Has anyone done alcohol injection can it be done what would uneed.

 

Do you have a blower or turbo?

 

What are your goals? Are you looking to run an engine on alky with fuel injection as the delivery? Looking to have it as a suplimental system as in intake cooling for boost?

 

Im talking about running the motor on alcohol only

 

If ya got the money for the fuel system and injector's it's doable.
Did I mention the 4.50 a gallon price and that's in 55 gal drum.

 

its about half that here in texas i was just wondering if i could put bigger injectors and other system upgrades

 

Ya will need a sump in the tank,a BIG external pump,85+ PPH injectors,fuel rails,regulator and all hoses replaced to #10 going,#8 return and a #12 between the tank and pump,inlet filter,pressure filter and a pressure "Y". About $2500.00 worth,maybe a little more. Ya will have to cleen the system REGULARLY about 1 time a month and that includes flushing the tank,and ALL lines,checking filters,ect.

Have not heard of Methanol for 2.25 a gallon since the '60's so ya better check on the price. I get it direct from F H Ross and it's a tad over 4.50 at my price.

 

Wonder if he is thinking ethanol?
Alcohol contains signifigantly less energy than gas but brings in some of it's own oxygen so you can burn a much larger volume of it, that is how a properly build alky motor can make more power than gas so the fuel system has to set up for twice the volume as gas would take for the given HP level, and special care to make sure it is all alcohol compatable at that percentage(everything is 10% ethanol compatable).
I guess this still comes down to your goals. If it is something you are going to try to drive even just occassionally even the cheap price you are saying you can pay will drive you broke given the quantity of fuel it will burn.

 

Well he damn sure didn't say ethanol.He said alcohol and that is methanol to me. Burn a lot in these dirt track sprint cars.
Maybe he don't know????Its not a simple change and only the educated should run methanol. It is very forgiving as a fuel but ya got to know what to do with it.

 

LR has said most of it. But to put it another way, you have to think of it like this. Both ethanol and methanol require ~2.5X the volume of gasoline. So, every part of the fuel system has to be capable of flowing 2.5X as much in order to use them. This also means that your range on the same volume of fuel will be 2.5X less. IOW, your 15 gal tank will now act like a six gallon tank! Not much crusing range until you have to go back to your garage. Of course, you also need to procure and store drums of fuel. Also, wrt methanol, it is quite reactive chemically, so all parts of the fuel system need to be compatible.

As race gas gets more expensive, I bet more racers will start thinking about this. In my book, any drag car should run methanol. But when you think of the price you need to multiply by 2.5 to compare. We are currently paying $3.80/gal, by the drum. This equivalent to ~$9.50/gal, which is what the last drum of C16 we got cost. I don't know how much race gas has gone up, but I'll bet it's more now.

But unfortunately, it's not practical for a street car. Runs cool and clean, makes more hp, obviates the need for intercooling on a blower motor, great detonation resistance, etc. When we fire up my buddys blown alcohol Hemi, the hat gets so cold that ice will form on it unless it is a very hot day! We sometimes joke that you could use it for a cookout. Grill on the headers and keep the beer cold on the hat!

No one local is using alcohol and EFI. We are going to try this next year on my race car and on another buddys Mustang. Mine will be easy, as it is a pretty mild NA motor. We should get away with 160lb injectors, which are equivalent to ~65lb'ers. He is going to need 16x160lb injectors as he is running close to 30lbs of boost. When you stop and think that 16 of these injectors are going to run over $1,000, you can see Larry's point about the cost.

Rich

 

thanks for all the info here in tx methanol is fairly in expensive bout the same as pump gas but i will make sure

 

Methanol is nasty stuff corrosive and hydroscopic(absorbs water) not something I would recommend considering lightly. Can make a lot of power but maintanence is high and as noted you will have to burn a whole lot of it even just to make the same power as gas.

 

Were you listening? Remember, it takes ~2.5 times as much methanol as gas to get a stoichiometric AF ratio. So, you need to multiply the per gallon cost of methanol by ~2.5 in order to compare the price to gasoline. IOW, if you can buy methanol for the same price as gasoline, you should think of it as 2.5 times more expensive, if you get what I am saying.

Rich