Here's a typical dissertation on what E10 does in boat motors. A small subset of what goes on with E85 and methanol.
http://www.factsaboutethanol.org/?p=299
Alcohol - grain/wood/shine/etc - is hygroscopic and corrosive, period. That's why most alcohol racers run a "top lube". Anything aluminum in the system that is not protected by anodizing is going to get eaten. If it sits for a while, this nice funky white crap starts to collect in the carb and other places. I believe that is the result of moisture absorption. And no, you don't want to run an alky motor fat ("stupid rich", unless you like changing the oil a lot. I'll be happy to show you a guy that likes to run his race motors "stupid fat" - he's on his 4th this season, IIRC. I know a lot of folks that run methanol and when the cars sit for a while, they put on a gas carb and run gas through the system to clean it out. E85 certainly works as well as methanol, used under the right conditions. Used in a typical vehicle with a typical driver "I dunno, that red light on the dash has been doing that for a month" probably not. And, there ain't no corn around here, nearest pump is 200 miles. Not much of a fuel good for anything in some parts of the country.
1967 Falcon 4 door 351C-4V
1970 Mustang 351C-2V
http://raceabilene.com/kelly/hotrod
Owner built, owner abused.
