Fordmods Logo

Adding methanol to your current fuel in a road car 

 

Page 1 of 1 [ 5 posts ] 

 
 Post subject: Adding methanol to your current fuel in a road car
Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 3:50 pm 
Getting Side Ways
Offline

Age: 36

Posts: 708

Joined: 19th Jul 2005

Ride: 08 BF MK11 Fairmont Ghia

Location: Manly west
QLD, Australia

What are people's thoughts on adding a very small amount of methanol to the fuel in your road car, to bump up the octane level a little bit. Has anybody tried this before, and if so did they find any gains?
Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Adding methanol to your current fuel in a road car
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:26 am 
Getting Side Ways
Offline

Posts: 890

Joined: 1st Apr 2005

Gallery: 4 images

Ride: EF XR6 Wagon, AU2 XR6 VCT

Power: 148 rwkw

Location: Auckland
New Zealand

Using methanol in a car not designed for it is a risky proposition. Methanol can be very corrosive to some components. In very small amounts, it might not be a problem. I wouldn't take the chance, even with small amounts.

Having said that, on occasion I have used about 250mls of methylated spirits per tank of fuel to absorb condensation that tends to collect in the fuel tank. Meths is about 90% ethanol and 10% methanol (added just to keep people from drinking it). So that would have put about 25mls of methanol in the fuel, and caused no problems.

You can use ethanol instead. Ethanol has the same octane rating as methanol, and is safe to use in just about any car built since the early 90s in concentrations up to 10%. Any petrol labelled "bio-fuel" is 5-10% ethanol. Ethanol is about 108.6 octane. So, if you start with 98-octane (non-ethanol) petrol and mix 9:1 with pure ethanol, you will get just over 99 octane. That's about as far as you can safely go with ethanol, is a hassle to do, and gains you only 1 point of octane.

You would be better off blending in some race gas that is safe for production engines. For example, 5 US gals (19L) of VP Motorsport 109 in a 68-litre tank and topped up with 98-octane will give you 101 octane - a 3 point gain. Be aware that it is not normally legal to use race gas on the road.

 

_________________

95 EF XR6 wagon, 17" FTRs, DBA rotors, KYB/Koni, AU bottom end, ported EF head, backcut valves, SS Inductions, Territory intake, 10.2 CR, Auckland 1258 cam, vernier gear, PH4480 headers, no cat, Tickford 2.5", 2800rpm stall, J3 chip

Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Adding methanol to your current fuel in a road car
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 6:59 pm 
Getting Side Ways
Offline

Posts: 699

Joined: 1st Jan 2006

Ride: Lots, all Fords

Location: Hamilton
New Zealand

Don't mix it with your fuel. Use a Snow Products dedicated water/meth injection system activated off (low) manifold vacuum.

But what advantage do you actually expect to get? Higher octane = slower burn rate. So unless you are unable to run an optimised spark advance curve with your current engine combination, you will actually be making less power AND spending more on fuel. A real loose-loose situation.

The reason an engine needs a higher octane fuel, is because ignition timing cannot be optimised with existing fuel. Like when compresssion is increased, forced induction is used, operating temp is significantly increased

Using high octane fuel and advancing the timing does not make as much power as a lower octane fuel running an optimised spark advance curve.

If your engine is stock or near-stock, stay with the fuel grade specified by the manufacturer. They spent alot of time and money optimising ........

 

_________________

XA Faimont 351C, AU2 XR8 Manual 5.0, DA LTD 5.0, Mk1 Capri 5.0, 1995 Mustang 5.0, EF2 XR8 Manual, EF2 Fairmont Ghia 5.0, AU3 XR8 Auto, AU2 XR8 Auto, AU2 XR8 Manual Ute, TE Cortina 5.0 Manual, DU LTD 5.0 soon to be manual

Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Adding methanol to your current fuel in a road car
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 5:11 pm 
Getting Side Ways
Offline

Posts: 890

Joined: 1st Apr 2005

Gallery: 4 images

Ride: EF XR6 Wagon, AU2 XR6 VCT

Power: 148 rwkw

Location: Auckland
New Zealand

xafalcon wrote:
Higher octane = slower burn rate. So unless you are unable to run an optimised spark advance curve with your current engine combination, you will actually be making less power AND spending more on fuel. A real loose-loose situation.


That's absolutely correct....with one exception. Race gas is not just higher-octane pump gas. It is formulated quite differently (part of why it is much more expensive) and usually has both higher octane and FASTER burn rate.

Unless your engine is knock-limited, you will not gain more power simply by increasing the octane. But you might still want to run high-octane pump gas, as it usually has more detergents in it and keeps your engine cleaner, which gives more performance long-term.

 

_________________

95 EF XR6 wagon, 17" FTRs, DBA rotors, KYB/Koni, AU bottom end, ported EF head, backcut valves, SS Inductions, Territory intake, 10.2 CR, Auckland 1258 cam, vernier gear, PH4480 headers, no cat, Tickford 2.5", 2800rpm stall, J3 chip

Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Adding methanol to your current fuel in a road car
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:01 pm 
Getting Side Ways
Offline

Age: 36

Posts: 708

Joined: 19th Jul 2005

Ride: 08 BF MK11 Fairmont Ghia

Location: Manly west
QLD, Australia

Hmmm ok, all of this helps, cause I work in a oil refinery I can get both ethanol and methanol very easy, and I was thinking of adding a little bit to my car to clean up the injectors and head with a little bit of a more efficient burn by upping then octane level a touch
Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:
Sort by  
 Page 1 of 1  [ 5 posts ] 

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

 

 

It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:30 pm All times are UTC + 11 hours

 

 

(c)2014 Total Web Solutions Australia - Australian Web Hosting and Domain Names