What do I gain/lose with Meth/M85?

[Matthew Beaubien]

Thor,

>   I can't/won't modify the ignition timing, compression ratio, or other 
> engine stuff besides the EFI systems, so what can I expect to gain or 
> lose using Methanol vs. gasoline?

You may gain some power and you may lose some ringlands, bearings, etc.
Methanol is more likely to pre-ignite than gasoline due to a lower surface
ignition temperature. What this means is that any hotspots will cause
knock easier when burning methanol.

For safety's sake, I'd put in a colder plug and back off the timing a
couple degrees when running a methanol enriched mixture.

Is this a turbo engine that you're working with?

As far as power goes, you'll gain ~8% running a straight M85 mixture vs
pump gas. So by running say 10% M85, you could expect about a 1% increase
in power.

My 2 bits.


Matt Beaubien
mbeaubie at gpu.srv.ualberta.ca