Page 1 of 3

Project Methanol

PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:54 am
by dynamix
As the existing tuning has been going well I thought it was about time to start to have some tests with running Methanol directly in the fuel tank.

A lot of the top tuners have been running this for a while, such as Andy F, Bob Rawle, Paul at Zen etc etc so I want to see what the fuss is about.

Advantages of Methanol:
- higher octane
- increased cyclinder cooling
- higher resistance to Det/Knock
- cheaper than vpower

Methanol is more enviromentally friendly than normal petrol but has its downsides.

Disadvantages:
- corrosive
- can attract water
- conducts electricity
- highly poisonous

The long and short of it is that you 'should' be able to run; more boost, more timing, less fuel or a combination of all three if the turbo/engine can take it. This will result in greater torque and more power.

According to John Banks on his Subaru it was able to push a car that was maxxed at 380 with its good tune on vpower to 434bhp with 10% methanol mix. 54bhp is some increase :o

My methanol arrives tomorrow so tuning will commence then in time for running with this at the weekend :D

I will update this thread with the results.

PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:04 pm
by danr55
very much looking forward to hearing the results!! 8)

PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:30 pm
by Houdini
Another disadvantage is trying to put out a methanol fire, if one starts. Been there and done that - very scary indeed! :shock:

PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:02 pm
by dynamix
You mean you cant see the flames :lol:

PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:23 pm
by Houdini
dynamix wrote:You mean you cant see the flames :lol:


Absolutely! You just see the person on fire dancing around like he's having an epileptic fit :eek:

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:02 pm
by dynamix
hmm

First stage of mapping done .... very interesting so far 8)

Will go out for more this afternoon after I analyse the first set of logs fully.

Suffice to say - I am quite pleased with it so far :lol:

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:53 pm
by Houdini
dynamix wrote:hmm

First stage of mapping done .... very interesting so far 8)

Will go out for more this afternoon after I analyse the first set of logs fully.

Suffice to say - I am quite pleased with it so far :lol:


Very interested to know how you get on this afternoon. Have fun!

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:40 pm
by The Swede
Houdini wrote:
dynamix wrote:You mean you cant see the flames :lol:


Absolutely! You just see the person on fire dancing around like he's having an epileptic fit :eek:


Sounds like the grandma that crossed the street just behind Spike's car last week.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:41 pm
by dynamix
Methanol 123 RON

So combined in 10% mix is about 104

Results so far:

- Managed to take the mapped boost up 0.15 bar
- Plus add an additional 2.5 degrees of timing pretty much all the way up the range.

Two minor knock correction points of 1.4 degrees which were there anyway but are now marginally exagerated due to the agressive nature of it flying up through the load points on the map.

Methanol does lean it out and I have seen the afr's go from around 11:1 to 11.6:1 with this mix using a wideband Innovate sensor. My car is fuelled rich for safety so anyone trying this out should bear this in mind.

I havent done a Road Dyno by way of comparison yet but I can hand on heart say that it feels scarey boosting to that level and getting away with it.

I will gather some more facts.

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:50 pm
by dynamix
oh btw the plan for tomorrow is to try and see at what point scarey fun becomes too greedy so I know what kind of safety margin is in there.

Then again I might just stick some Nitrous Formula in for a laugh :twisted:

PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:30 pm
by WR 1mposter
You crazy donk :lol:

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:59 am
by dynamix
Just intrigued and need to know how far this can go before I back it off a bit for safety :)

So far, for a zero cost mod, I likey a lotty.

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:27 pm
by Houdini
Mmmmmmm. Meths at Cadwell! Nice thought. You gonna do it, Duncan?

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 2:29 pm
by jd
getting tempted myself

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:13 pm
by dynamix
Houdini wrote:Mmmmmmm. Meths at Cadwell! Nice thought. You gonna do it, Duncan?


Absolutely going to do it - just been testing the results :o :o :o

Hmmm - I was wrong. The turbo doesnt NEED to flow anymore air for up top power gains. It has to be a mixture of increased timing and oxygen in the fuel itself.

Anyway - for the purposes of comparison to before, these are wheel figures. The blue line was what it was doing before methanol using Tesco 99 on monday this week.

The red line is with 10% mix of methanol into the fuel tank with Tesco 99.

Tests done in 3rd gear with no weight/gearing/road alterations.

Image

To work back to flywheel figures:

16% loss: 377 bhp / 433 lb/ft
18% loss: 386 bhp / 443 lb/ft
22% loss: 406 bhp / 466 lb/ft
24% loss: 417 bhp / 478 lb/ft

You take your pick as to what pub horse power figures that you trust. Bob Rawle uses 22% loss iirc

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:24 pm
by jd
impressive gains for no outlay

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:50 pm
by danr55
all very interesting, cant wait for cadwell, bring it on 8)

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 5:24 pm
by dynamix
was (tesco 99):

3rd gear:
30 - 50 mph = 2.1 seconds
40 - 60 mph = 1.9 seconds
50 - 70 mph = 2.0 seconds
60 - 80 mph = 2.5 seconds

now (methanol):

3rd gear:
30 - 50 mph = 2.1 seconds
40 - 60 mph = 1.7 seconds
50 - 70 mph = 1.8 seconds
60 - 80 mph = 2.2 seconds

dug out dan's 3rd gear figures too:

30 - 50mph = 2.0 seconds
40 - 60mph = 1.8 seconds
50 - 70mph = 1.9 seconds
60 - 80mph = 2.2 seconds

not a lot in it :D

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:11 pm
by WR 1mposter
Any preferance to why you use tesco 99 ?
Where do you get the meths from and cost ?

Are you taking enough with you to cadwell for when the bar shuts :lol: :lol: :lol:

PostPosted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:23 pm
by dynamix
Nearest Shell Garage is 15 Miles away is why I use Tesco 99 :D

Methanol - http://jennychem.com £27.5 for 25 litres

No - dont drink it :o it aint good for you in a big way :D

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:13 am
by Houdini
Can't wait to see this in action! I wonder what the Type 25 would be like with methanol? :shock:

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:21 am
by WR1 Bro
Does this mean you will always be running Methanol or will you be constantly changing the map to suit?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:30 am
by dynamix
WR1 Bro wrote:Does this mean you will always be running Methanol or will you be constantly changing the map to suit?


only on special occasions and will flash back to normal fuel map when not needed :)

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 11:35 am
by WR1 Bro
How much were the software and leads to be enable yourself to do this?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:20 pm
by dynamix
The leads are about £90

The software is open source so free

It cant be done to ecuteked cars as they lock the ecu.

Read up a lot before doing anything (and I mean a lot) and preferably log your own car for a long time to see what goes on with it.

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:57 pm
by WR1 Bro
What ECU do you have DONK?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:04 pm
by dynamix
std OE ECU

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:11 pm
by WR1 Bro
So the same as me then? Ecutek with a license to unlock it when it was remapped?

What other data can you download with the lap top from your ECU? It would be interesting to know.

One other question - when you show your in gear times 30-50, 40-60 etc etc, how is the speed calculated? Is it taken from the speedo and is thus out or is it calculated by other means?

PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:16 pm
by dynamix
I do logging in Ecutek Delta Dash which is about £250 to buy that gives the road dyno function too. I uses speed with compensation for wheel sizing gearing, front drag co-ef and weight.

If your ecu has been ecuteked then you will need an ecutek agent to remap it.

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:24 pm
by Dipsy
See you mention methanol .Some of the people on Sidc scottish scoobies have there car's maped by Andy f to run V-power plus methanol plus Nf octane booster