Modifications required to run E85

So I have a 2010 WR250X with the MPFab Turbo kit. We only have access to 91 octane piss water up here and I have to run octane booster every tank. I have pulled some timing with my Dynojet programmer, but I'm wondering if I could just run E85 instead? I know the bike is only designed to run up to 10% ethanol from the factory, but what all would be required to change for it to reliably run E85?

I have a programmer so adding the required fuel isn't an issue. I am adding an IMS fuel tank (currently waiting for confirmation that it's fine with E85 from IMS). Otherwise I could go back to the factory tank if it's E85 safe. What else am I missing here? I know it will eat certain rubber seals/hoses etc. Do I need to replace fuel line with E85 safe? Is the factory fuel pump okay? Injector? Anything else I should be looking at changing?

Thoughts? Comments? Thanks everyone!

I assume you mean E15? (E85 is 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol.)

Not sure where "up here" is for you, but USA federal regulations forbid running more than 10% ethanol in motorcycles and many other engines.

The stated reasons for this restriction are:
1) E15 includes 50% more ethanol than E10, and
2) None of the motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles in use in the United States are approved by the EPA to operate on ethanol blends higher than 10 percent. So the official position is that using higher-ethanol blends in those vehicles may cause engine and fuel system damage and void the manufacturer's warranty.

Sorry about that. I updated my location. I'm from Canada if that makes any difference. I've never heard of an regulations about motorcycles not being able to run more than 10% ethanol. Guess I better check we don't have that regulation up here as well.

I was originally meaning E85 so 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. I know it's fantastic in boosted cars so I figured it would bring those same benefits to my boosted motorcycle. I can also find E20 which would be 80% gasoline and 20% ethanol (double the ethanol content of our pump gas). Maybe that would bring enough benefits without causing too many ethanol issues?

HiQ wrote:

I was originally meaning E85 so 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. I know it's fantastic in boosted cars so I figured it would bring those same benefits to my boosted motorcycle.

There must be some confusion here: Ethanol has a significantly lower energy density than gasoline, so if it is "fantastic in boosted cars", it must be in terms other than performance or mileage. What do you plan to do with the bike running it on E85?

johnkol wrote:

HiQ wrote:

I was originally meaning E85 so 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. I know it's fantastic in boosted cars so I figured it would bring those same benefits to my boosted motorcycle.

There must be some confusion here: Ethanol has a significantly lower energy density than gasoline, so if it is "fantastic in boosted cars", it must be in terms other than performance or mileage. What do you plan to do with the bike running it on E85?

E85 has great resistance to ignition under compression, allowing it to be used in a higher-pressure environment. The higher the compression ratio, the more power the engine can make from the same amount of gasoline.

So while it may be a fuel with a “lower energy density”, if you’re using it in a higher-compression application that yields a more efficient extraction of that energy, so you actually net out more actual energy from a lower-density fuel.

Increasing the duty cycle on the injector or moving to a larger injector easily makes up for the increased E85 required.

Basically E85 allows more boost to be ran and higher timing advance before pinging or causing issues. If you have a boosted car pretty maxed power wise on pump gas and swap it to E85 you can see some big gains. I want to be able to run the turbo at the boost level it was made more without having to pull timing or bleed off boost so I don't grenade the engine.

As a point of reference, when Yamaha adopted the Athena Big Bore kit as an official GYTR upgrade for the WRR, it sold it as an item with a 200 hour lifespan.

I'll let you figure out how prudent it is to boost up compression as much as possible in this engine.