Racing with E85...cooling system requirements??
 

Making the move to E85. I just purchased a radiator and bought the wrong one. I can make it work without too much trouble but it's a lot smaller than the factpry size. I believe factory is a 27" core width and this one is 20". How much cooler will it run on E85? Should I send it back and get the bigger radiator, or will it cool just fine with E85? Thanks.

We have used E85 for a very long time, I have never noticed it to run any cooler than gas.
Saved a lot of fuel money though.

agree. I think people, like myself, expected it to run cooler alot like methanol. It does not, in my experience. I have a car that never ran hot on race fuel, not run hot on e85, in part to it haveing a larger street car tyl radiator system. I bought a car set up for alky with small scirroco radiator, converted it to E85 and had trouble keeping car cool. I added a better radiator and now it is manageable going rounds. Over kill the cooling and everything on your bracket car, and i highly support 16v batteries and quality fans, and mezeire pumps.
It is great cheap fuel

I bought the thinnest radiator on eBay that still bolts into my core support. I used to run a four core radiator when I ran race gas. With the thinnest lightest duty radiator I still have to run my engine in the staging lanes to put heat into my engine. Any less than 160 as I enter the burnout box, and I’m flirting with disaster, because if it’s not 170+ on the line it will stumble. I’m usually 180 when I launch. When I’m in the late rounds I’ll tell my opponent to NOT start his engine until I give him a thumbs up. Just because I start my engine doesn’t mean it’s up to 170, and it takes a minute or two to get that heat I need, unlike the gas burners, they like there engines as cool as possible.