OFT e85 tune question

[Sam86]

Planning to switch to OFT e85 tonight on UEL headers, just wanted a few opinions on potential reasons why I should wait.

It's currently winter where I live, i'm aware about the cold start issues however living in Australia, even in winter I don't think it gets as cold as in the states (where most of the reviews on e85 seem to be based from).
Think the coldest it really gets in the early hours of the morning is 5 degrees or 41 in F with it being around 10-12 degrees a the time I usually leave my house.

With the most recent OFT e85 tune is cold start really that much of an issue- based on the 'warmer' climate where I live? Or is it advisable to do one of those ROM raider edits on the ignition temperatures you can find on youtube to eliminate the risk entirely? such as this

I've never had any issues with my car aside from 1 time where it failed to start after a few cranks on 98 premium unleaded when it was cold- however I suspect the cause was mostly my battery as it's 4 years old, and the car was in accessory mode prior to trying to start the car.


Is my weakened battery + e85 on a cold morning a recipe for disaster and advisable for me to get a new battery first? or will I be fine for now. (Battery is weak but will still reliably start the car, only time it faces issues is it won't last more than 30 minutes in accessory mode before it dies. Wish I could check the voltage but I don't own or know anybody with a vault reader, and don't want to buy one as it's half the price of a new battery).


And before somebody recommends it, I have no interest in spending 5-600 usd + international shipping on a flexfuel kit. I have a normal petrol station 500m from my house and an e85 station about 5km from my house.



Besides the obvious reason to use e85 for the power increase, also wondering if the lower emissions it produces will offset the increased emission my car is creating due to the primary cat being removed (but retaining the secondary in the front pipe). I don't personally know of any encounters but apparently where I live emissions is a big deal and just want to be on the safer side on the slim chance I ever get an on the spot check as police in my part of Australia treat modified car owners as if they were criminals

[steve99]

Originally Posted by Sam86

Planning to switch to OFT e85 tonight on UEL headers, just wanted a few opinions on potential reasons why I should wait.

It's currently winter where I live, i'm aware about the cold start issues however living in Australia, even in winter I don't think it gets as cold as in the states (where most of the reviews on e85 seem to be based from).
Think the coldest it really gets in the early hours of the morning is 5 degrees or 41 in F with it being around 10-12 degrees a the time I usually leave my house.

With the most recent OFT e85 tune is cold start really that much of an issue- based on the 'warmer' climate where I live? Or is it advisable to do one of those ROM raider edits on the ignition temperatures you can find on youtube to eliminate the risk entirely? such as this

I've never had any issues with my car aside from 1 time where it failed to start after a few cranks on 98 premium unleaded when it was cold- however I suspect the cause was mostly my battery as it's 4 years old, and the car was in accessory mode prior to trying to start the car.


Is my weakened battery + e85 on a cold morning a recipe for disaster and advisable for me to get a new battery first? or will I be fine for now. (Battery is weak but will still reliably start the car, only time it faces issues is it won't last more than 30 minutes in accessory mode before it dies. Wish I could check the voltage but I don't own or know anybody with a vault reader, and don't want to buy one as it's half the price of a new battery).


And before somebody recommends it, I have no interest in spending 5-600 usd + international shipping on a flexfuel kit. I have a normal petrol station 500m from my house and an e85 station about 5km from my house.



Besides the obvious reason to use e85 for the power increase, also wondering if the lower emissions it produces will offset the increased emission my car is creating due to the primary cat being removed (but retaining the secondary in the front pipe). I don't personally know of any encounters but apparently where I live emissions is a big deal and just want to be on the safer side on the slim chance I ever get an on the spot check as police in my part of Australia treat modified car owners as if they were criminals

if the battery is weak replace it before it fails at bad time


i can sort out the cold start for you on e85 and have tunes for australian high ethanol content e85


you will have a bit of difficulty starting on standard oftvtune on aussie high ethanol content e85
will be ok on first tank when it dilutedcwith bit of petrol but on second tank will be a bit hard to start below 10 degrees



jist send me a private message if interested

[Boomerang]

Originally Posted by Sam86

Besides the obvious reason to use e85 for the power increase, also wondering if the lower emissions it produces will offset the increased emission my car is creating due to the primary cat being removed (but retaining the secondary in the front pipe). I don't personally know of any encounters but apparently where I live emissions is a big deal and just want to be on the safer side on the slim chance I ever get an on the spot check as police in my part of Australia treat modified car owners as if they were criminals

Interesting point, I too have a Borla UEL catless header on E85 OFT, I would imagine you would be non compliant with emissions requirements if you ever had to be tested. Not sure if you east coast people need to do this yearly? Only one way to know for sure and that is to get tested. BTW I also have the Vland headlights with HID conversion and love it. I had halogen then LED then HID and the difference is literally night and day, HID rules. Would be nice to have the Boomerangs as DRL's however I can't be bothered with the wiring. Tried techstream and the interface but it doesn't allow that customisation unfortunately, just silly stuff like seatbelt chimes and other useless stuff. Peace out.

[Sam86]

Originally Posted by Boomerang

Interesting point, I too have a Borla UEL catless header on E85 OFT, I would imagine you would be non compliant with emissions requirements if you ever had to be tested. Not sure if you east coast people need to do this yearly? Only one way to know for sure and that is to get tested. BTW I also have the Vland headlights with HID conversion and love it. I had halogen then LED then HID and the difference is literally night and day, HID rules. Would be nice to have the Boomerangs as DRL's however I can't be bothered with the wiring. Tried techstream and the interface but it doesn't allow that customisation unfortunately, just silly stuff like seatbelt chimes and other useless stuff. Peace out.

No, luckily for us we don't have to do a yearly test. We have normal police and highway patrol police. Normal police aren't really expected to know much about cars so if you give them attitude or they aren't feeling to generous they'll typically report you to our 'Environmental Protection Agency' where they'll test your car thoroughly. (That being said in most cases a cop will really only report you for obvious things like a loud exhaust or a bolt on non factory turbo. More subtle modifications like headers, tune, air filter etc generally go un-noticed as they would to an ordinary person looking at your engine bay with no car knowledge). Failure of the EPA can result in up to a $10,000 fine in addition to a cost for a secondary testing. Generally this doesn't happen as like your yearly emissions testing, people sent to the EPA just revert to stock for the test. On the other hand not too sure what happens if you're pulled over by the highway patrol. They generally have a greater understanding of what to look for in modified cars and have on the spot testing equipment such as an emissions reader/ decibel reader for exhausts. Would assume that would be an on the spot fine in addition to an EPA report.

And yea same on the VLAND's, not to bummed by lack of automatic boomerangs as I can always flip the parking lights on for them during the day.

[Sam86]

Originally Posted by steve99

if the battery is weak replace it before it fails at bad time


i can sort out the cold start for you on e85 and have tunes for australian high ethanol content e85


you will have a bit of difficulty starting on standard oftvtune on aussie high ethanol content e85
will be ok on first tank when it dilutedcwith bit of petrol but on second tank will be a bit hard to start below 10 degrees



jist send me a private message if interested

Thanks for letting me know, didn't know about the aussie e85 difference- definitely will hit you up if I end up going e85. Went to go fill up just then but flaked when I saw the $1.80 per L price tag compared to $1.35 for the 98 octane. Assuming running on e85 last 25% less mileage of a normal full tank of 98 I don't know how I feel about spending $63 for 375km over $47 for 500km.

And yea I plan to replace it soon, i'm just holding out on an opportunity to get my hands on someones volt reader so I can actually be sure it's the battery that's the issue before I waste $250 on a new one