METHANOL drinker

[LOMY]

I've managed to pull together some info about Methanol as a fuel additive. Could come in useful before
SantaPod !!

Warning : I am not suggesting that you use Methanol in your car, that is down to personal choice (and risk). I am just explaining some of the pros and cons so that you can make your own choice. As far as the law is concerned: i think that up to 5% is probably OK on the road, higher mixes are only officially for off road use in the UK. Need checking really.....i suppose.:)

Methanol Charcteristics

METHANOL (Methyl Alcohol) CH30H is a volatile, highly inflammable, water-clear
liquid with a mild odour. Like all alcohol based fuel it will mix with water
or nitromethane in all proportions and almost all proportions with petrol.

Methanol is an oxygenate, that is, each molecule contains a single oxygen atom which serves
to aid general combustion when released (from the Methanol by burning) thus increasing the net energy
release per cylinder per cycle. This raises the compression in the cylinder and hence power! Nitrous Oxide has the same effect.

Methanol itself (as opposed to petrol) also has a relatively large energy release
from combustion per molecule (see below). However, it also has a high 'latent heat of
vapourisation'. Which means that the fine liquid particles in the fuel/air mix from the injectors
take considerable energy (i.e. heat) from within the combustion chamber before vapourising.
The net result is a cooling (or dampening as Ailsa put it) of the surroundings before ignition
takes place.

One result of this is that it enables higher compression ratios to be used without
causing pre-ignition (or detonation) of the fuel (i.e. the excess energy of compression goes towards vapourising
the liquid before ignition). There is an alcohol fuel called OCTANE, not really used now but the
pressure allowed before pre-ignition (i.e. without a spark, like diesel) was denoted as 100 (% ?)
for Octane and all other fuels were then given an 'Octane' value relative to this figure. That is to say a fuel that can
reach a higher compression before pre-ignition was said to have and octane number greater than 100 and so on.
The definition of Octane number has altered slightly since then but still relates to the ability to take
pressure before pre-ignition.

here are some basic characteristics of Methanol

Flash Point ............................................16C
Boiling Point ..........................................64C
Freezing Point ........................................-97C
Specific Gravity ......................................0.796
Lbs/Gall approx 8
Conservative Maxium Compression Ratio ................. 17:1
Air/Fuel Ratio for Max Power lbs/lbs ...................4.5:1
Energy from Combustion B.T.U/lb ........................9770
Cooling Effect (Latent heat of Vaporisation) B.T.U./lb .472

Other materials are suitable oxygenate fuel additives too such as
NITROMETHANE(CH3NO2) :devil2: , ACETONE (Dimethyl Ketone, CH3COCH3) and ETHER based compounds.

Of these, Nitromethane is particularly effective because of its high oxygen content. Nitromethane enables considerable power
increases to be obtained if used alone (70 percent minimum with proper use).Most often used blended with methanol, in various
mixtures to provide higher octane rating (reducing tendency to detonate)and reduce power (i.e. less oxygen in methanol).

There are also the Benzines (hydrates) such as BENZINE (CH6H5) and NITROBENZENE(C6H5NO2) but these should be avoided since
there are a serious risks (common to all the oxygenates and hydrates to a greater or lesser degree). Principally, it is important not to allow
excessive contamination of skin, inhalation of vapour since Benzol(Benzine) is known to be a human carcinogen.

Methanol however is amongst the least toxic of the lot. On a par with petrol itself so treat it as you would petrol (i.e. wash it off straight away
if you get it on your hands, dont inhale fumes) and all should be fine. It does corrode Magnesium most plasics and paints,
so dont splash any on your VR4!

Naturally any change in fuelling needs to be accounted for in the fuel injection system and in the case of Methanol,
the full power advantage can only be attained by re-jetting the engine. If your engine has a 10.1 compression ratio,
then the use of 10% methanol in the fuel will raise compression to 11.5:1 and require re-jetting to 1.125 times the diameter of the original
jet size to obtain full benefit (around 20% power increase has been quoted). However, even without rejetting, compression will be still be
raised to some degree and so it is possible to get power increase in our cars using Methanol without engine modification.

The important part is that we must not allow compression to exceed the VR4 engines upper limit compression ratio.
There is always some flexibility in compression ratio in performance engines like ours so i was happy to use a 5% Methanol mix
which is estimated to raise compression by less than 10%. But it would be good to know the limit for safe use.

Does anyone in the club know what the existing compression ratio and upper limits are for the VR4 engine (280 bhp model).

Also if anyone knows anything else relevant to fuelling, or can correct me in any of the things i have said, please do so.

Cheers

[Brind]

That's excellent information mate! :)

[Ailsa]

Excellent info Lomy! Well researched!:D

The following is cut and pasted form the SS-R forum, I though you guys might find it useful. It was posted by one of our members who's into big old american cars and the drag racing scene.... This guy know's what he's on about, but I'm still not willing to try it!

***

Don't use methanol, use Xylene.

Go to your local bulk paint supplier and ask for some. Comes in 5 litre cans.

Don't ever mix it more than 25%. Wear gloves when handling it. It has a static octane rating of 116.

It won't, in itself, make your car go faster, but it will suppress detonation and hence stop the engine management system pulling timing out.

Plus, it is a wonderful injector cleaner.

As for alcohol/water injection, that works great too. Spray in water with a bit of alcohol and a slapdash of windscreen washer fluid (this acts as a lubricant for the pump). Set up a metered nozzle on the inlet pipe, a good pump (an old FI pump can work although, don't let it set too long or the water with start to rust the innards) and a pressure switch that turns the pump on at, say, 10 or 15 psi of boost.

I used it on the Buick and was fiddling with a system at the weekend on my friend's Buick too. It works great as a detonation suppressor and keeps the back of the valves steam cleaned too.

Things to watch. Remember how much is in whatever tank you use (I used a spare windscreen washer bottle); and we found that when you do your burnout, boost tends to pass the turn on point for the pump so it sprays alcohol into the engine. You don't need it then as the load is so low doing a burnout that there will be no detonation, but ... when you back off and roll up to the line the engine has loaded up with the stuff and it is a bit boggy when you nail it off the line, so we learned to burn out with out it, then arm the pump on the roll to the line.

My friend with the other GN perfected his launch off the hand brake at the weekend. Stage, pump on the handbrake (foot activated on the GNs); left foot on brake, right foot on gas. The foot brake holds the front brakes, the hand brake holds the back brakes. Build to 15psi of boost, green light comes on, lift left foot, punch handbrake button, floor accelerator, off you go.

P.S. Did I mention gloves when handling Xylene ?

[Brind]

Just found a bit more info.
This may not be completely correct but these questions were asked on noswizards forum and the reply is written by the man himself.

Quote;
I was wondering if i would be better off using methanol than petrol, on the basis that its not to crucial to get the mixture exactly correct with methanol i believe, so that means that i could chuck loads of the stuff in so that it also helps cool it down.

ALL CORRECT
------------

Quote;
Or possibly i could do a petrol/methanol mix perhaps?

This would complicate jetting but would extend your mpg.

------------

Quote
So would i be better running:
100% methanol
50/50 methanol/petrol mix
100% petrol

*other

Either 100% petrol or methanol, you can decide when you've read the whole response.

-------------

Quote;
Also same question for the nitrous really, would it be beneficial to use either a methanol petrol mix or pure methanol than using it just on petrol for the fuel side of the nitrous kit?

For simplicity stick to petrol (plus some OB); but for a bigger safety margin go to 100% methanol.

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Quote;
I can happily run two injectors off the ecu, so if i was doing it 50/50 i would use one injector for meths and one for petrol, rather than actually having a tank full of methanol/petrol mix, this way i can vary the percentage of each by using a different fuel pressure or injector size as well, so it doesn't have to be exactly 50/50

A worthwhile option
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Quote;
And also if the methanol ran out i could simply adjust the duration (its controlled by potentiometers so only need a screwdriver to set not a laptop or anything) of the petrol injector so that i could still run ok on just petrol to get me home.

Good point
------------

Methanol is highly toxic and has the following properties;
It's an accumulative poison, which means that once it enters your body it will never leave you.
It can enter your body in a number of ways;
1) absorbed through the skin.
2) fumes can be inhaled (from the tank or unburnt in exhaust fumes).
As well as more likely methods.
The results of the poison as;
memory loss
hair loss
blindness
impotence
And these are just those that I "know" of.
It is just as destructive to mechanical components;
It will corrode most metal parts
It will cause rubber pipes and seals to fail
It can cause the failure of most other components

In addition to all this you need to remember the following;
You'd need to carry twice as much or your mileage for a given tank size would be cut by half.
If you declare you are buying methanol as a fuel you will be charged a fuel tax. However if you state that it's for cleaning (water from tanks); no tax is charged.

That's about it on this one.

Regards
_________________
Trev The WIZARD of NOS

[Brind]

Quote;
"So what are the advantages of using methanol over petrol then?"

Higher octane, which means you can run higher compression which means you can make more power. There's also something about a superior energy output (but my brains let that bit slip).
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Quote;
If a seperate fuel system was built just for the methanol with tank, pump, and all that just for the fuel solenoid, would that be better?

Yep!
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Quote;
Will it still cause all that bad stuff to happen when nitrous and methanol is
injected into the engine?

It's main dangers are when it's outside the engine (to your body especially). The problems with the parts falling apart only applies to the fuel system which you can resolve by using methanol specific components.
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Quote;
Would timing have to be adjusted?

Yep, advanced (if my memory serves me right).
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Quote;
can we bump up the nitrous to crazy power?

It makes higher outputs safer.
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Quote;
[if petrol is still used with the standard injectors] that means we're running on methanol and nitrous, while petrol is doing the normal engine power. How crazy is this power?

The type of fuel you use is NOT usually the first limiting factor of power generation so it will make little differences unless other parts (such as ignition, exhaust ports, etc) are improved as well.
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Quote;
what about using propane instead?

Propane has most of the advantages of methanol without the disadvantages. If I was going to run a serious motor again, I'd use propane.

Regards
_________________
Trev The WIZARD of NOS

[Brind]

Methanol and Nitrous were made for each other.
You can run FAR too rich (for safety) without a loss in power (unlike petrol).
You can run any compression you like with no fear of detonation.
That's the advantages, the disadvantages are;
1) it's an accumulative poison (with dire consequences) that you can absorb through your skin, as well as your air intake.
2) you need almost twice as much to achieve the same end result as petrol (so you'd need a bigger fuel tank).
3) it corrodes most metals, so you'd need a whole new fuel system to cope with it.

[Brind]

Two intersting websites

Homebrew Gasoline Octane Boosters (http://www.vtr.org/maintain/gasoline-octane.html)

Here you find about it's corrosive and rubber-eating aspects (http://www.turbofast.com.au/racefuel.html)

[tunes]

:thumb1:

Great info!

[wirdy]

Cheers for that info Pete. That must go into the 'top 10' of longest posts!!
I didn't realise our chat at the pod would inspire you so well. I've done some research also and can add the following:

1. If you get hold of some methanol make absolutely sure it's not cloudy (it's extremely hygroscopic).

2. Although mostly miscible with petrol, an addition of 1% toluene ensures full mixing(although there is some anecdotal evidence out there that says running with a high proportion of toluene- 35%+ can screw your lambda sensor).

3. Motorcycle racers have used methanol for donkeys years.

I've used methanol at work and at play (blending it with nitromethane and castor oil for model aircraft) for years. Maybe explains the hair loss??!:D But I can't rationalise the argument about it getting into your system and staying there, it's surely just an alcohol variant and any small amount that enters the body through pores would be removed by your body's waste disposal unit(liver!). Accumulative poisons (ignoring stuff like asbestos that sticks in your lungs) are generally the heavy metal or iodine based compounds. I'm not a medical person, I'm just using logic.
The amount of methanol I've handled / sprayed / breathed over the years should have killed me by now!.

The methanol I had was well past it's use-by date (cloudy) so I have some more on order. I'll let you know how I get on.

According to my Mitsubishi brochure the VR4 has a standard CR of 8.5 to 1. (just for Kieran, your GLS is 10.0 to 1)

[Big Ian]

i used to use a mix of aviation(methanol) fuel and "95ron" in my cavalier as recomended by the guy who built my engine (BILL BLYSTEIN) i put in 40ML (2 cap full's)to every fill up on the roller's it hit 142 bhp then after running with the mix for 6 month's it hit 148 bhp with a much better responce in every gear.also it's worth nowing if you buy a product like this type of fuel you have to be very very very carefull where you keep it don't keep it any where that get's hot as my mate use to store a can in his brick garage and with the heat of the sun made it explode luck for him he kept it in a metal locker or his soupped up astra was a goner.