what are the benefits or running on alcohol and what do you need to do to switch over a motor that runs on regular gas

 

For a street car, zero benefits. It's not a street fuel. Costs more than gasoline and is a high maintanence fuel.

Switching over needs larger fuel lines, bigger fuel pump, alcohol carb or a carb that's been converted to alcohol. Once a carb has been converted, it can't be converted back to gasoline. You'll burn about twice as much alcohol as gasoline so fuel mileage per tank will be much less.

There's a lot of maintanence for alcohol because it's such a dry fuel. An additive needs to be put into the fuel to keep the valve guides lubricated. Alcohol attracts water. Water rusts steel. Carbs and other fuel system components have steel in them. After every race day I spray my carbs down with WD40. If the car has to sit for longer that a couple of weeks, I completely drain the fuel system. I'm also changing the o-rings for the needle and seats in the float bowls about twice a year because they've dried out so much, they start leaking.

I buy my methanol by the barrel. Wood alcohol or methyl hydrate is the same thing. My car burns 1 to 1-1/2 gallons of fuel in a 1/4 mile pass. That's about a 2 mile drive from my pit, all the way down the track and all the way back to my pit.