i was wondeing if you ran a rota on methanol its life would be sevly stortend i know drag cars do

but thair not built for reiability. and will it make alot more power depending on engine specs of corse.

From what I have read, a car running methanol can last just as long as one running gasoline. I have seen turbo methanol engines be taken apart and the rotor tubs were spotless. As long as the mixture is right and your OMP is fully functional (methanol does not lube well) the engine will run just fine. Just be prepared to install a bigger fuel tank and replace the whole fuel system with components that work with methanol. I am not sure if you can run catalitic converters with methanol either.

I made a trip to Texas to pick up some airplane parts and on the way back I tried a tank full of E-85

just for grins. Performance was OK, but it went through that tankfull rather quickly.



The methanol has fewer BTUs per pound than does gasolene. It does burn slower and has a much higher anti knock rating than any gasolene based fuel. Note that CART and some circle track people still race on it.



You can run very high boost without detonation, as in the case of the CART cars, or, very high compression ratios as in the circle track engines.



There will be more interest in the future, and we may all be using it as the price of oil goes through the roof.



There is enough oil on US owned land to keep us going for another 100 years but we might frigten a moose while drilling for it. Tree huggers like Kennady signed the bill for more windmills but not on Nantucket island where he might have to see one from his house.



We need another Tedy Roosevelt to run our country.



Metanol is coming. Get used to it.



Lynn E. Hanover

Please clarify. Methanol, or ethanol? I thought methanol was considered too toxic to be used as a mass-market fuel?

It is. It also tends to corrode your fuel system components, I believe it is reccomended you flush your fuel system each time with gasoline after running methanol. It also sucks up water quickly with exposure to air, so it quickly becomes contaminated.

Here's something I found just by entering (methanol and pollution) into Google.



quote from Energy Books Quarterly



"Large-scale production of methanol from biomass could replace petroleum imports, reduce surplus farm production by utilizing large acreages for a valuable crop, thereby reducing farmland erosion by removing erosion-vulnerable land from pasturage; reduce air pollution, since a volume unit of methanol's heat value is half that of gasoline, but its propulsion value is 60 percent; and reduce the greenhouse effect and global warming because methanol adds no atmospheric carbon or waste heat. A directed governmental energy policy, currently almost nonexistent, is urgently needed to guide industry planning.

—Energy Books Quarterly"



That was just one of 50 articles I have looked at this morning and they all say about the same thing.

My fault.



I should have researched it further.



Ethanol is Hooch. 200 proof fire water. Made from distilled grains. Farmers want you to use more of it in motor fuels. ADM wants more of it used. Both Ethanol and Methanol can be used in fuels.



Methanol is wood alcohol and now is produced from natural gas or coal gas. It is poisonous and has a foul taste. It is used as an additive in Ethanol to (Denature) it. Make it taste bad so you cannot party on a $4.00 jug of 200 proof Ethanol. The Methanol (Think Meth lab poison) is corrosive and is the stuff used as race fuel.

Just 4ozs can be fatal.



Lynn E. Hanover

More pics of that engine please. Don't suppose you can drive the alternator that way if you don't have a PSRU in there? I could really do with that location for my car.