But even political/enviromental concerns aside it doesn't seem reasonable to me technically.

Suppose you can find and find and install new hardward to carry and regulate your fuel from the tank to the injectors. And is there a compatible fuel pressure regulator that has a diaphram that will stand up to E-85? But even then I don't think your computer can be retrained to provide E-85 properly to the engine as needed. Not the car might not run, but I bet the E-85 milage would be terrible because the computer wasn't managing it properly.

I have a flex-fuel minivan and don't use E-85 in it. At current prices, it would cost about the same per mile, but with the inconvenience of having to fill up more often at the few stations which carry E-85 even here in the corn belt. But I am glad I have the option only because if there ever were a big oil shock, wifey might still be able to get around when others can't get gas.

KlausC is right, it would be hopeless to convert an old car. In the factory, alcohol-proof fuel lines and seals may not cost too much more than the contemporary materials, but that is a far cry from you retrofitting an existing fuel system. Alcohol is pretty corrosive at high concentration.

Klaus is also right about ethanol not making a dent in our consumption. The volume of fuel we use is just too staggering. Look at the statistics in the Navigation Data Statistics Center, which plots ship cargo passing into and through US ports.

I just read slum dwellers in Haiti are approaching starvation because they can no longer afford corn, which was a staple of their diet. Turning corn into fuel is really stupid, even dumber than giving everyone a $600 "rebate".

A noble thought, but:
Ethanol is not "green" based on the materials needed to produce it.
Your fuel mileage decreases 10-20% on E85.
Most of our "imported" oil comes from Canada, not the middle east.
The cost to retrofit cars to work with E85 is thousands of dollars, think labor.
The USA will never make enough E85 to make a dent in our consumption of oil.
Buying a Civic hybred with 40/44mpg would be better than trying to convert an old car to run on E85 getting 18/22mpg.

Klaus
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The 164 has a new home, all I am left with are a 95 854T and a 98 V70R :)