505'sFastestViper. said:
Methanol 101
(The Basics of Methanol Injection)
Alchohol/Water Injection (commonly referred to as Methanol Injection) is
best described as a "chemical intercooler". Methanol is extremely
effective on supercharged and turbo-charged (boosted) engines and is
also an effective power adder on naturally aspirated engines.
There are 4 separate benefits to Methanol Injection.
1. Methanol will significantly lower your Intake Air Temperatures.
Methanol is very cold (similiar to the way rubbing alchohol is cold when
applied to your skin) in its natural state. When Methanol is injected into
the incoming airstream it creates a cooling fog that will drop your intake
air temperatures between 30-70 degrees! The resulting cooler air is
denser which in turn packs more oxygen into the engine, which as you
may already know will increase the power potential of the engine.
2. Methanol is a fuel that has a very high octane rating.
When Methanol is sprayed into the intake, it is effectively bumping up
your total octane rating only when you need it most, under boost! With
93 Octane fuel and the total combined benefits of Methanol Injection, you
can have the equivalent of running C-16 (116 octane) race gas! Let me
help you understand what this means. High octane race gas allows you to
run more compression and/or timing while avoiding detonation. Under
boost, the compression ratio of your engine will be temporarily increased
requiring higher octane. The more boost you run, the higher your
compression ratio is, the higher octane fuel you need to avoid
detonation. Methanol Injection allows you to use lower octane pump gas
for the majority of your (off boost) driving and increase your total octane
rating when you dip into the boost. Methanol is only injected under boost.
3.Unlike Nitrous, what makes Methanol so safe is the fact that it adds fuel
as it adds more oxygen.
In fact, Methanol adds much more fuel than oxygen which helps handle
the high fuel demands on boosted, forced induction engines. If your AFR
(Air/Fuel Ratio) is not ideal it is much safer to be rich than to be lean.
4.Methanol Injection saves you money while maximizing your engines
power potential!
You no longer need to waste money on high octane race gas! What does
it cost these days to fill your tank with race fuel? $100? $200? Methanol
will cost you pennies per tankful. Methanol can cost between $2.50 -
$6.50 per gallon depending on where, when and how much Methanol you
purchase. What makes it so cheap is that Methanol is only used during
boost conditions. Additionally, most set-ups use a 50/50 mixture of
Methanol and water. To help you understand how inexpensive Methanol
is, we recently Dyno tested a turbo-charged 8 cylinder vehicle and did
over 20 WOT (Wide Open Throttle) runs. The Methanol container was
filled with a 50/50 mix of Methanol and water prior to the runs and then
checked after the runs. Total volume used was approximately 8-10 oz.
50% of that was water, using only 4-5 oz. of Methanol.
