My guilty pleasure of watching "powerblock TV" and in particular, "Horsepower TV" the past weekends leads me to the following query, can we use a methanol injection system to add power to your cars. Mind you, I am no epxert, and don't claim to be, just wondering aloud to hear the voice of reason.

Sure, the holy grail of supercharging and turbocharging has been discussed, but the un-adjustability of our ECUs makes that option difficult, if not impossible, would adding a methanol injection system, such as http://www.snowperformance.net/view-...oduct-gasoline to our cars, boost performance. My thought is that with the meth injection, our ECU will auto adjust, perhaps adding timing because of the reduced temps and the effect of increased octane in the combustion chamber.

Would the ECU add timing in this situation? My thought is it might, since the ECU is always trying to optimize the burn in the cylinder? If the meth ran out, the ECU would just pull timing to protect itself, I think.

Anyone have any thoughts? Anyone have any real life experience with this?

 

Methanol is a fuel, I don't think adding more fuel to the fire will equate to more power. We need the air and tuning to go with it (like you mentioned).

I use water injection on the celica, works great!

 

The system I linked to is a methanol-water mix. My impression/understanding is that while there is a a methanol fuel (and methanol additives to fuel), the methanol/water mix I linked to, methanol is an alcohol with a low boiling point which aids in cooling the combustion chamber. It also raises the effective octane rating of the injected fuel. The higher octane, and lower temps, leads to improved performance.

And, what is the advantage to the water injection in your Celica? Is it a boosted all trac, or an NA engine. Any ecu modifications?

 

50/50 mix with water would lower IAT's and increase the octane therefore decreased chances of detonation and advancing timing, however, I doubt that you would get noticeable gains because the stock ecu will only advance timing to a set octane point of 91-93. Methanol injection is mainly used in forced induction and acts like a gasseous intercooler. Decreased charge air from the turbo or supercharger and increased octane to increase boost (methanol is ~114 octane). Also, with the 50/50 mix, the water would act like a "steam cleaning" device for your head and valves.
Run unleaded race gas and report your butt dyno results. It's almost the same concept.