Compiled by Chad Schwartz

General Information:

Alcohol sprayed directly into the charged air stream has a substantial cooling effect and acts kind of like an inter-cooler. Alcohol�s cooling ability reduces detonation and allows higher boost levels to be run with low octane fuel. Cylinder temperatures can drop as much as 300 degrees. Alcohol injection may be added to your recipe at any point as it works well from a stocker to a full racer.

The concept of injecting alcohol and water into an engine to increase power output is not new. The research and testing has been done years ago and still continues today. During WWII the military used alcohol and water injection on aircraft to enhance combustion by cooling the charged air coming in from forced induction. Ever wonder why Turbo Regals have the "Power Injection" light on the dash and "Power Injection" location in the fuse box? GM had plans to put water injection on Turbo Regals for power enhancement by reducing detonation and increasing boost levels. Unfortunately it did not go into production. The light would illuminate when the water injection was pumping. Jay Carter, Steve Chlupsa, and Frederic Breitwieser are just a few great examples of people that have done extensive design and testing of alcohol injection systems for Turbo Buick applications. They have been very successful with their efforts and have brought forward great technology.

Many people have successfully used alcohol injection on Turbo Buick engines hundreds of passes with no damage to parts, seals, or cylinder walls. GM did implement alcohol injection on a few durability test engines run on a dyno. During the durability tests the engines were cycled between the peak torque RPM and the peak horsepower RPM for the equivalent of 100,000 miles. Afterwards they were tore down and examined. They noted significantly more cylinder bore wear in the alcohol/water injected engines. It was believed to be from unburnt alcohol and water washing the oil off the cylinder walls but they could have also been running higher boost levels. This wear problem was only found on engines run through the durability dyno test and not on any other tests. The alcohol kits for Turbo Buicks only turn on during boost situations. So, I guess if you plan on having your foot to the floor for 100,000 miles with the alcohol injecting this could pose a potential problem for you otherwise there is no worry. This is a tried and true safe method of increasing the power of your Turbo Buick engine. The only real danger to alcohol injection is letting it run out of alcohol during a high boost blast. If the alcohol runs out severe knock is most likely going to occur because you probably are running higher boost levels than the gas in your tank at the time can handle. Bad enough knock could occur causing a blown head gasket or maybe even worse engine destruction. So, make sure there is always plenty of alcohol in the container.

Q&A:

>Does the Alcohol cause any problems? Damage to pistons, rings, or fuel lines..etc.

Alcohol does not cause any problems to your engine. It actually "steam" cleans the inside of your throttle body, intake, heads, valves, and exhaust! I know some list members that have taken their engines apart after using alcohol injection for a long time. Everything is very clean and no damage to any engine parts. No problems with washing the cylinders out. The alcohol is sprayed with a fine mist into the intake stream so it is actually vapors when it goes into the engine. Alcohol injection doesn't do the same things as NOS does. None of the same dangers. It is acting as an intercooler enhancer and octane booster. It can lower the cylinder temps by 200 degrees and makes 94 octane basically look like 110 octane. It is used as a "knock quencher". I use 91% isopropyl alcohol that is available anywhere. You can also use 70-71% isopropyl.

The only danger using alcohol injection that can cause damage to the engine is if you let the alcohol run out during high boost using low octane gas. You can possibly blow a head gasket or blow the engine. It's just like running 22 psi boost with 91 octane gas --- major knock is going to occur. You can avoid this by getting a customized low alcohol detection system setup or watching to make sure the alcohol container has plenty of alcohol in it before that bonzi run. You'll learn how much your car uses over time.

>How much does a quality system cost?

A good quality system would cost you usually between $200-$350 but up to $850.  The money you save from not having to use race fuel or kill O2 sensors will pay for itself. 

>How much boost can I run on Alcohol?

It depends on what octane fuel you plan on using with what chip timing. I am using 91-92 octane premium pump gas with Jay Carters 93 octane chip and 91% isopropyl alcohol. I can safely obtain 21-22 psi boost. Without the injection setup I get knock as low as 13 psi! 93.5-100 octane you could probably use a race chip with 21-22 psi boost. Others have successfully done it. 93.5-94 octane and using 93.5 chip will give you all the boost you want -- mid to high 20's.

>Are these systems recommended for a Daily Driver?

Definitely!! That's where they shine the best!! The major point of using the system is being able to run high boost with easily available pump gas. Should not need to use race fuel anymore. You can be as fast on the street as you are at the track. Again, make sure you have enough alcohol in the container when you are running high boost.

>What mods do I need done to my car before adding alcohol injection?

I recommend at least doing the minimum mods to run high boost.  This consists of a scan tool, 160 thermostat, K&N filter, 92-93 octane street chip, high volume fuel pump hot wired, 30lb boost gauge, fuel pressure gauge, adjustable fuel regulator, adjustable waste gate, and passenger side K&N breather kit.

>Where can I find denatured alchy?

Denatured for $7.99 a gallon at True Value. Should be cheaper at the big home supply stores.
Menards is like $5.75 a gallon.

Alcohol Injection User Comments and Experiences:

Chad Schwartz:

Jay Carter kit:

I found one of Jay Carter's last setups new in a box from a ex-list member. I paid $250 for it. The average cost range from around $200-$350+. Jay's later setup was designed to be mounted where the vacuum canister is normally located. Mine wouldn't fit there (Jay's alcohol containers are huge) because of the ATR ram air kit I use with huge 14" k&n. So, I improvised and mounted the canister on the inter-cooler shroud but it is easily accessible and the pump is mounted below the alcohol tank on top of my ATR inter-cooler shield so there isn't a delay before the pump gets alcohol. From the pump a NOS line goes up and is piped into the back of the upper inter-cooler pipe spraying towards the incoming air stream. It is adjusted with NOS jets and a boost activated switch that turns it on anywhere from 1-18 psi boost. A vacuum line is run to the container cap so that boost pressurizes the system keeping the pump at max pressure and volume no matter what the boost is. The kits are actually pretty simple just like NOS kits are.

I use either 70-71% or 91% isopropyl alcohol available anywhere. 70-71% is very common and found about anywhere including many gas stations that carry some food items. The 91% I've been finding in some of the larger stores K-Mart, Osco, and Wal-Mart. I've just been using 91% now because it seems to work better and give me higher boost with 91-92 octane gas. I get about 21 psi boost using Jay Carter 93 octane chip. I could get more boost if I use 93.5 or 100 octane gas. If you run 100 octane gas with it you could probably use a 100-108 full race chip with lots of boost and no knock. I haven't had any problems with it and it really does work!!!! I don't have any track times yet but I know I run much faster with it and would have lost a bunch of street races without it. I like to be ready to rock and roll at all times.

You just need to watch your O2's with a scan tool and adjust up or down accordingly to keep it within the 780-760 range like normal and the knock low to none. The alcohol didn't really have much affect on my fuel pressures but it did a little. The alcohol is acting more as a intercooler effect than fuel supplement. If your running rich on alcohol it will either "steam" out your exhaust or basically fall on it's face. Mine kind of sputtered and wouldn't boost up all the way when I had to big of a jet in it. I used the biggest jet I could use with the least knock and without it sputtering. Start with the smallest jet and work your way up. Have the alcohol turn on basically only when it's needed to quench knock. So, if you don't get any knock with the gas/chip you are using until 16 psi for example adjust it to turn on around 14 psi. 10 psi turn on is a good start. The less you use the alcohol during the lower boost the faster your turbo will spool because the alcohol can lower the exhaust temp enough to slow it down. Wiring in a light to show when the pump is running will be very helpful when tuning. Otherwise you can't tell for sure when it's turning on. I had a little problem for a while that it kicked on to soon so that when I was at part throttle and it hit the low boost level it would sputter and fall on its face even though it worked fine at WOT.

Steve Chlupsa Kit:

Summer of '00 I changed over to a SMC Enterprises alchy kit.  I've been trying to set my car up so I can pretty much tune everything inside the car.  This kit allowed me to do just that.  All of the tuning controls are mounted inside the car.  Alchy on boost setting, alchy spray setting, test spray button, low alchy warning light, armed light, and spray on light.  This makes tuning really easy as you drive.  The kit comes all pre-wired and complete (plug-n-play).  It's very easy to install and has been reliable.  I've ran gallons of alchy through the kit with no problems except one.  The earlier model had plastic clamps holding the fuel pump and the fuel pump wanted to pop off the hose.  That was easily fixed by installing stainless steel clamps.  Never a problem after that.  Newer kits come with the stainless clamps already plus a braided line to the nozzle.  This kit comes with a very fine spray nozzle.  This allows you to inject a lot of alchy without flooding the motor.  To tune all you have to do is keep turning up the alchy spray until it starts to flood (fall on it's face) then back off just a bit.  I have run up to 24 psi boost no problem using a 18 degree street chip and pathetic 91 octane gas.  My Grand National has run consistent 12.4's @ 109 1.70 60ft in full street trim plus slicks with a TE-44, 92 Thrasher, 91 octane pump gas, and 20 psi boost.  That was with the kit turned on high.  To get more alchy to spray I did the kit mod specified by Steve below on this page.  I can run 24 psi now so I know I could have ran a very low 12/high 11 just like race trim with a street chip and pump gas.  I like the kit so much I've purchased another for my '86 T-Type.

Stanley Ramsay:

Takes tuning but the stuff is fantastic.  I can run 92 octane at 19lbs with a TE62-1 without a problem and I've had allot of porting done so there is allot more air moving at this pressure.  Currently running 100 octane at 24lbs without any problems and still a few lbs left if I need it.  This stuff makes your car pull smooth and very strong and why more people don't use is totally beyond me.  Can't go to WOT until about 40 to 45 (275x60x15 soft rubber recaps) without lighting them up.  Really helps when the inter-cooler can't do its job or the air temperature is hot.  Got my system from Jay Carter.  Normally use the 91/9% drugstore stuff. 

As far as success stories, I nuke 'em till they glow - almost impossible to find runs these days - wait until you start running into some of those street racers talking about how fast they are until you pull in and then watch them trying to slip out the back so they won't have to race you in front of a crowd - just plain funny to watch.  In my opinion, it is the BEST upgrade dollar for dollar you will EVER spend.  Just don't run out of the stuff making a pass or it could make for a really bad day.

1) Street setting - boost had been run at an additional 2 lbs without detonation but this was close to the limit with the 70/30% mixture.

2) Do not know what the maximum setting could have been.

Gauge Readings:

The following readings were typical while making a pass with and without alcohol.

Charge Air Temperatures - dropped from 135 to 105 degrees on a 100 degree day

                                         - dropped from 120 to 90 degrees on a 855 degree day

EGT - dropped from 1450 to 1275 degrees depending on tuning / fuel

       - dropped from 1430 to 1240 degrees depending on tuning / fuel

O2 millivolts kept around .770 without any detonation.

Don�t know how low it could have been pushed.

Lowest reading went to .750

Advantages: Cleans all carbon from pistons, heads, valves, and sparkplugs. Even did a good job cleaning the intake manifold and exhaust system.

Disadvantages: None known other than running out of alcohol during a pass which could cause severe detonation. The potential for possible damage to cylinder walls from reduced lubrication was not evident when I pulled the heads off. The long-term effect is not known. Used hundreds of runs.

Testing: No track times available. Substantial increased boost allowed significant power increases. The runs were much harder and smoother. Provides a safety margin against detonation, even on hot summer days. Does require some experimentation to get the combination tuned - plan on burning a few gallons. Power levels were sufficient to out run 11 second track cars using slicks with only street tires.

Comments: Alcohol allowed substantial increases in performance. Consistency improved and the engine's tune was always better. Alcohol is inexpensive and readily available at most stores. Even on pump gas and 70/30% alcohol, the power levels were high and consistent. This application would be especially effective on the non inter-cooled GNs and T-Types.

Steve Chlupsa:

I can't think of any bad reactions from alcohol injection......plenty of good ones though! The only problem is getting a GOOD system!  So I decided to build my own system, since I'm an engineer anyway. I've been dialing in my personal system. 

Frederic Breitwieser:

My application is more bizarre, however I'll share it with you since its

1. Based on a Buick V6

2. Street able :)

Here is the "hardware":

1980 Buick 4.1L OEM Block (polished, decked, yada yada)

1981 Buick 4.1L fillet crank (same as the GN, polished with oil holes slightly enlarged)

1986 3.8L FWD heads (polished and ported)

Wiseco Custom pistons

1981 4.1L Rods - shotpeened and balanced

Wiseco wristpins

Wolverine Blue Racer Cam

Compression ratio is 9.8:1

I'm putting this in a 2500lb mid-engined sports car I'm just starting to weld together. See the basic concepts at www.xephic.dynip.com. I apologies for not having my updated engine pictures... haven't had a chance to download them out of my camera. I also must say I had a peak of 840HP and 890 ft/lbs of torque for a brief second (6100 RPM), however the crank/rods gave out and that was that. Currently, building a new engine for further experimentation.

This is probably too radical for you, but being that you asked, I thought you might at least find it interesting and informative.

Oh, the pistons, heads, and valves are coated with Techline, I don't recall which valve was bigger (intake I think) but the larger valve is 1.98". The second one is 1.6" or something in that range, stainless steel Manley valves. I can find out next time I head to my friend's shop. Its all spread out on the shop floor since we are doing a determination of what failed first - the rod or the crank, or the block.

Phil V put together a nice system which I started with, then went a little crazy with. He's a good guy, and came up with a good idea that's not terribly expensive either, unlike my system. Though he's building a street car, I'm building a purpose built race car, so the systems had to be different.

I will also say the isopropyl will eat the injectors they go through in time. I'm experimenting, so if an injector dies after 2 months, I don't care. Also, the fuel pump for the alky is from a F-250 Ford Truck, which was Phil's recommendation, as it has stainless internals, rather than mild steel or any kind of composite materials - thus the alky doesn't seem to eat it. at 14V I get a nice, clean, 55psi at the alky fuel rail.

My "battery" source is a 12V 100A workbench power supply. I start the engine using a regular car battery, then its disconnected and the engine runs off the power supply, as there is no alternator, power steering, or anything else. Dyno's don't need steering <G>.

Jay Carter:

Can you say EXPLOSION?? Running alcohol through the turbo inlet track is a very, very, very, very (Get the idea??) bad thing to do. If you have a backfire, you'll run over the intercooler in the road (Or what's left of it) along with who knows what else. Also, alcohol erodes the blades of your turbo over time. When I originally developed my system back about a year and a half ago, that's the way I was going to do it and after talking to some turbo builders, I was discouraged from that idea quickly. Spraying through the intercooler runs the same risk. Unfortunately alcohol is a tricky thing and there are lots of "gimmicks" that make it work much better. It seems to me that most people aren't using the systems they have to their full potential. You can lead a horse to water.. well, you know the saying..

Alcohol will not work with 99% of the fuel pumps out there nor will it work with windshield washer pumps. While the pump may live for a short time, the seals will always swell and cause pump failure. You also have a problem with metal corrosion internally but that's another story. I have experimented with more pumps that I care to remember and there are very few that will tolerate methanol.

Jay Carter pump, it is designed to run 100% alcohol or methanol without any adverse effects (I've run both - stay with the alcohol).

Alcohol is an oxygenate, like nitrous (but much, much, MUCH milder). If you decrease the amount of fuel that the engine is using and substitute alcohol, the car will go faster (Much faster) at the same boost levels. The cooling effect is also substantial but I think the releasing of the extra oxygen is a bigger plus than the cooling effect. I have gained as much as 3.5 tenth and 4 MPH without turning the boost up at all. Nelson's car ran 10.97 without alcohol at 21 PSI. With alcohol at 21 PSI, the car went 10.64. No other changes, period. No tire change, weight change, weather change or oil change (Had to throw that in <GRIN>) I spent over 7 months developing a tuning procedure for alcohol injection that would give this kind of gains. With other kits I have sold, I have had people pick up almost 3 tenths without custom "alcohol" chips. With Nelson's car we did run a special PROM for the alcohol but I would be afraid to subject anyone else's car to that kind of abuse. The engine in Nelson's car was mine so I figured I could thrash on it all I wanted with no one to get mad at except myself. That engine had 110K miles on it with Nelson's heads and a (then) cam I was developing for Torque Tech. That cam is now being marketed as the SP-69. BTW, on the 10.64 pass (Last time out with the stock engine), the car blew a head gasket and shut down at the 1000 foot mark. If it would have run all the way through, 10.40s probably could have been a reality.

Water injection: 0.40 lb/min of water will vaporize, cooling the air down from 150 F to 109 F.

Methanol:
100%: 1.08 lb/min of methanol will vaporize, cooling the air from 150 F to 96 F.
50%: 0.55 lb/min of methanol/water will vaporize, cooling the air from 150 F to 107 F

Ethanol:
100%: 1.26 lb/min of ethanol will vaporize, cooling the air from 150 F to 100 F.
50%: 0.57 lb/min of ethanol/water will vaporize, cooling the air from 150 F to 108 F

Isopropyl:
70%: 0.76 lb/min of alcohol will vaporize, cooling the air from 150 F to 107 F.
91%: 1.14 lb/min of alcohol will vaporize, cooling the air from 150 F to 104 F.
100: 1.50 lb/min of alcohol will vaporize, cooling the air from 150 F to 102 F.

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From the above, I gather that methanol actually works better than water when it comes to cooling due to its lower vaporization pressure even tho water when it boils releases more heat. I may be wrong as I am not a chemist.

............................................

Carl Ijames:

Alcohol is an oxygenated fuel, not an oxygenator like nitrous. Nitrous
absorbs heat as it vaporizes, cooling the intake charge, and also
decomposes to release nitrogen (basically inert) and oxygen gases. This
oxygen can then react with extra fuel and thus release more energy than was
consumed in the decomposition step. Also, the bulk of the nitrous enters
the combustion chamber as a liquid before it vaporizes and decomposes,
which acts like a supercharger - it increases the total oxygen in the
cylinder above what would normally be drawn in.

Alcohol, on the other hand, can be viewed as a partially burnt hydrocarbon.
It does not release free oxygen gas in the combustion chamber, and because
some carbon-oxygen and oxygen-hydrogen bonds have already been formed,
fewer will be formed during combustion and so less energy will be released
(skipping a few chemical details :-)). That lower energy (heat of
combustion is about half that of gasoline) is why oxygenated fuels give
lower gas mileage - 2 to 4 mpg less on my car. Alcohols do have much
higher heats of vaporization than hydrocarbons which means they will cool
the intake charge better. For comparison, hydrocarbons are about 70-80,
methanol is 262, ethanol is 204, isopropanol is 159, water is 560, and
nitrous oxide about 40, so methanol absorbs about 3.5 times more heat than
gasoline as it vaporizes. Also, the alcohols have high octane ratings,
about 98 (R+M)/2, and wider flammability limits than gasoline which
probably gives more complete combustion. My guess as to why you can go
faster without turning up the boost is that you were slightly too rich
before to suppress detonation (and were probably still getting a little
timing retard). The octane boost and charge cooling let you lean it out
some and keep the timing a little more advanced to make more power and
still be safe.

-------------------------------------------

Steve Wood:

Methanol appears to be superior from the above in relationship to ethanol or isopropyl which bears out the first comments.

I would think that Bob's experiences are born out by the above although it would appear that water does not help the process other than to remove some of the corrosiveness from the Methanol.

Steve Yaklin has been injecting straight methanol with great success but he uses so much that he may get as much benefit from it as a fuel as he does from cooling.

At one time, he mentioned that GM's testing seemed to indicate that 60%-meth--40% water was a good mixture when testing for the proposed power injection on the regal... I hope I have quoted the percentages right.
Steve

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GN/T-Type List Members:

I have probably 400 passes and countless street encounters on my system and it has always worked fine. The downside is that setting up a good reliable system is not cheap (what is cheap on these cars?). A windshield washer pump and squirter won't do. The upside is the car always runs the same. Tune it in on Friday night at the track and keep it set on "kill" all week long.

If you want the car to run on the street like it does at the strip, the only two choices I know of are:

1. Run pump gas all the time
2. Run race gas all the time

If you can afford race gas all the time, more power to 'ya. If you can't, you either have to be happy with the performance you can get from 92, 93, or whatever octane fuel is commonly available in your area, or find a way to make the fuel you can get work better like alcohol injection.

If your only running 19 PSI use the .020 jet and have the alcohol pump come on at 16 PSI.... If you have it coming on at 10 PSI it will cool the exhaust too much and cause your boost to climb slowly. I use to have it coming on at 14 psi and it would literally pull my boost down from 19 to 15 and make it slowly climb back up. Use 91% alcohol too. With it set to come on at 16 PSI the exhaust is hot enough to not cool drastically. You should be able to run 21 PSI no problem if your using a good chip like Jay Carters low timing chip. I run 22 psi with no knock at all. hope that helps...

A 10 psi boost triggering point for my alcohol injection system worked fine for me until I was at the track and looking for those 7-8 psi launches. It is really easy to creep up on 10psi and literally DROWN the motor on the line while concentrating on everything during the staging process! Makes for some lousy 60' times (like mid 2's!). I raised it to about 12 psi and didn't have that problem again.

I found the best way for me to tune using alcohol was with an EGT gauge. I had no access to a scan tool for many years and used this as my only tuning tool. I would tune my fuel/boost for about 1550 degrees. With my completely stock long block I ran 23 psi boost with a 32-34 degree timing chip with no problems, then I switched to a low timing chip of Jay Carter's and ran 25-26 psi on the street-- all on 93 octane! (I ran with a .045 jet in the alcohol injection nozzle and blue top injectors at about 36 psi static.)

I have heard of several people who were very dissatisfied with their alcohol systems because they couldn't get them tuned to work with their combo. Other people (me included!) love it and wouldn't run without! When you look at all the variables between alcohol kits (pump pressures and volumes, pressurized tanks or not, etc.) and TR performance combos, it is easy to see why what works for one wouldn't work for others. I feel that I was lucky that it worked so well for me and hope that if (I mean WHEN... really!) my T-Type ever runs again, I can get the new combo tuned with alcohol again.

Alcohol is the best dollar for dollar upgrade available and why more GN owners don't use it is totally beyond me.

Just use a little light oil with each tank of alcohol (Marvel's Mystery oil WD-40 or something like that). Helps combat any moisture buildup.

Water injection is ok, but will not "flash" like alcohol will in the post-intercooler charge air.

Ford F150 pump and it does say 95 PSI on the side of the pump. The "9" is not stamped very well and could be misinterpreted as a "3". I have a pressure gauge on mine, and it goes to 80 PSI when the system is spraying. I imagine with the spray blocked it might go to 95. It cost $62.95 at an O'Reilly's Auto Parts.

1988 Ford F150 1/2 TON 302 FI, Frame mounted external pump from any local parts store. Mine was $84.99 with lifetime warranty. Rated at 95 PSI. I've been running mine now for a only a few months but it works great.

Kits and Info:

Jay Carter Kits