Adding Methanol to pump fuel ???

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:19 pm

It it worth it ??

Only for the track of course. I've heard from a guy who runs 20% meth in his fuel mix for drag racing. I know he has to flush his fuel system out after a race day but he also says he can run more boost and more timing with no knock detected on his car??

kev_the_mole · Post by **kev_the_mole** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:14 am

When 97-99 RON is just not enough

In my eternal search for more power and less pinking I came across this very interesting site. My particular problem is 11:1 compression and I was researching octane boosters and this popped up

MAKE YOUR OWN OCTANE BOOST
How to make your own octane booster (this is the basic formula of
one of the popular octane booster products). To make eight 16 ounce
bottles (128 oz = 1 gal):
100 oz of tolulene for octane boost
25 oz of mineral spirits (cleaning agent)
3 oz of transmission fluid (lubricating agent)

This product is advertised as "octane booster with cleaning agent *and* lubricating agent!". Diesel fuel or kerosene can be substituted for mineral spirits and light turbine oil can be substituted for transmission fluid. Color can be added with petroleum dyes.

Then we get to find out all about Tolulene here

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/oc ... ained.html

Interestingly tolulene in bulk is only £1.85 a litre and racing methanol is just over a pound a litre but may eat your rubber piping.

I think I'm going to get my Junior Chemistry Set out and have a play over the winter.

Obviously it's all at your own risk

kiwicar · Post by **kiwicar** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:40 am

Hi Perry
why not run it on petrol through the carb from one tank and when you fire up the nitrous run a seperate fuel supply from a seperate tank using methanol, then you don't have to flush out the carb and the methanol is kept away from all the delicate carb bits. You can then use your lambda sensors to set up the engine on petrol (lambdas do not give meaningfull results with methanol) and use pure methanol with the nitrous when you will need it most.
Best regards
Mike

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:47 pm

kiwicar wrote:Hi Perry
why not run it on petrol through the carb from one tank and when you fire up the nitrous run a seperate fuel supply from a seperate tank using methanol, then you don't have to flush out the carb and the methanol is kept away from all the delicate carb bits. You can then use your lambda sensors to set up the engine on petrol (lambdas do not give meaningfull results with methanol) and use pure methanol with the nitrous when you will need it most.
Best regards
Mike

Hmmm!!!
Good thinking batman

kiwicar · Post by **kiwicar** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:19 pm

Hi Perry
it would seem simplest, if you inject it into the ports yo won't have to worry about putting teflon seals in the blower either. You will need a big fuel pump for the methanol

Best regards
Mike

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:51 pm

mgbv8 wrote:It it worth it ??

Only for the track of course. I've heard from a guy who runs 20% meth in his fuel mix for drag racing. I know he has to flush his fuel system out after a race day but he also says he can run more boost and more timing with no knock detected on his car??

It's very common with the Subaru guys and possibly some Evo's

Yes it does work, yes you will have to retune ( mixtures will be lean otherwise ) and yes you will gain power ( after retuning of course )
Power gains will depend how knock limited you are on the current fuel though.

20% would be considered the most mix though.

It is a cheap upgrade though, especially when racing. But methanol is nasty stuff, so it would be best if you can drain after and flush with fuel, seeing as it is only a race car. At least with a road car it would get consumed and filled with fresh patrol at some stage.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:06 pm

So maybe I should think about E85 then. !

It seems a bit more user friendly ??

I'm doing some reading about it tonight.

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 8:50 pm

If you can get E85, by all means yes.

But your fuel system will need an extra 35-40% capacity, as will your carb's ability to flow that amount of fuel.

Plus you need to find the damn stuff lol

Adding methanol to the fuel is cheap and easy, and certainly worth trying to see what it can offer.

kev_the_mole · Post by **kev_the_mole** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 8:56 am

Might be easier, considering the amount you actually use in a year, to go to AA Oil (just down the road from me) and buy a drum of Sunoco 260GT PLUS, 109 octane - unleaded

SUNOCO 260GT PLUS (109RON, 99MON and 4.8% oxygen) - Unleaded

A fuel designed for the performance enthusiast who wants a highly oxygenated, high-octane unleaded and clean burning fuel. This is the control fuel for SCCA. It is suitable for racing purposes and high performance street vehicles, powerboats, jetskis, motorcycles etc. In fact, engines with compression ratios as high as 14:1 will benefit greatly from this powerful, clean and fast burning fuel. It is heavily oxygenated to improve engine breathing and power figures in engines with air fuel restrictors.

It blends with any pump fuel (for those who want to boost the octane of normal petrol) and provides great protection against knock (pinking or detonation). Suitable for Pinto engines with small carburettors. Unleaded and contains ethanol as the oxygen carrier. Recent tests have shown that the Sunoco 260GT Plus gives awsome power in highly boosted turbo engines (Nissan Skylines drag cars etc).

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:02 am

How much is a tiny drum of race fuel ? You'd easily go through 20 litres in a day.

A 40 gal drum of methanol is about £130 which when mixed with fuel will last a very long time.

kev_the_mole · Post by **kev_the_mole** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:06 pm

A 40 gal drum of methanol is about £130 which when mixed with fuel will last a very long time.

Agreed, but you don't have to fart around changing fuel lines, renewing gaskets or flushing the tank after use. Now Toluene, that may be the solution but it's a bit toxic.

stevieturbo · Post by **stevieturbo** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:46 pm

or water injection, or water/meth injection, etc etc

There really are dozens of options, each with good points and bad

But anything with methanol in it, you wouldnt want it sitting about for long periods.
That said, the Subaru guys do run a lot of their cars with the methanol in the fuel and claim no adverse affects.

I just see it as wasteful on a road car, as most of the time it's just getting used when you dont need it.

water/meth injection is more efficient as it only gets used when it is needed.

topcatcustom · Post by **topcatcustom** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 7:35 am

How about another completely separate spray system for methanol, i.e. a plate under the blower which is boost activated, and then of course your N20 is still a separate system.

As Mike said, you could run it's own tank (composite or steel etc) and lines which means you wouldn't have to worry about it corroding your carb etc.

Flying Phil · Post by **Flying Phil** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 9:44 pm

Hi Perry
I used to run about 10% Methanol with petrol in my Alfa straight six/RV8 Comp Altered. It was fine but I think it did gradually build up in the engine oil as, at the end of the one season, the big end shells suddenly went down to the copper! So regular engine oil changes may be needed.

bigaldart · Post by **bigaldart** » Sat Aug 11, 2012 7:27 pm

Perry, we ran up to 50% methanol with super unleaded and around 3% acetone, without the acetone the petrol, methanol and water will separate out. A highly modified Holley 850 was the weapon of choice! We called it the swiss cheese model! Treat the fuel system as if you are running straight methanol and flush and blow through everything after an event. Why not have a different carb for racing and switch fuel just for the track?

Alan

The V8 Owners Forum -

Adding Methanol to pump fuel ???

Adding Methanol to pump fuel ???

Re: Adding Methanol to pump fuel ???