HOW TO: Convert your INFINITI Q50 or Q60 to run on E85 Flex Fuel

August 19, 2020
Infiniti, Q50, Q60, VR30

Benefits of Utilizing a Flex Fuel System and Ethanol Fuel

Drastically Improved Engine Performance
Fully Automated Ethanol Percentage Reading and Adjustment via ECU Calibration
No Need to Manually Measure and Calculate Ethanol Percentage at the Pump

As E85 fuel has become common in most areas of North America, many automotive enthusiasts are using it as an affordable way to drastically increase the octane rating of their fuel. With increased fuel octane, additional horsepower can be extracted from the engine through proper ECU calibration. In addition to higher octane, ethanol also provides a beneficial cooling effect to the engine’s combustion chamber as it evaporates much quicker than even gasoline. The best part – E85 at the station costs approximately $2 per gallon, instead of the $15+ per gallon that race gas costs!

The only negative aspect of ethanol when compared to gasoline is that it has much lower energy density. This lower energy density means that the engine must use about 30% more ethanol to make the same power as gasoline. To counteract this, ECU tuners will allow the fuel system to compensate with an additional 30% of fuel flow to the engine. Unfortunately, the stock fuel system components from Infiniti weren’t designed to allow for this much fuel flow, so aftermarket replacement upgrades become necessary.

AMS Performance Red Alpha VR30DDTT Kinetic Direct Injectors

The Red Alpha VR30 Kinetic Direct Injectors replace the factory injectors and allow for much more fuel to be delivered to the engine. Direct injectors are named as such as they are placed directly into the engine’s combustion chamber as opposed to port injectors, located outside of the engine.

AMS Performance Red Alpha VR30 RA405 High Pressure Fuel Pump

A High Pressure Fuel Pump (HPFP) is a crucial piece of a direct injection fuel system and allows for fuel pressurization over 200 bar (2900+ PSI). The AMS RA405 High Pressure Fuel Pump (or its little brother, the RA338) replaces the factory unit and increases total fuel flow to the injectors.

AMS Performance Q50/Q60 Red Alpha Low Pressure Fuel Pump

The Red Alpha Low Pressure Fuel Pump (LPFP) is a pump which replaces the OEM pump located within the gas tank of the Q50/Q60. This pump sends fuel from the tank to the front of the vehicle where the High Pressure Fuel Pump and Injectors are located.

AMS Performance Q50/Q60 Red Alpha Flex Fuel Kit v2

Run E85 straight from the pump without having to worry about calculating your ethanol content percentage! With the Red Alpha Flex Fuel Kit v2 you can run gasonline, E85, or any mixture of gas and ethanol with a content rating from 0 to 100% ethanol.

Our flex fuel system’s ethanol sensor and electronics instruct your vehicle’s ECU on how to adjust parameters like fueling, boost, and timing to produce the most power possible for a given fuel or mixture of fuels. These adjustments happen seamlessly in the background of your flex fuel tune allowing you to be flexible with what fuel you utilize in your Infiniti. This is a set-it-and-forget-it flex fuel system that requires no adjustment once installed and tuned. The complete kit includes the AMS Signal Converter, ethanol sensor, braided fuel lines, and hardware. This kit is also a direct plug and play with EcuTek software as AMS was a part of the EcuTek flex fuel development program, so we’re uniquely familiar with flex fuel systems on the VR30 engine.

E85 Potential

Horsepower can be increased drastically when you have the correct components to provide support. The red line shows the RA405 and Red Alpha Injectors are capable of supporting over 800 HP when using E85 fuel! Nearly doubling the horsepower capabilities of the factory injector and pump components found in the Q50/Q60.

500 HP E85 Fuel System Build

Knowing exactly what parts are necessary to add to your Q50 or Q60 in order to run E85 can be tricky. It will depend heavily on how much horsepower you intend to have, as the more horsepower the engine makes, the more fuel system flow it requires.

For most Infiniti owners, doing basic bolt-ons like intakes and exhaust is the most practical way of increasing power. But what do you do once you’ve installed those parts and want more HP? Your options will be to install larger turbos (a costly and time consuming process to remove the engine from the chassis), or to tune the car for a higher octane race gas or ethanol.

Adding a flex fuel package to your already modified VR30 can allow for about 500 HP measured at the wheels, and it’s relatively simple! Just add an AMS LPFP, AMS 338 HPFP, and AMS Flex Fuel Kit, along with the proper flex fuel tuning via EcuTek software.

If your Q is completely stock and you want a complete set-up, our RA500 Performance Package is everything you need to go from stock to a 500 HP ethanol sipping monster.

600 HP E85 Fuel System Build

Above 500 HP is going to require not only an increase in airflow, but also an increase to your overall fuel system capability.

In order to achieve a 600 HP power level with E85, you’ll need to upgrade your fuel system components to accomodate the increase in fuel flow needed. Swapping the RA338 HPFP included in the previous build for the larger RA405 HPFP increases the fuel output throughout the entire RPM range, increasing our range of potential HP and torque.

Matching the AMS RA405 HPFP to the AMS LPFP, and AMS Flex Fuel Kit, along with the proper flex fuel tuning via EcuTek software will allow for horsepower numbers in the 600 HP range.

*Note that this guide is only focused on fuel system upgrades. Much more is necessary to make 600 HP on a VR30 engine, and if you would like to have us put a custom package together, contact our team at [email protected]!

800 HP E85 Fuel System Build

An 800 HP e85 fuel system is the ultimate in Infiniti VR30 ethanol performance. At this level, you are at the forefront of high performance aftermarket direct injection technology, and part of an elite club of enthusiests who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries of what is possible on the VR30 platform.

At this level, increasing the flow of fuel through the injectors is necessary to improve overall fuel system capability. The AMS direct injectors are designed to maximize the amount of fuel entering the combustion chamber, which allows us to tune to a much higher power level.

Depending on your goals, a custom low pressure fuel pump system may need to be built and installed to supply enough fuel from the gas tank up to the engine bay. Unfortunately an off-the-shelf solution does not exist.

In addition to the AMS Red Alpha Kinetic Direct Injectors, an AMS 405 HPFP, and AMS Flex Fuel Kit, along with the proper flex fuel tuning via EcuTek software will allow for horsepower numbers in the 800 HP range.

*Note that this guide is only focused on fuel system upgrades. Much more is necessary to make 800 HP on a VR30 engine, and if you would like to have us put a custom package together, contact our team at [email protected]!

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