Methanol injection and Nitrous installed

[bcredliner]

Methanol activation is determined by injector load and can be set as desired so it is active all the time. The methanol cools the engine, cleans the engine and increase mileage and performance by increasing the octane level of the gas.

The blue 20 below windshield washer fluid with not additives will work as it is about 50% methanol and water which is what is needed. I buy boost juice from Snow performance so I am sure of what I am getting. A case of 4 gallons runs around $35.

How much I use depends on how hard I drive. I drive pretty hard for short bursts from traffic lights or enter the freeway. I fill the methanol tank no more than once per tank of gas. I can fill the tank 3 times with one gallon.

[bcredliner]

I will do a walk around, activate the system and purge it video toward the end of next week or sooner.

[bcredliner]

While I have not done so, because of the increase in the octane contributed by the methanol I could run regular gas and still have an octane level exceeding 93 octane.

[Skyline]

Thanks for the info. I always thought the main benefit of methanol injection was to allow turbo cars to run more boost. I guess it would allow more advance on a N/A car, but I can't imagine that your Dinan tune in your stock ECU could adjust for the higher "octane".

I'd be very interested to see the dyno numbers here. Perhaps before you go to a dyno you can time a 50-80mph run with and without methanol to see if there's any improvement, (I'm sure turning on the nitrous will be a huge change!)

Even assuming a 2mpg gain from the methanol, (which I do not understand), if the methanol costs you $35 per tank of gas, you are only saving about $8 in gas, so that does not pay, unless it delivers performance. If you use $6 washer fluid...that's another story, (at which point, you could just share the big washer fluid resevoir!)

[bcredliner]

I don't have a stock ECU. I have Dinan Stage 4 engine software and all other Dinan engine and mods available.

The boost juice is $35 a case. There are four gallons to a case. Each gallon lasts for about 3 tanks of gas. But you are correct, better mileage will not result in a cost savings that would ever result in reasonable payback. Better mileage was not in my value equation. I mentioned it because it could be in someone else's if they were willing to use regular gas instead of premium and have the system installed early in the life of the vehicle.

[bcredliner]

Per Snow Performance information, I should get about a 10% increase in horsepower and torque with their system. That percentage of increase should increase some with 150 shot of nitrous added. Yes, the most common application of methanol injection is on turbo or supercharged engines. The primary reason I installed methanol injection is for safety-- to prevent a lean mixture or knocking. System is set up so that unless Methanol is present the Nitrous won't fire.

[bcredliner]

I could have used the existing windshield washer tank but I didn't want to add the risk of someone filling with the wrong fluid or fluid with an additive. Best place for the methanol pump was in the back so rather than running a double line from the front back to the pump and then back to the front again, the separate tank in the back was chosen. Most of Stett Performance installs are in the back so there was influence there also.

[JCL]

I fully understand the benefits of cooling the intake charge, that is what your methanol injection will accomplish. And with that nitrous shot, it seems like a good idea.

But let's not confuse the basic issues of how methanol affects the octane rating of gasoline, or whether it is a cost-effective way to boost octane. It isn't.

From wiki, the AKI of methanol is 99. RON is higher, sure, but let's use the same scale as our pump fuel, which is AKI.

If you use a gallon of boost juice to a tank of fuel, you are running around a 20:1 ratio. However, the boost juice is half water, so it is more like a 40:1 ratio with the methanol, as the water won't help. If you mix 87 AKI fuel with a 40:1 ratio of a 99 AKI fuel, you will be lucky to get 88 out of it.

You will get fewer problems due to the lower charge temperature, so it may behave like a fuel with a higher AKI, but it doesn't actually have a higher AKI.

Since methanol has so much less energy than gasoline, and we haven't changed the timing to take advantage of a higher effective AKI, I don't see how there is any more power available, other than the benefits of cleaning out deposits.

I am open to corrections if my math is somehow wrong.

[tynashracing]

Originally Posted by JCL

If you use a gallon of boost juice to a tank of fuel, you are running around a 20:1 ratio. However, the boost juice is half water, so it is more like a 40:1 ratio with the methanol, as the water won't help. If you mix 87 AKI fuel with a 40:1 ratio of a 99 AKI fuel, you will be lucky to get 88 out of it.


I am open to corrections if my math is somehow wrong.

JCL,

I think he's actually using 1/3 gallon per tank of gas. Look at his post again. He said he can fill the tank 3 times with one gallon. And he fills the tank 1 time per tank of fuel depending on how aggressive he's driving.

So, that should change the numbers, right?

[bcredliner]

$35 purchase 4 gallons of boost juice. One gallon of boost juice is 1/4 of $35 dollars or $8.75 per gallon. One gallon with fairly hard driving will cover 3 tanks of gas or $2.96 per tank of gas.

The methanol is controlled by injector pulse width and/or boost. It is not a constant flow from idle to full throttle. Current setting is that under 20% pulse width of the injectors there is no methanol injected. 20% pulse width starting point is about a 65 mph cruising speed. It ramps up from there to the maximum methanol contribution at 80% of pulse width. That means at full throttle anytime the maximum amount of methanol is injected.
There should be gain in performance at full throttle because the addition of methanol will cause the computer to allow more timing.

You are correct that the fuel behaves like a higher octane rather than actually increasing octane. According to literature I can run regular due rather than premium and get the performance of premium or higher. With premium I should get the behavior of race gas. I will try some regular the next time my tank is empty.

I have no expectations of mileage increase, if, in fact it will increase mileage at any setting. Snow Performance made no mileage % claim though it is stated there will be mileage increase due to leaner mixture and efficiency. I will check the mileage for grins.

There was nothing in my consideration about saving money. The goal was to improve performance minimizing the risk with 150 shot of nitrous.