Thoughts on running E85, anyone done it?

[Blown 331]

So my cousin has a 400ex that he built years ago, it was a 426, 10.5 to 1 compression, Hot Cam stage 1, Curtis Sparks full system, 2004 CRF450 carb (41mm flat slide) and remved air box lid. It ran very well.
Well the timing chain had been making some noise and finally broke! No other damage but he obviously had to take it apart. He had an 11.5 to 1 440cc piston and cylinder laying around so he installed those. He ran that combo once before but it would spark knock on 93 octane and continually blow head gaskets. So this time he converted to E85 which he says runs cooler and is a minimum of 105 octane plus its about 30 cents per gallon cheaper than 87 octane. He stuck with the Hot Cam stage 1 which he said is not recommeded for anything larger than 426cc (he's now at 440) because the running compression will be too high. Its working with the E85 though.
He did a lot of research on it and said he could not find anyone else on the internet who had done it. He was trying to find a jetting baseline but had to start from sratch. He said people were asking about it but everyone advised against it based on the corrosion factor. He thinks its methanol thats really corrosive and ethanol is but to a lesser extent that he does't think it will be a problem. He's got a bunch of books etc on E85 so he's pretty knowledgable on the fuel itself.
So he got it together yesterday and rode it over to my house. As soon as he pulled up I could smell the alcohol, it smells totally different thats for sure.
He said E85 requires 40% more fuel. He said he could not find jets big enough. So he took a drill bit set that measures in thousanths of an inch, found which one fit in the stock jets then added 40% and drilled (a little more involved than that). He also soldered shut the bleeder jet for the accelerator pump, so all the fuel from the accelerator pump is going into the engine. He said the jetting took him nearly all day. I rode it and it ran perfect. And the power was amazing, I think it would be a real good match against my 85 250R which has compression, pipe and other bolt ons. I'd say the win will go to whoever gets out of the hole first. It's really impressive. He might even just beat me all around, I actually wouldn't know what to expect. He's even running a 16 tooth front sprocket which is one bigger than stock, it flys top end.
Since he had no other conversions to base this off of he wasn't sure what to expect so he just put it together with the parts he had laying around. If all goes well, and so far it is, he's going to switch to a 13 to 1 piston. He's also got a Web cam stage 2 laying around that he will probably switch to for that piston.
Anyone else heard of anything like this? From what he could find it sounds like he's the pioneer! lol.

[ATC-Eric]

Had a friend here locally that ran it through his Raptor 660, and his Polaris 500. Did NOT like following him through the trails, that stuff stinks. Smells like burnt grapes, well thats the best description we could come up with. His machines screamed on it though. I have no idea what he had to go through to tune them either. I just know his polaris ran on the stuff for around 4 years without problems. And the raptor he dusted in the dunes.

[kb0nly]

E85 is a big thing here in the midwest... I have played around with it as well as talked at length with others that have as well. Two main things as you already mentioned, MORE consumption. People thought buying a flex fuel vehicle here would pay off since its cheaper, until they found the mileage to cost ratio didn't really gain much. Sure its cheaper, but you burn more. Ethanol has a lower energy rating then gasoline, meaning it takes more to make the same amount of power. The octane boost is nice, and i have seen the internals of engines that ran E85 only and they are so much cleaner inside, but it all comes down to the math.

It takes 1.5 gallons of Ethanol to replace the energy in one gallon of gasoline. Ever seen the fuel system on a alcohol dragster? Huge pump, huge carbs, they rate in GPM, gallons per minute!

You can make a lot of power on Ethanol, if you can deliver the fuel fast enough and correctly. Also make sure you change out any rubber parts in the fuel system, it eats the rubber pretty quick!