Running Methanol
 

Has anyone run just methanol? Do you still need an intercooler? Will an intercooler help or is methanol able to cool beyond that of an intercooler

as a fuel source you would need to totally redo your entire fuel system. but water methanol injection how ever is very effective and feasible.

I'm still building the car so getting the fuel system to run methanol shouldn't be that big a problem. Running methanol as the only fuel should work better than running petrol with water/methanol injection shouldn't it?

i geus i run 18 psi with just WI though, the methanol might work better in theory but for my effort and money it would be a waste. Water injection is so easy to set up, and you could cobble together something for around 200 bucks. Methanol is also very expensive to compared to petrol, and your 10 gallon tank will get youh about 40-50% less range than on petrol alone, so there is that to consider as well.

Mthanol has less calories and is a ton more corrosive. Water methanol injection will get you lower than ambeint aits, if you run out of water just dont boost. If you run out of methanol somewhere you are pretty much SOL.

Methanol does make a lot of power, and most drag racers that use it do not use an intercooler. Even the cars in the unlimmited classes. The fuel will often literally freeze the intake on some applications. However, there are some serious drawbacks.

The main problem is that it is so corrosive, that it will eat everything that it touches. When racing with methanol, all of the components iirc, have to be flushed and cleaned by petrol on a regular basis. Also, the entire fuel system has to be compatible with methanol. O rings, gaskets, tubing, and seals that come in contact with fuel is susceptible to failure.

Generally Methanol is reserved to those that only race where methanol is allowed, and to those that can afford the initial expense as well as the up keep.

Running E85 ethanol is also an alternative - if you have it local. But the E85 rating is max 85%, so what you pump might be actually lower. My forged build will be running ethanol and you can make serious power safely with the right management. But this is a track only car too. The management system I'll be using has a fuel sensor that caluculates % ethanol and alters the fuel map based on the content - meaning I can use a mix of high octane pump gas and ethanol or should I run out of E85 at the track and have to use the 110 stuff. Ethanol is not as corrosive as methanol either.