Re: Octane Boosters - Methanol & MBTE

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Jenkins <jenkinsg@pilot.msu.edu>
To: quattro list <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
Date: Wednesday, July 08, 1998 12:52 PM
Subject: Octane Boosters - Methanol & MBTE


>After looking across the http://triumph.cs.utah.edu/sol/tech/octane_b.html
>octane booster page, I note that they are hostile to Methanol. Given what
>I've experienced of it, I can understand that.
>
>However, it reminded me of a couple of questions:
>
>a) What about MTBE (Methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether) which I can get hold of
>virtually free. Anybody had any BTDTs about using it, esp. (i) how high
it's
>wise to push it (and/or how often) (ii) whether it has any nasty side
>effects.
>
>b) Has anyone ever seen a water-methanol dump kit (a la Nitrous) for
>automotive use? As I recall, in late WWII, these were used as a (brief)
>extreme boost for various German aero engines (I even saw references to
>engines with 2-stage turbos, a NOx dump _and_ water-methanol). Did they
>vanish due to the corrosive properties of methanol, or is just NOx a better
>solution?
>
>Geoff
>
>...who can't justify the cost of racing gas... ...until he realizes it's
>cheaper than high grade petrol in the UK...
>

    Have you considered a water injection setup to control detonation? I was
having detonation problems on my '67 Rover 2000TC back in the late '70's
when leaded hi-test was replaced with unleaded lo-test. I built a water
injection system which metered water through a pair of VW carburettor jets
into the Rover carb intakes. Worked like a charm - no detonation under full
throttle even with low octane gas. A side effect is clean combustion
chambers and plugs - the use of water strips the carbon and coke buildup
from the combustion chambers. As you've mentioned, this was a common
application on WWII aircraft engines.
    Edelbrock makes (or made) a microprocessor  controlled water injection
kit for automotive use. I've got one sitting downstairs in the box which I
purchased for use in my '79 Chev van but never installed, so I don't know
how well they work. They look like a good unit, though.

Fred Munro
'91 200q  255k km