Black 86 'bird

Hey guys. I was just wondering what it would take to convert to alcohol, if at all possible. Would it help with hp? Ya can't beat the smell of an alcohol burner as it goes by! Thanks.

------------------
The famous "one wheel peel"
My only mod: Flowmaster 40 series
photopoint.com is not going to be free much longer, so check out my new pics at www.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=1526917 before it's too late!!

87RS402

New fuel lines, high flow pump (alky compatible), Injectors capable of flowing twice as much. Not to mention that everything the alky touches will need to be compatible, O-rings, seals, etc... Your also going to need to get a custom prom, alky takes different timing settings to produce the power increase. To get the most out of the fuel your going to need to build the engine specificly for the alky. 10.5-11:1 CR the appropriate cam, high energy ignition.

BTW, the sweet smell you talk of is also an eye irritant, ever wonder why 6you always see red, irritated eyes at the race track?

Vortex_89rs

I thought about alcohol, then thought about propane. Any ideas for that?

Vman

------------------
1969 Camaro Sport Coupe
383, 700R4, leather, everything black but the lights

Previous owner of an 89 RS Camaro
2.8L V6, 700R4

87RS402

Propane is a great fuel...


For a plumbers torch.

Check the BTU content, it's nowhere near a performance fuel. The advantage of alky is it's a slower burn, so it makes more torque, and it has a higher octane rating than gas. Still the best use for alcohol is drinking, nitromethane, now that's for racing.

Black 86 'bird

Wow, ummm... that's a lot of stuff to be done. It was a thought. Still may eventually do it though. The eye irritant thing doesn't really get to me. The only eyes that'll be irritated are the ones of my friends behind me when I take off (yeah, right). Is anybody running it on a 6 here?
And, what is "alcohol"? Is it methanol?
------------------
The famous "one wheel peel"
My only mod: Flowmaster 40 series
photopoint.com is not going to be free much longer, so check out my new pics at [URL=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=1526917[/URL] before it's too late!!

[This message has been edited by Black 86 'bird (edited May 23, 2001).]

87RS402

Correct. It's different than ethanol. Ethanol is derived from corn and grains, and is closer related to drinking alcohol. Both mix with nitro, gasoline doesn't with out a coagulation agent.

Black 86 'bird

Thanks. I couldn't remember if it was ethanol or methanol.

------------------
The famous "one wheel peel"
My only mod: Flowmaster 40 series
photopoint.com is not going to be free much longer, so check out my new pics at [URL=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=1526917[/URL] before it's too late!!

87RS402

They might as well be the same thing. Only a lab would be able to tell them apart for sure. It's nothing special to run alky, it just takes the right setup and lots of money for the fuel bill. It takes 1.7 times as much alky to produce the same BTU's as gasoline. Where the power increase comes in is alky burns slower and has a higher octane rating. That means you can advance your timing and run higher compression. The slower burn causes a longer duration of push on the piston creating more torque with the higher compression causing a 10% or so increase in output already. If your were to put a 15% blend of nitro in the tank it would be like combining a NOS system and your fuel together. there are 2 problems with this, 1, it's hard on the engine, and 2, nitro isn't cheap and you can't just pull into a gas station and say fill it up.

Camaro_hunter_d

well heres a good one...HYDROGEN...run it trough a NOS fogger at the throttle body and get a hydrogen generator...run off water!!! but be really carefull cause 1 spark and BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!


You could run 2-3 PSI and have a stable fire in the engine...It would run cooler I would think cause hydro burns so much cleaner and throughly...

Black 86 'bird

What do you mean by "hard on the engine"? Could you just add nitro like just before a race and run pure alky for street driving the rest of the time without doing any modifications? Heck, if you have your engine rebiult, I'd go ahead and and do the forged and all that other good stuff while their at it. So, why not go to alky? That;s my thinking....

------------------
The famous "one wheel peel"
My only mod: Flowmaster 40 series
photopoint.com is not going to be free much longer, so check out my new pics at [URL=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=1526917[/URL] before it's too late!!

87RS402

The last time I bought alky (in 95) I paid $2 a gallon. Say you get 20 mpg, OK? Now it's going to take 1.7 times as much to go the same distance. So now your paying over $2 a gallon to get half as far. I'd be willing to bet that the price is higher now.

Ok, now to find the stuff. Gas stations, no, the corner market, no, welding shops, no, parts stores, no. You'll need to find a speed shop that is willing to carry it or a distributor that will sell it to you wholesale, and that's just straight alky! Pure nitro might as well be unobtainum. It's a regulated substance in some states due to its explosive and hazardous qualities. Most distributors I know won't sell it to someone who has no experience with it. If you don't understand exactly what and how to reset the engine for the blend the only thing it will do is reduce your engine to a molten lump or put nice inspection windows into the block. If you think dealing with NOS is hard don't even consider nitromethane.

BTW, the last time I bought a 15% blend of nitromethane I paid $15 a gallon.

And to the individual with the hydrogen comment, My 9 year old son comes up with better ideas.

FBODY-ADDICT

Vortex my dad has a propane Chevy astro and all it did was lose power. Propane has less energy per liter than gasoline, I'd say that the van is at least 1 second slower on the 0-60 and it takes forever to reach full speed.

Joe_L

I could be wrong but isn't Alcohol and propane fuels more so for pollution control. There emissions are way lower than that of Gas.
As a few of you guys have said it takes 1.7 times fuel to get the same distance. So 25mpg quickley becomes 15mpg...that would suck...As well all the work to install it.

just my $.02

------------------
1987 Firebird
2.8L Auto
T-Tops
New Paint last Fall
No mods yet...

Black 86 'bird

Joe has a point on the "sucking" part...

------------------
The famous "one wheel peel"
My only mod: Flowmaster 40 series
photopoint.com is not going to be free much longer, so check out my new pics at [URL=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=1526917[/URL] before it's too late!!

[This message has been edited by Black 86 'bird (edited May 28, 2001).]

87RS402

Take a look at the NHRA class called "Top alcohol dragster". I don't think it sucks. I can go faster on alky that I can gas any day of the week. What I'm trying to explain here is that alky is a racing fuel. It's not something you run your daily driver on. It has better burn properties and octane than even 100 octane gas. Given equal octane ratings for I can make at least 10-15% more torque out of the same engine on alcohol. The whole idea behind propane is it's cheap. when gas is $1.50 a gallon you can buy propane fro $.89 in some places. I don't know the ratio of gas to propane for the BTU content, however I think the fuel milage is somewhat comparable. The best use for propane is a power adder for a turbo diesel. In that application it acts just like NOS.

Black 86 'bird

True,true.....

------------------
The famous "one wheel peel"
My only mod: Flowmaster 40 series
photopoint.com is not going to be free much longer, so check out my new pics at [URL=http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=1526917[/URL] before it's too late!!