Olly.Wrx

iTrader: (10)

I have a my94 wrx,which is standard with just a cat back exhaust.(not remaped).
My local petrol stations only have 97 ron super unleaded fuel,if i used 5% methanol with the 97 ron fuel would it add abit of power?and also be safer for my engine?

Methanol is cheaper than all octane boosters so i would prefer to use methanol and i could store it ok.
Thanks for any help!!

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

97 is fine for your car though.

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Has to be mapped to run Meth. A 10-20% mix can give very good gains in conjunction with other mods

Olly.Wrx

iTrader: (10)

Am i wrong to think my car is mapped to 100 ron fuel becuase its a import?
I have read that a 5% mix of methanol would take the 97 ron fuel to around 100 ron and would therefore add abit of power,and would also be safer for my engine,is this not the case?

myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

Yes for early cars 97+ is perfectly fine 100 RON wasn't released till way later in the about 1999.

I used Optimax,Tescos 97,Tescos 99,Total Excellium and BP Ultimate (this one doesn't seem to agree with imprezas though) and it was fine on them.

stevie1982

iTrader: (16)

Have it mapped to be safe, plus fit a walbro fuel pump And fit a decat downpipe and enjoy the peace of mind you car is set up for the right fuel and get the benifit of more power and a better power delivery.

And I think you are thinking of octane booster, I think it is every 5ml you add to the tank I'd one ron (might be wrong on exact amounts) the methonal needs to be mapped in and I think for what you want it will be overkill

just get the car remapped and you will be fine

Olly.Wrx

iTrader: (10)

Thanks again myblackwrx.

I will just keep using 97,99 ron fuel and not bother with methanol.I thought all classic which were imports were mapped to 100 ron,thats why i was thinking about adding 5% of methanol.
I did let a friend take my car to the petrol station the other day becuase i didnt have time at work,and he put £20's worth of normal 95 ron unleaded in it (,even tho i told him not to).I have now put £35's worth of super in it 97 ron,And i have also used millers ecomax which is surposed to add to 2 ron.
Would it be worth using this in the future?as there is enough for 9 more tank fulls?

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

As metioned above, get the car fettled (decat & Walbro) and mapped and stick to the fuel your mapped to use. you can always get mapped onto 95ron if you prefer, but you will loose some power. As for the 95 fuel used once, if you keep off boost i think it will be ok for a one off.... I may stand correct here?!?! anyone?

Im mapped on 97Ron, so using anything more such as Shell Vpower and octane booster would offer no benifit unless i remap i believe.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Big thread in Technical re methanol bit dangerous isn't it as burns with no flame etc!

TX.

stevie1982

iTrader: (16)

run it off boost for two tanks of good quality fuel ie 97/99 then on the 3rd fill up you can boost it back up

stiler83

Methanol for a road car NO.
Below is something I wrote on another forum a little time back but it should cover the mains points. As advised by other posters you don't need it, 97Ron is fine but you would see a benefit from a re-map.

There is a large amount of misunderstanding floating around on the web about the use of alcohol as a automotive fuel. Most of it comes from people's lack of knowledge about Ethanol and Methanol. Methanol is is highly corrosive to Aluminium but aluminium can also suffer galvanic corrosion when you get into 85 percent ethanol range. Since the 70's most vehicles use an anodising process to reduce the issue and Fex-fuel vehicles also use rubber seals suitable for the task.
If you are wanting to run E85 then your primary concern should be if the fuel pump can supply enough fuel and if it's seals are compatible (remember petrol acts as a lubricant for your fuel pump so this is very important, newer multi-fuel pumps tend to have ceramic/composite seals) and the size of your injectors, as these will most likely need to be increased in size as they will need to supply 10-30% more fuel. Depending on the vehicle fuel economy with E85 ethanol is some 20 to 30 percent less than with petrol as gallon of E85 has only 72 percent of the energy that a gallon of petrol has.

stevie1982

iTrader: (16)

and why i have it in mine and i know there a few others on here running it on big'ish builds. i am running a rcm built engine, gt35 etc engine has done plenty of mines and is still going strong, boosting nicely to 1.9bar no signs of det etc.

i would agree if you are on std internals not looking to do much to the car then no there is no point but to say for a road car NO then i disagree as mine is a road car with track use

rifleman

adding octane booster doesnt give you extra power it just helps stop detonation.

Mus

iTrader: (2)

Mine is a road car sometimes the odd trip to the strip. when I’m driving normal I use v-power if im going for a blast 10% meth in the tank and switch map. haven’t needed to use meth since I had my S206 fitted it makes more than enough on vpwer. Meth will make more power and make the car spool a lot earlier the drive will just feel so much better, you got to try to really appreciate it


mus

lunar tick

iTrader: (2)

+1

Complete garbage. I run 10-20% methanol on a road-only car (03STI, 415bhp/380lb/ft) that has given me nearly 80,000 trouble-free miles. At 80p a litre, adding methanol not only gives the benefits that Mus describes above, it's cheaper than filling up with 100% petrol too.

Oh, and Paul at Zen recently checked the valve clearences on my car. After 77,000 miles, they were all virtually perfect, which he put down to the use of methanol keeping down carbon deposits in the valve seat area (due to relatively high oxygen content of methanol). Provided you have the engine mapped accordingly, methanol provides lots of benefits with the only drawback being the slight hassle of adding it when you fill up at the petrol station.

Olly.Wrx

iTrader: (10)

Thanks for the info guys it has given me something to think about.I wouldnt be getting my wrx remaped as i will be selling it soon and buying a blobeye sti.
I will defo think about running methanol in it after i have done some mods to it.

L3YMS

iTrader: (2)

really interested to read about 100ron only coming in late in the production of the classic shape, never heard that before, not that it bothers me as I have a uk car, but still.

Alan Jeffery

We use methanol as an excellent supplementary fuel source.
It's cheap in relative terms, although requires careful handling.
You need more of it to maintain air/fuel ratio levels, and that needs to be accomodated when mapping. As you don't appear to have the means to map it, that's one reason why you shouldn't use it. We commonly use methanol in conjunction with switchable mapping, eg Simtek, which is what it's all about as far as we're concerned. V power for everyday use, and run the meth when you're off to the strip.

RobJenks

You could also consider a blend of Petrol and Toulene . Apparently F1 used 99% toulene to 1 % petrol when they were running turbo chargers . I'm not suggesting using that ratio but 20/80 (Toulene/Petrol) would give a substantial increase in octane rating - so pushing advance further. this link for more Toluene - Octane Booster FAQ.