This paper describes highlights and overall improvements achieved on the development of the Ford Zetec RoCam 1.6l Flex Fuel engine for the Brazilian market.
The Brazilian market offers oxygenated fuels; (i) hydrated ethanol, known as alcohol or simply E93 (93% of ethanol) and (ii) Brazilian gasoline also known as gasohol or simply E25 (Brazilian gasoline is a mixture of pure gasoline with 24% to 26% of anhydrous ethanol), fuels characteristics are detailed on the appendix.
In 2003 automakers started to offer vehicles capable to run with both fuels and any mixture in between instead of offering only vehicles capable to run only with one fuel. These vehicles called flexible fuel vehicles (FFV) or simply flex fuel vehicles are yearly increasing their market share due to the customer benefit of choosing the fuel as a function of price, availability and performance versus driving range.
The engine development is based on an engine optimized for alcohol usage and capable to run with gasohol or any mixture of the fuels listed above. This challenge conducted the engineering solutions to a high compression ratio engine capable of E25 fuel usage, with an electrically actuated thermostatic valve, new combustion chamber design, air induction and exhaust systems and a revised positive crankcase ventilation system resulting in a unique engine output.