and break into age and gender groups: male adults, female adults, male teens, female teens, etc. (combustion). While joining into groups each individual finds a partner and no one is leftover (i.e., solo). This is stoichiometry.

ShortTermFuelTrim (STFT)- the instantaneous ‘trimming’/adjusting of the pulse width being sent to the fuel injector by the DME, for fuel delivery; with the goal of maintaining the best combustion of the fuel, theoretically stoichiometry. AND – key point: it makes this adjustment by measurements taken in the exhaust by the Oxygen sensor. Further, this measurement is irrespective of the fuel type, it is only measuring an oxygen count, so to speak, as that is the variable that relates to how close to stoichiometry the fuel mix is.

LongTermFuelTrim (LTFT)- the‘averaged’ long term measurements of trim applied to the fuel pulse width. The DME controls two things for this: 1. to keep this within a range that minimizes the delta for the STFT. 2. maintain the adjustment that keeps the ‘delta of the STFT’ within a range that is acceptable to emissions standards. Those standards are mandated by the EPA and I think the range for variation from the standard is 1.5.

Specific Heat- the energy needed to change the temperature of a substance.

Latent Heat- the energy needed to change the phase of a substance (i.e., ice into water at 0°C, no temperature change occurs during the phase transition, but a lot energy is required to change the molecular bonds. Often know as the evaporative cooling effect).

CheckEngineLight (CEL)- a tiny image of a longitudinal cross-section of a theoretical engine’s outline that illuminates in order to provide a visual notification to the vehicle user that: “sum’ems amiss in Otto-cycle wonderland.”



Assumptions:
E85 is always 85% Ethanol & 15% Petrol with an Octane rating of 100.
Petrol, for this primer: 91 octane (pure: no ethanol additives).
You have an N18 engine.
You want your MINI faster.
You like speed.



FORWARD:
So you want more power? And you’ve heard E85 can boost your octane. It’s true. Interested in knowing how it does this, and how you can exploit it? Me too.

Briefly, how I came to compose this: I wanted to get more speed and acceleration from my 2011 MINI Cooper S Countryman ALL4. It’s a MINI, but it’s 3,208lb, quite a porker (relatively, to its lineage). Honestly, I mostly just wanted to be able to beat my buddy in his R53 with my R60, it’s pretty much that simple. So I went on a somewhat frugal quest for speed that never ends… Unfortunately frugal and speed gains are somewhat mutually exclusive but we all start somewhere, usually where the funds available allow. So I started lurking on some forums, I heard about this juice box that was available, they said once you’re on the juice, you’re hooked – game over, man. You’ll never be the same. What could I do? I like debauchery.
I bought the JB+

Note:
Terms, and examples are used throughout as “layman-theoretical” and are not necessarily empirical. E.g., - let’s say the Petrol Engine’s ideal AFR is stoichiometry: 14.7:1 and deviations from that are lean or rich; whereas in contrast/reality, under most conditions stoichiometry is not ‘ideal’ during engine use; but the stoichiometric ratio will be used as our general metric; hope that makes sense…

Narrative:
If you’ve installed the JB+ (and want to twist the dial up), or have an aftermarket turbo, or some other modification that may increase the MINI’s compression ratio you’ll need to compensate by increasing the fuel’s resistance to detonation. You need more OCTANE. Most everybody can get 91 or 92 octane fuel at the pump. Some of it already has up to 10% ethanol in it. You can find out if there’s ethanol in it if you’d like, by checking here: http://pure-gas.org/. I used to do it because I used to think that added ethanol was bad, I wanted to avoid it. Not so much anymore.

A (very) little about Ethanol [C2H6O]. It’s an alcohol (the alcohol actually, the one that gets you drunk) that can readily be utilized as a fuel.

For complete combustion of pure Ethanol to occur the stoichiometric ratio necessary is 9.0:1. That’s “richer” than Petrol’s stoichiometric ratio of 14.7:1. Don’t get lost here; it’s a simple concept that may be initially confusing. All those ratios just mean the amount of air per the amount of fuel. So, for illustration: optimal (stoichiometric) burning of Ethanol requires 9.0 parts of air to each part of fuel; whereas, for Petrol you need 14.7 parts of air to 1 part of fuel. At first this may seem counterintuitive – but that’s probably because of our custom way of thinking about numbers, larger is bigger (i.e., richer), but the key here is the word ratio (i.e., fraction). And - our terms for “richer” or “leaner” to describe fuel combustion focuses on the fuel. But the AFR always has the fuel at 1, thus the confusion (at least to me). For example, a ‘rich’ Petrol mixture is, say 13.4:1 – that’s weird right?, we said it’s ‘rich,’ so why is the number less (13.4 < 14.7). Because - we really want to look at the reciprocal. See, (1/14.7) is clearly less than (1/13.4) , now hopefully it becomes clear why we refer to the latter as “richer.”

As illustrated above, Ethanol's combustion occurs at a ‘richer’ ratio than Petrol. This is an issue because our cars’ design parameters, as implemented by the DME, are set for readings related to Petrol use, not Ethanol or its blend (a least not blends greater than 10-20%, as one may unknowingly find at the retail gas pump, but that’s another topic). So when (self-)mixing-in Ethanol to our Petrol we are inevitably asking the engine to utilize the Ethanol fuel at a ‘lean’ mixture (e.g., our Petrol car engine looks to burn its fuel at an AFR of 14.7:1, however, this is a ‘lean’ mix for Ethanol, it wants 9.0:1). Not good, but not necessarily as bad as first one may think. Not so bad because: our mix is E85 & Petrol, thus we have a stoichiometric value somewhere in between (9.85 to 14.7):1, and not good because: typically when an engine runs lean (less fuel/more air) it creates more heat.
Yep, less fuel equals more heat.
Now this is definitely counter intuitive, until you understand why. With a ‘lean’ condition we have less fuel, with less fuel being introduced into the combustion chamber less heat is absorbed by/transferred to the fuel prior to combustion and the engine thus runs hotter. Again, not good. But – Ethanol helps out here in two ways (and potentially a third…): 1. Ethanol’s heat of combustion is considerably less than Petrol’s, almost 40% less (H.ofC.(kJ/g) Ethanol/Petrol : ((29.7/47.0)= 63%), so there is less heat generated from the combustion when ethanol is present. 2. The specific heat of Ethanol (2.72(kJ/kg.K)) is larger than that of Petrol (2.22(kJ/kg.K)), albeit a small amount, but the latent heat of Ethanol is considerably larger (about 3.33 times) than that of Petrol (1170(kJ/kg & ~350(kJ/kg) respectively), what this means is that: for specific heat- with the same amount of Ethanol and Petrol one would need more heat (energy) to raise the Ethanol’s temperature; for latent heat- as the liquid Ethanol vaporizes (after injection) it is cooling the combustion chamber at a rate about 3.33 times better. So the Ethanol can absorb more of the residual heat left from combustion than ‘straight’ Petrol would. And the possibly 3rd benefit – Ethanol loves water, the technical term is hygroscopic (and I’ll mention here that this is one of the chief things people refer to when they disparage ethanol as an engine fuel: it’s propensity to join with water and then the potential that that water is introduced to the fuel system and engine; well without trying to stray too far off topic, the water introduced into a modern car’s fuel system is minimal, the systems in today’s cars are very well sealed - to prevent evaporative emissions, and this works to limit the amount of water that could potentially be caught loitering in the tank and that thereby then might exploit its position and attempt to be introduced to components it would best be kept segregated from.) But, pardon that digression, since Ethanol ©s water and water, in one form or another is all over the place, in the air, on the ground, etc. You’ll probably have some of that doggone H20 in your fuel. That’s “OK” though, the water ends up just increasing the heat capacity of the fuel mixture and helps to lower the heat of combustion, too. What’s so bad about that?
I am sure many will disagree with this synopsis, as is their prerogative; however this is the opinion I have reached from the limited research I have embarked upon. What this is meant to convey is that Ethanol, when mixed with Petrol in certain quantified amounts, is not harmful to our engines, at least in the ways discussed above. Ethanol very well may be considered to enhance rather than to exacerbate an engines fuel.
But you only ‘need’ the Ethanol if you have reason to raise the octane. The Ethanol on its own is certainly no elixir (well…, least not wise in this circumstance). And higher octane is only necessary if the engine is experiencing higher than designed for compression ratios.

[warning: THIS NEXT PART CONTAINS CONJECTURE, FROM ME, AND ANY INPUT THAT WOULD ELUCIDATE PARTS OF THIS NARRATIVE WHERE I MAY BE INCORRECT IS WELCOME AND APPRECIATED]

Further, regarding the ‘lean’ condition described in the preceding. If I understand correctly, this concern is actually only a concern during two modes of operation, and of those two, chiefly one.
To back up a bit – basically, engines operate in three different schemes: 1. cold-start, 2. normal driving, 3. WideOpenThrottle (WOT) – my personal favorite. The control of emissions for each of these situations is required by US Federal Law.
In schemes 1. & 3. the mode of control is called “open loop” (see definition, if needed). While not completely open loop, for the purposes of fueling as related to AFRs in this primer I’ll call it open loop. [if this is erroneous, to an egregious, or significant degree please correct me]. What that means: when the N18 is operating under cold-start and/or WOT conditions the engine is using its sensors to monitor systems (knock, crank angle, throttle position, etc.), but the AFR is being determined by pre-set metrics that do not react to instantaneous feedback from the O2 sensors. Thus the system is in “open loop.” Both cold-starts and WOT conditions are of such limited durations, as a percentage of total car usage, that the ‘less than ideal’ (as far as emissions and efficiency are concerned) predetermined settings utilized in the open loop are allowed. The system remains open loop for simplicities sake, so that under both conditions: cold-start and WOT it is more likely than not that the car will perform per user demand, so far as AFR is concerned. So, before we get to the other condition #2. normal driving, let’s examine the possible hazards for the user who blends Ethanol with their Petrol.

(The following is my theory, though anyone with a CANtool or other live-engine diagnostic program can use those tools to examine it empirically. I haven’t yet, but will as I adjust my blends.*)
Hazards: 1. The pre-set limit from the DME, for the injector’s pulse width, in the open loop system, cannot ‘richen’ the fuel enough during WOT for full exploitation of the user’s “eN”mixture. This would mean that the AFR was remaining too ‘lean’ (e.g., under the WOT run the DME commands an AFR of 12.9:1; as though, we’ll say, the Siemens’ engineers have determined that (under whatever respective conditions the car is then experiencing: temperature, humidity, ambient air pressure) the N18’s map is set for a maximum ‘rich’ AFR = 12.9:1 in WOT, in those conditions. Thus the system operates under that ‘map’ irrespective of Oxygen sensor feedback, hence the “open loop.” Remember this parenthetical statement is an example, these numbers were pulled from the ether…)
So, what can we do to mitigate this potential hazard, nothing really (without a tune) but we can monitor it. Use a CANtool to watch hi-jacked gages and/or datalog. Monitor that the parameters are within an acceptable range (or not) and adjust as needed. We become the feedback, we close the loop.

OK, now onto condition #2. (so called) normal driving, lol. We have MINIs, do we ever fall under this condition… ;-)
In this scheme the vehicle is operating (as far as this primer is concerned, about the AFR) in a “closed loop.” What this means it that the O2 sensor is providing continuous and instantaneous feedback (of measurements in the exhaust, of the oxygen values as quantified against stoichiometric). These high frequency readings are used to adjust the STFT in a never-ending quest to achieve stoichiometry. What is so cool about this is that the system really doesn’t give a crap about the fuel it measures, that’s moot – it just wants to utilize the feedback to achieve stoichiometry – irrespective of the fuel. Man, I never thought emissions control was cool… but exploiting it can be. However, even though the system may work to achieve stoichiometry irrespective of the fuel there is one definite caveat and one very likely caveat, described as follows.
The definite caveat: if the STFT goes +/- some amount beyond the limits set by the Siemens engineers in their effort to meet US laws regarding vehicle emissions, it eventually pulls the LTFT along with it, and when the LTFT goes far enough astray a certain fella, Herr DME, illuminates the CEL. The CEL comes on after sustained and significant deviations from the parameters set as allowable for fuel trim.
The likely caveat: fuel trims are ‘hard code’ limited; of course, they are physically limited too (the pulse width at high RPM has a maximum, and at that maximum the nozzle size and the fuel pressure of the system thus define the finite maximum). But it’s likely the STFT won’t approach the physical limitations, it will rather be constrained by software, I am not sure though (remember, conjecture).
This is the issue that the ethanol modder encounters under ‘normal driving’ – is that CEL for ‘real’ so to speak or is it just a symptom of the LTFT saying “Hey, Fritz, what the hell are you feeding me that I gotta move my pulse widths way over here? Das EPA says I gotta tell you that’s a no-go.” However, we can check these too, with the proper tools (mentioned earlier) and troubleshooting skills one can, if reasonably daring and knowledgeable, eliminate the guessing and determine that that CEL is really just a: Check, Everything’s Logical.

A few words about the ‘detriments’ widely espoused regarding Ethanol as a fuel additive. What I have found is that this is chiefly a legacy claim, the validity of which is questionable on a couple fronts.

Chemically: Ethanol is a high octane fuel, when exploited (i.e., used with high CRs) it makes plentiful power, this is a fact. How corrosive is it to the modern fuel system? Minimal. Since the new millennium cars sold in the USA have been federally mandated to have fuel systems that must operate with mixtures of up to 10% Ethanol.

Hygroscopic: the Ethanol used for vehicle fuel has to be distilled to be anhydrous and its water content is lowered to a practical and acceptable level. And as most meth users know, a lil' water aint bad.

Financially: I certainly don’t have any evidence for this, but always question motives: who controls the fuel supply for the automotive market ‘Big Oil,’ (trying not to sound all aluminum-hat conspiracy here) and no company wants to lose market share, so why promote a product that cuts into petroleum’s market? Well you don’t, in fact you might even want to disparage it… Ethanol has been used extensively as a fuel and continues to be thus positively exploited. I’ve ‘dug deeper’ on this and gone from being firmly wary of it, to just about fully embracing it. Hopefully this little primer has been educational for you too.

*And what do I intend to do with this knowledge?

A little birdy suggested that when using an ethanol mixture, the max lean for the AFR should be 13.5:1. I intend to hi-jack the speedo for AFR readings and check that.
With my current setting at (E85/91 = 33/77) & the JB+ ~61%, I will monitor as I work my blend up to an arbitrary e36 which should be an effective 95octane (conservatively), it’s 42% E85 and that has a stiochiometric ratio of 12.6:1; so I will be hoping that the AFR readings will be much closer to that (12.6:1), or possibly ‘richer,’ that would be good.
If this e36 is found to be acceptable then I will dial the JB+ up to: 70%, then 75%, then 80%. If that works (up to 80%) then most likely go to testing an e43 in the same iterative process hoping to find an ‘allowable’ “eN” that will support the JB+ at, or near 100%.


REFERENCES
Google/internet (and a sensible personal outlook)
Specifically: a short treatise by Bob Glicksman, “Ethanol and Internal Combustion Engines,” as well as “On Using Ethanol in Unmodified Vehicles,” by John Kolack.
“MINI Cooper Service Manual 2007-11” (R55, R56, R57), by Bentley Publishers
“Feedback Control of Dynamic System,” G. Franklin, D. Powell, A. Emami-Naeini
http://iqlearningsystems.com/ethanol...cteristics.pdf


Additional notes:

OCTANE – you only need to get what you need to have (i.e., my stock ’06 Suzuki GSXR-600 motorcycle calls for 89octane, that is all it needs to perform a controlled combustion in its engine, every time, even at 14,000 RPM, all day long, any higher an octane rating (of Petrol), and I am wasting my money). And, octane does not increase performance, in anyway; a higher octane rating only indicates that the fuel will combust* in a manner that is stable enough to allow the user to exploit performance modifications that otherwise might pre-ignite a fuel mixture of sub-octane rating. But we are all free to enjoy the placebo effect, as we may so be inclined, and to line the pockets of ‘big oil’ J via ignorance.
*combust(ion) – this process is not an explosion. It is a very rapid burning, with a flame front velocity along the lines of tens to low hundreds of feet per second. The flame front velocity for an explosion is much nearer or above the thousands of ft/sec. An explosive flame front does not occur under normal operating conditions.

Pre-ignition (also sometimes referred to as “knock”) – this is a still debated phenomena; pre-ignition is just that, the air-fuel charge in the combustion chamber is ignited prior to the spark plug’s controlled initiation via spark. Where the knock comes in is: it is likely that this pre-ignited mass’ flame front collides with the spark plug’s ignited mass’ flame front and this interaction wreaks havoc in what is otherwise a controlled ignition, sending very powerful shock waves *****-nilly and causing very, very bad things to happen to the cylinder and piston. Thankfully the MINI has a highly capable knock sensor that can retard the ignition timing as necessary.

 

Great post. I'm interested in your data as you progress.

Because the N18 is direct injected the pulse width on the injector is constant (I believe around 5 mS). It fires multiple times to get the correct amount of fuel. This fine control is what allows super lean cruise modes.

For understanding the concept of lean burning hotter than rich, I like to use the analogy of an oxy-acetylene torch. Light the torch with no added oxygen and you get heavy sooty flame, start adding oxygen and boy does it get hot.

 

Mods, can we make this a sticky?

 

Wonderful Guide minihaha! Can you post a quick conversion chart for E85 to 91 petrol so we can easily calculate the Ethanol percentage when filling up from a nearly empty tank. I'm thinking of a chart with the Y axis being being gallons of E85 and the X axis being overall % of Ethanol in the entire tank. I hope this makes sense. I'm thinking of something like this

Ethanol % assuming fill up from empty (0 candy corn remaining)

E85 1 gal + rest 91 / _____%Ethanol total
E85 3 gal + rest 91 / _____%Ethanol total
E85 4 gal + rest 91 / _____%Ethanol total
E85 5 gal + rest 91 / _____%Ethanol total
E85 6 gal + rest 91 / _____%Ethanol total

 

Posted this in the 'original' "BMS... Tune(s)" thread. Hear it is again (attachment).

Tigger posted the spreadsheet I used:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3907932

Thanks, guys, for the appreciation!

 

If you want to print out my first post in this thread here is a link for a better document for printing:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx6...it?usp=sharing

 

Thank you MiniHaHa for taking the time to post this and explain things. Of course I will have to read it a few more times to retain all of it. Very impressive post!!!

 

Don't forget that when blending in the ethanol the AFR reported from Scangauge, DashCommand, etc. will be incorrect. They are usually set for gasoline stoichiometric ratio.

What you can do is just monitor lambda directly. I think you'd want to be around 0.8 or so.

 

Anybody think it might be helpful to change the thread title? The information in this thread is not only applicable to those with the JB+. Maybe a more general title, something like "A Guide to running Ethanol blends on the N14-N18" Or "Thinking of running E85? Look hear first"

 

Good idea.
I changed the title to my original post, but that doesn't seem to effect the thread title... not sure how to do that, or if I can.

No updates on my blending quest, I was sidetracked by fixing the carbon build-up issue (see the excellent post about this regarding the N18 by Tiger2011). It is quite a task, not nearly so easy as pulling a hose and capping the port, like the N14.

 

Oh the humanity! Went to get the ethanol fix just now, at the station 5miles away. No more E85 - OMG!!! So sad and disappointed! My quest is dashed.
This soooo stinks, I am relagted to 91. Nearest E85 is 40+ miles now.
Man! I loved E85.... :-(
Time to get cases of Torco now, I guess.

 

That sucks.

But I have a 32 oz can of Torco I can send you to help support the cause.

 

Well ladies and gents - I've had to bail on the Countryman, recent legal bills (of the unfortunate personal kind: custody, divorce - all that happy horse *****) have lead me to re-align my finances and the MINI got cut out, sadly.

Don't be too mean about my replacement -I replaced it with what might be the 'true' modern Mini: small, light, underpowered, tiny wheels...

I'm serious - a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage DE. Their reviews are horrible, except a few, here's a good one that's actually worthwhile, most don't even really ever give the lil' bugger a chance (http://jalopnik.com/2014-mitsubishi-...iew-1472224538)
It's destined to be the classic the original Mini was, you heard it here first

 

has anyone ran 100 octane? with the JB+ turned up to lets say 80-100% on the dial?

 

All the time with FBO and temps under 75F. Zero issues for me

 

Did you do a mix with it or full tank of 100 octane?

 

My tank was near empty (4 miles left) then dumped 5 gallons of VP MS109 (105octane)

 

so I should mix 5 gallons of 100 octane and 8 gallons of 93 octane? What setting would you say is okay on the dial? thanks Mario

 

Mixing it like you asked, will only get you around 95 octane, and you will be out $50-$90 for the race fuel. If you truly just want to test out the feelong of race gas, so you can take full advantage of the JB+, because your car will be advancing timing quite a bit. Fill 5 gallons of 100 or 105 unleaded on an empty tank and then turn the JB to 80%, if it's under 80F. A cheaper and more effective way would be to install a meth kit using 80/20 spilt.

 

Awesome! Glad I found this. been running about 25-35% with the JB+ thanks to MarioKarts rec.

Has it been tested that a 40%+ E85 blend is safe to run with the JB+ at 100%?

Any recommendations on mods to run a higher percentage E85 & higher boost with the JB+?

 

Getting an ethanol compliant primary pump would be the first place I would start.. there is a drop in replacement sold by a company called greenworks. Other than that.. the only thing going to allow for +40% blend is a dedicated ethanol sensor.. like a flex-fuel kit.