Here in LA E85 is $3.97, but gas is ~$4.75 for 89, and it just goes higher for better stuff(about $5 for 91).

Rafa knows whats up. If I had more money, then I'd seriously think of setting my car up for E85 and going turbo, and having a beast of a car.

 

Ding ding ding ding ding!!! We have a winner!

 

I'm here in Michigan and every friggin' pump (just about literally) has E85. It's probably got something to do with the fact that the GM tech center & headquarters, Chrysler Headquarters, and Ford Headquarters are all within 30 miles of me.

 

I got a call from Mazda today. Unfortunately, the answer from Mazda in Sweden, who had been discussing my request with the European headquarter in Germany, was: "Since we all have our ***** firmly placed in the company layers wise, we can not answer your question.". Pretty much. The man I spoke to was a bit embarrassed, but he explain that since they themselves where not sure what parts would be Ok and what parts would not, the only answer Mazda could give was: “We do not recommend converting any year model of the MX-5 to E85 use”. I tried to push a put further, but he could really not give us any more info then we already have. Mazda does currently not have a E85 car on the market, so he could also not give another car as reference.

I guess we have to look into this ourselves. Perhaps start with the shop manual and check all rubber parts that are in contact with the fuel and go from there? I cannot be that frikkin hard, can it? (oooh, dangerous statement!)

 

You know, you could try to get one of the techs to, say, make an unofficial statement by something such as email, or... a forum. I don't think It'd be a big deal on their off time, but that doesn't sound easy, anyway..

 

All the parts should be Ethanol friendly. Read the NASIOC thread. Materials are engineered to be completely Ethanol compliant or not, there's no in between. You probably just need bigger injectors/fp and a WB. Tune that sucker and you should be good to go.

Chris