Gas alternatives

[Jimbo's M]

I'm really happy I can run e85. Been saving a huge amount of money recently. Even with getting 30% worse mileage. I saw premium at $6.89 in Brea today. Scary times

Not for me. Corned up today and it was $5.20 compared to $4.90 for 91.

[Arith2]

No, that's the ruble. The dollar was up 7% in 2021, and it is performing well relative to other currencies. Furthermore, inflation is much more a global political issue than a domestic one.

Everything costs alot more but the dollar's went up? That's not how economics works. The real value is based of what it costs to buy anything. It doesn't matter what the projections are or what a chart says. Gas is $4 everywhere. The currency has no value other than what it can buy. A major exporter of oil just started a war so that doesn't really help. That's the last thing we need in the midst of some already bad inflation. Everything is just more expensive making any currency worth less.

One thing to factor in is the economic cycle. 2008 was the last crash. Typically there is a 7-10 year cycle. It was extended by artificially causing the dollar to go up in value temporarily. The crash is coming and all we can do is prepare.

Gas alternatives are transported by diesel trucks and there's not a major industry other than oil at the moment. Corn takes up a lot of land, oil doesn't. Nuclear power is awesome but the electric charging infrastructure isn't there in most places. We needed it for today, not 5 years from now. In the end, no one of us on this forum specifically caused what's happening. It was a matter of when, not "if".

[terra]

Guess I bought this thing in time. Not that I bought it because of fueling costs… but sure is a nice perk right now. Especially since charging is free for me

[01SG]

Everything costs alot more but the dollar's went up? That's not how economics works. The real value is based of what it costs to buy anything. It doesn't matter what the projections are or what a chart says. Gas is $4 everywhere. The currency has no value other than what it can buy. A major exporter of oil just started a war so that doesn't really help. That's the last thing we need in the midst of some already bad inflation. Everything is just more expensive making any currency worth less.

I am not saying there is not inflation. The fact is, however, the dollar is still strong relative to other currencies. The dollar lost buying power, but not as much as most others. I think you are looking too deeply into the connection between currency valuation and inflation. Related as they are, it is more complex than one goes up and the other down. An article I was reading stated that it is because of global inflation that the dollar is rising. Other countries are scrambling to get the dollar for its stability as the world's reserve currency, and while the Federal Reserve tightens policy leading to less availability.

Anyway, I am not an economist. This is only my opinion based on limited research. But this is something interesting to study now..

[Obioban]

I'm really happy I can run e85. Been saving a huge amount of money recently. Even with getting 30% worse mileage. I saw premium at $6.89 in Brea today. Scary times.

I'm pretty anti ethanol, but there's probably a price inflection point where I'd set my car up to be able to use it

[Arith2]

I am not saying there is not inflation. The fact is, however, the dollar is still strong relative to other currencies. The dollar lost buying power, but not as much as most others. I think you are looking too deeply into the connection between currency valuation and inflation. Related as they are, it is more complex than one goes up and the other down. An article I was reading stated that it is because of global inflation that the dollar is rising. Other countries are scrambling to get the dollar for its stability as the world's reserve currency, and while the Federal Reserve tightens policy leading to less availability.

Anyway, I am not an economist. This is only my opinion based on limited research. But this is something interesting to study now..

I see what you're saying. I'm not really looking too deep into it as I'm making a very broad point. If anything, I could look more into it as you have. If people want the dollar over everything, maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.

[EthanolTurbo]

I'm pretty anti ethanol, but there's probably a price inflection point where I'd set my car up to be able to use it

Come to the dark side... S54 loves high octane ethanol fuel for its high compression motor. E85 actually gets more fuel efficient as compression rises, to the point where if your motor is high compression enough, it only uses up 15% more fuel than gasoline.

[Jimbo's M]

Come to the dark side... S54 loves high octane ethanol fuel for its high compression motor. E85 actually gets more fuel efficient as compression rises, to the point where if your motor is high compression enough, it only uses up 15% more fuel than gasoline.

Been on the AFD kit for three years and wouldn't want to go back to 91 for anything...even at the $5.20 I paid yesterday. Just too much damn fun. When cruising, I've also found that many times I don't need that down shift that I use to with the increased torque available. I haven't even put in my bigger injectors and Hassan tune either. That's next. All that said, glad I'm retired and don't need to fill up very often, and make no doubt, this $$$ will get even worse..probably much worse.

[heinzboehmer]

E85 is fun on the S54. I've had the AFD kit for like three years, but only had it installed on the car for about half that time.

Problem is, I just don't drive the car enough and I don't like to leave it sitting with a bunch of ethanol in the tank. With the pandemic, it got to the point where I never fill up with E85 so that the ethanol won't sit. Then I ended up just taking the kit off entirely.

Even though I've had zero issues with the kit, I'm also not a huge fan of the piggyback thing. But, I also don't want to be guessing on mixture and switching maps accordingly. If someone were to figure out how to use an ethanol sensor to control injector duty cycle (and other things) on a stock MSS54/HP, I would immediately switch over to that.

[Jimbo's M]

Even though I've had zero issues with the kit, I'm also not a huge fan of the piggyback thing. But, I also don't want to be guessing on mixture and switching maps accordingly. If someone were to figure out how to use an ethanol sensor to control injector duty cycle (and other things) on a stock MSS54/HP, I would immediately switch over to that.

Isn't that what the AFD does? I never worry about how much E85 is in the tank (other than duty time, hence the bigger injectors forthcoming), so I get it about E60-ish (around 98-99 octane) that is available to monitor via the AFD app.

[heinzboehmer]

Isn't that what the AFD does? I never worry about how much E85 is in the tank (other than duty time, hence the bigger injectors forthcoming), so I get it about E60-ish (around 98-99 octane) that is available to monitor via the AFD app.

It does, but the DME isn't aware of it. I'm just not completely happy with having two independent systems try to control the same thing without communicating their approaches. Feels a bit too hacky and error-prone.

[Jimbo's M]

It does, but the DME isn't aware of it. I'm just not completely happy with having two independent systems try to control the same thing without communicating their approaches. Feels a bit too hacky and error-prone.

Understood. I specifically asked Hassan if his tune would have "troubles" with the AFD and he replied in the negative. Take that for what it's worth. He seems to know his tuning of the S54.

[Arith2]

Meth is the answer guys.

[bigjae46]

Yeah, compared to other countries we pay less. But unlike western europe, we produce millions of barrels of oil a day as a country. I'm in Houston and despite being next to refineries pumping out tens of millions of gas and diesel a day, prices have more than doubled in 2 years.

So yeah...our gas and diesel prices should be a lot cheaper.