Methanol?

[taylormanss]

A buddy of mine Said he was gonna run methanol in his boat as a fuel additive,but I told him I thought THey used ethanol.I don't use this because my boat runs good on93 octane.Can you guys help me and tell me whixh one of these to use.
taylormanss..............................

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

ethyl alcohol will give you quite a buzz (get you drunk). It can be burned in internal combustion engines but not as effectively as methanol which can kill you if you drink it. ethyl alcohol is usually distilled from organic matter whereas methanol is made in a lab.
Short answer is.....your friend is right methanol is the fuel they use in racing. ethyl alcohol is what is consumed after a winning weekend....but never the night before a race ;)
Omega

[taylormanss]

Thanks for the info omega I'll let him know.
taylormanss......................

[OkieDave]

your tuneup is much different with methanol and it doesn't mix with gas.

[Sanger Jet]

Check your local area for fuel dealers they will sell you race fuel in 55$$$Gallon drums. then mix 50/50 with pump gas. Works Awsome!!!

[taylormanss]

So your saying you can't mix it?methenol and gas?

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

Alot of guys with forced injection will use methanol injection to help cool the charge down but I have never heard of anyone mixing methanol with gasoline. I am not sure they would actually mix. If your buddy is running a supercharged or turbocharged engine then methanol injection will help him out. If he is doing this in an effort to raise the octane rating to compensate for high compression there are leaded and unleaded race fuels out there that will work much better.
Omega

[Jet Hydro]

methanol will not mix with gasoline

[OkieDave]

AV gas is what I mix 50-50 with 87 octane regular. works fine in my 12:1 or 13:1 motors. sometimes I cut it a little more. 7 galons of regular to 5 of AV. no problems. been doing it for years.

[taylormanss]

OK the av gas that they have at the local airport here is 100 low lead will this work?

[OkieDave]

thats what i use.

[OkieDave]

P.S. you only need it if you are running a lot of compression. if your not over 10:1 or so, you don't need it. it will not make your motor make any more power. in fact, high octane gas has fewer calories than low octane gas meaning it actually makes less power.

[steelcomp]

your tuneup is much different with methanol and it doesn't mix with gas
What type of alcohol is that they've been mixing with gasoling then?? Ever heard of gasohol? I think it's been around for years.
ethyl alcohol is usually distilled from organic matter whereas methanol is made in a lab.
I'm not sure, but I think both are made from organic materials...methanol is often referred to as "wood grain alcohol" being primarily distilled from wood???Where as ethanol is distilled from basically the sugar found in grains???. Methanol can kill you, but typically it will make you go blind.
in fact, high octane gas has fewer calories than low octane gas meaning it actually makes less power.
I didn't know this...could you explain how that works? Thanks.

[Infomaniac]

Methanol will mix with gas. I ran it in my el-camino for quite a while. Home brew 10%
You can buy 85% gas and 15% methanol from the pump in some states. M-85 as it is called. The other alternative is E-85 which is ethanol mixed in.
Methanol is made from natural gas (methane) and ethanol from corn, potatoes etc. Methanol being pertoleum and ethanol being non petroleum. Ethanol is what you can drink (theoretically) LOL moonshine corn squeezins. LOL

[Fiat48]

http://www.oehha.ca.gov/air/chronic_rels/pdf/67561.pdf

[blowngas]

the last time I tried mixing methanol and gasoline, it did the same as before, separated just like oil and water-----oil companys may be blending some kind of agent along with it to make it compatabile-----been a few years since I tried it----back then, they still put lead in it

[sdba069]

Not that I would know........... ALCOHOL WILL NOT MIX NATURALLY WITH GAS. Gasahol is produced with the use of a catalyzing agent, maybe Benzene, but not sure. If you have a gas carb, it will not run on alcohol or vice-versa, without significant modifications. Same with injectors, if they are set up for gas, they will not run on alky, withou major changes. The standard air/fuel mixture for gas is about 13.8 to 1 and for alcohol it's about 7 to 1 , so you can see that it takes almost twice as much alky as it does gas for the same amount of air. Don't misread the above fact, it says air/fuel and not fuel/air. Back in the old days, when we couldn't afford to buy the high dollar alky conversion carbs, we'd take an old 4781 Holley(850) and drill out a set of main jets to about .130 and restrict the idle air circuits to get them to run. We could usually make them run decent on top, but usually had a lot of trouble getting them to idle and have good initial acceleration because we couldn't get them rich enough at idle. Hey INFO, the only alky you had in that El Camino was jack Daniels. Now I've emptied my brain, I need to go read a book.

[steelcomp]

See...I knew someone would step up and give us a straight answer. Sounds like a man who knows his alcohol! :D Learn something every day. Info, I knew there was Gasohol, I just didn't think the two were incompatable as far as mixing.
So when the government says it's now stepping up production of alcohol for use as fuel, and they're contracting farmers to grow more corn for this, then we'll be burning ethanol. Is that different from methanol AFA tyhe way it burns? Years ago we looked into distilling our own alky and talked to the "powers that be", and we were told that we'd have to add a certain amount of kerosene to the alcohol in order to prevent it from being used for liquor...either that or we'd have to pay $12.00/gal alcoholic beverage tax on it. :confused:

[sdba069]

I'd drink to that, if I drank. JDF drinks enough to cover what I don't

[jdf]

what you trying to say there snowman ???? i have slowed way down since denise put a rope on my neck ....bye the way when is pebble's going to be ready ...she is getting wound up with this nice day's

[Infomaniac]

Well occationally I stand corrected. :D

[sdba069]

Howdy, Ron...............

[Infomaniac]

Hey Garry
I finally got the Cougar fixed.

[sdba069]

Glad to hear it. Maybe you can find your way back down our way a time or two this summer.

[Shark In The Pond]

Hey Garry
I finally got the Cougar fixed.
Get out of town :eek: you finally fix the hole ? :crossx:

[Jet Hydro]

methanol will not mix with gasoline
Trust me !

[steelcomp]

Well occationally I stand corrected. :D
Occasionally with an s, not a t. NOW you stand corrected. :D
(sorry...couldn't resist. I know...that's gratitude for ya! :hammer2: )

[Infomaniac]

You guys are brutal LOL

[Infomaniac]

Get out of town :eek: you finally fix the hole ? :crossx:
Maybe I should say "had it fixed"

[LakesOnly]

Info, I will stand corrected if I am mistaken ( :D ) so correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that M-85 & E-85 are 85% alcohols and just 15% gasoline, not the other way around (not to be confused with gasohol). M-85 and E-85 were originally investigated when alcohol--as an alternative fuel--was being highly touted/investigated.
The reason for the addition of 15% gasoline was to aid on cold starting and so a flame would be visible, should there be a fire of sorts...
LO

[LakesOnly]

In regards to the AvGas 100LL, it has 2-grams per gallon lead in it. Also, it is a very well refined fuel and has a Motor octane rating of 100. Thats Motor octane rating. By way of comparison, VP C-12 has a Motor octane rating of 108. It wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that the overall anti-knock index of AvGas is comparable to many race fuels and probably better than some of the lower level fuels offered by otherr race fuel manufacturers.
It has different fule properties as well, though, since it is blended for a different application. Works great for me full strength, but Okiedave is probably wise to add some standard spec automotive fuel so as to bring in some of the auto-specific fuel properties...
LO
p.s. By the way OKDave, I've been slammed and just shipped my last set of ported head orders...to the UK. Will buzz ya soon.

[sdba069]

Someone had mentioned the dangers of alcohol fires, since it burns with no visible flames. In a perfect environment where the fire is 100% alky, that would be the case. I've seen numerous alky fires and it is indeed visible due to whatever the fire touches burning, even dust particles in the air.