Water/ Methanol

[Proximity Motorsport]

Hey,

I made a stainless steel water meth tank, and there is a lid that will be bolted down, and won't be undone exept for cleaning. Just wondering if anyone knows if insertion rubber will corrode with methanol..

I have also heard that once methanol is mixed with water it's shelf life dramatically reduces... How long can I leave it mixed together befor it goes stale.

Cheers

[Simon-S14]

methanol aborbs water and should not be stored with water at all.

as for the insersion rubber i would dare say yes it will get eaten by the methanol. but i could be wrong on that one

[payback21]

Yes water is something you want to keep away from methanol. If you have a 44 gallon drum, keep it sealed at all times. Methanol turns to jelly when its stuffed and goes off. The last thing you want to be doing is putting jellified methanol thru your fuel system on your car. It will clog up everything.

In regards to the rubber, it will be ok providing there is constant flow of fuel and the car gets used. As soon as you dont drive the car for weeks, the methanol will turn to jelly and it will make the rubber go all powdery.

If you dont use the car for weeks, i suggest running the car until it runs out of fuel with the fuel pumps turned off, then blow out the fuel line system to clear everything out.

My only other thing about methanol, you cant do short cold starts all the time otherwise the oil goes milky. Always get it to running temperature before turning the car off. Dont just start it, move it 10 meters and then turn it off. It fills the sump up methanol making it go milky. Makes it appear like it has a blown head gasket when it hasnt. Thats just the way methanol is unfortunately.

Ive played with methanol engines plenty of times before in my speedway career. Its very good but very costly to run.

[Cjmartz2k]

Are you guys talking about the same thing?

OP, are you talking about water/methenol spray injection into the intercooler piping?

[TiTAN]

the op is talking about water meth injection, the whole point is to have water in the mix 51% water to 49% meth should give a fairly fire resistant mix to make it safer for street use.

[payback21]

Cool, i can understand doing that for street reasons. Running straight methanol does make the cars exhaust fumes real strong making your eyes water and nose sting. LOL Many times i remember that smell of methanol. Its one of a kind and its not like any other fuel to smell.

I have herd of people trying to mix methanol and water before but i have never seen it yet. Personally i would just use straight methanol and not bother mixing it. You would need some big kick ass injectors to run it on straight methanol.

I would be keen to know a bit more about water methanol injection. Gona have to do some research i think and learn a little more.

BTW apart from me babbling crap about methanol, i did answer the question in my first post. If he is mixing the fuel, he is more than safe to use rubber. Just think, we use rubber fuel lines, yer... so it should be ok to use it for what he needs to do.

[Cjmartz2k]

I think you are not grasping what the OP is talking about. This water/meth injection has nothing to do with his fuel system (mostly). He's injecting this atomized mixture of water/methanol into his intake air stream after the intercooler. It cools the intake charge and reduces your knock threshold letting you run more timing, more boost, and not have to use fuel to cool the combustion temps there by letting you run a bit "leaner".

http://www.snowperformance.net/faqs_type.php?type=gasoline

Read that.

[Simon-S14]

im well aware what he's using it for, but as for storing it methanol should not be stored with water. mix it as you need it.

[Proximity Motorsport]

Thanks for the replys.. Yeah I'm just wondering... It's not a daily car and I was wondering if one lot of methanol / water will last say 3 months in the tank. I might do some experiments and post results about the rubber

[Cjmartz2k]

im well aware what he's using it for, but as for storing it methanol should not be stored with water. mix it as you need it.

I was directing that mostly at payback, however, I find it curious that they sell premixed water/meth (called boost juice) and it doesn't come with any type of experation, nor does the common everyday windshield washer fluid that is 40% meth 60% water. Hmmmm.....

[prescott06]

If you can find out exactly what sort of rubber the 'insertion rubber' is (i.e EPDM, SBR or natural etc) look up a chemical compatibility chart and check it against methanol?

AFAIK, EPDM is fine with methanol. EPDM is fairly common, used for lots of o-rings etc.

[payback21]

I think you are not grasping what the OP is talking about. This water/meth injection has nothing to do with his fuel system (mostly). He's injecting this atomized mixture of water/methanol into his intake air stream after the intercooler. It cools the intake charge and reduces your knock threshold letting you run more timing, more boost, and not have to use fuel to cool the combustion temps there by letting you run a bit "leaner".

http://www.snowperformance.net/faqs_type.php?type=gasoline

Read that.

Cheers for the link. That was very helpful explaining about mixed methanol injection as a boost cooler. Interesting...

[Cjmartz2k]

No problem. Pretty crazy stuff the first time you read about it, isn't it? Who'd have thought injecting a meth/water mixture would help performance? There is actually a pretty long history of at least water injection going back to even before WWII believe it or not.

[payback21]

WOW. Yer pritty crazy ay. It has taken my interest, thats for sure. I do like the use of Methanol