What is It?

[speedytang]

Alcohol/Water Injection

Want to run 5-10 PSI more boost then you are now? Sure you do, unless of course you’re opposed to adding 50-100 hp to your car. With alcohol injection you can do just that, all while buying your gas from the pump. I’ve been a huge fan of alcohol injection for many years now. Personally, I don’t see why everyone isn’t running some type of supplemental injection nowadays. Not having to pay outrageous prices for race gas will pay for your kit within the first year. To give alcohol injection its proper recognition, we’ll need to discuss a few things first.

When I say alcohol, I am referring to the chemicals in that category as a whole, such as Methanol, Toluene, Benzene and Ethanol to name a few.

I’m going to use 91 octane pump gas as an example since that seems to be the highest and most available nation wide. When increasing the boost on a vehicle that is forced induction from the factory, we are essentially increasing the compression of the motor. So what determines the amount of boost we can add before the motor goes pop? Here in lies the octane to compression threshold. If you add boost, you need to add fuel. That part is simple, more air requires more fuel. The entire theory on making more power is based around this ideal. So why can’t we just install huge fuel injectors and run 30 psi? Because every fuel has a point where it auto ignites and 91 octane reaches that limit far before we ever see that 30psi. .

With that in mind, we can look at the benefits of alcohol injection. The biggest reason alcohol injection is effective, is the increased octane it has over 91 pump gas. Let’s use Methanol as an example. Methanol has a octane rating of 105. So when Meth is sprayed into the intake either before the throttle body or in a direct port system, it effectively raises the octane of fuel that is injected into the combustion chamber. There are several very good chemicals that can be used for this. Methanol is definitely one of the more popular ones, but you can use Denatured Alcohol, rubbing alcohol, Ethanol, E85, Toluene or any of those mixed with water. Water in itself IS NOT a means to increase your octane. However, when injected into the motor, it evaporates upon entry into the combustion chamber effectively reducing the combustion temperatures by up to 300* F. I’ll go into water injection in more depth later so as not to confuse the two different types of tuning involved. The above listed chemicals all have different octane ratings, so each will require tuning if you change between fuels.

Before we can really get into tuning and the effects of the different chemicals we can choose from, we have to understand the various injection options available to us. There are literally tons of options available today, ranging from DIY setups consisting of a spray nozzle, pump, fuel line, pressure switch and reservoir all the way to $1000 setups that are closer to running a full standalone computer. It’s up to the individual what avenue they choose for themselves based on budget and power goals. I’ll explain the most common setup’s used today and the tuning involved with each in a later installment.

[Quik5oh]

Is Alcohol and Methanol used interchangeably or will they produce different results respectively?

[speedytang]

The end results are the same. Your timing and fuel map can stay the same for both. I myself use windshield washer fluid because I share the tank and it also keeps the track officials off your back because Meth/Alcohol is considered a Fuel. I have been told that my injection is a power adder and only one power adder is allowed on a car. Meth and Alcohol should also be in a fuel cell at most tracks and also carried in the correct container. Use washer fluid and you can get the benefits and it is easy to stop by a store and carry in your car. I use a PMS and it makes it really easy to change your timing and fuel. Use your NOS wire that goes to the solenoid and wire it to the Injection motor and use those settings.

[Quik5oh]

I was thinking about getting a Snow Performance kit myself. If I were to use the Snow Performance fluid bottle, is it possible that track officials will give me grief if and when I go? I like the idea about tapping the windshield washer fluid reservoir since it'll be nice and stealthy!

Who makes the near $1000 setups?

Were you told that you can only have one power adder on a car at your local dragstrip? Why would they even care?

[speedytang]

All series have rules and both Ford races I go to every year said no to the Meth Injection because it adds fuel so it is a power adder. When I went to test and tune same problem but different reason. A corrosive chemical not in a legal container. NHRA and IHRA both wanted the Meth in a Fuel Cell because of the danger if the car hit the wall or rolled over. Now this has been about 5 years back so things either got better or worse. They just opened the cap and if it had a smell of chemical/alcohol they said no. I went to the washer bottle and took the spray nozzle and made it stealth so they could not see anything.
Snow performance if you get the new big dog unit is close to $1000
You can make your own unit with electronic computer module for less than $400.

[Quik5oh]

So even if I went with the Snow Performance meth kit and went to the 1/4 mile (Test & Tune or street night), they may require a fuel cell for the windshield washer fluid or only for a true meth mixture?

I would think that the track would allow windshield washer fluid in either the OEM reservoir or the meth kit's tank regardless since it's washer fluid, no?