Ethanol for fuel

Anyone out there know anything about running Ethanol in a blown dragster or injected car?? Can it be done safely, and will it hurt the motor. What kind of changes wll it require in a tune-up? With the price of methanol nearing $5.00 a gallon maybe it's time has come. Should be alot cheaper with E85 becoming more and more popular, the fuel distributers that mix it should be able to sell it 100%. Jody Stroud

 

good luck with that

let us know if when get it to idle
Maybe Tim Stevens will jump in i know he also (tried ) to run some once

 

Ethanol=Mark Thomas and his ethanol funnycar

Mark Thomas has done it successfully for years.
contact him I'm sure he will help he's a great guy.
He took me under his wing one summer.
Check out this internet site.
http://www.drivingethanol.org/motorsports/mark_thomas.aspx

 

I think Junior Johnson ran it in his 40 Ford. I think Reagan pardoned him.

 

Even during the oil problems of 1979 methanol stayed around (or above) the price of gas. But before I got too bummed out about the cost, I just thought about what a drum of nitro cost and then I was OK.

 

I thought I'd heard that NHRA/IHRA did not recognize the use of ethanol in competition, and that Mark was sponsoring eth but actually running meth? I may be way wrong, so please feel free to correct me if my understanding is wrong.

Is there a specific reason why eth might be better than meth in terms of performance, other than the fact that one is more "greener" and more "renewable"? Less LHEV, less volume, for sure.

 

I wish the IHRA or NHRA would start to look at using ethanol as a fuel for the class. I think it would be good for a new kind of image for drag racing in general. Even if it were a % ethanol , i think it could unlock a huge door for potential sponsors for teams and the class itself.

I dont believe that it has any performance advantages, and I think you are right too about Mark sponsored by ethanol and having to run Methanol.

They seem to have made the switch from methanol to ethanol in other forms of motorsports why not drag racing?

 

power difference

Indy had to go to a larger engine when they converted to ethanol to maintain the power. You will not see 100% ethanol. That is straight booz. Highly desirable for other purposes. It is taxable in the US. Big time. And highly regulated. It needs to be denatured to be sold as a motor fuel.
To run it, run about 44% less that methanol and about 50% richer than gasoline. Because of the reduced volume there is less vaporization cooling and the loss of air density increase that occurs with methanol. It is less corrosive than methanol.
Our methanol book provides some of the physical properties of ethanol together with some comparisons to methanol and to gasoline in some SAE engineering tests. In addition, much of our discussion in the book about methanol is applicable to ethanol since both are alcohols.
Bob Szabo, author of Fuel Injection Racing Secrets and 5000 Horsepower on Methanol
www.racecarbook.com

 

It should be slower than running methanol.

Its stoichiometric ratio is higher that that of methanol.

 

Methanol makes less power that Ethanol...PERIOD! I think E is a GREAT alternative especially the E85 offered in place of Reg Gas. I just hate the thought of our dependancy of the "Arabs". I propose IHRA makes us run E85, yes 85% Ethanol and 15% NITRO! We ran that much in the Outlaw TD and I really feel it would replace the performance loss of 100% E. What do ya think of those apples

 

Let him Have IT !!

I think you should run it ..... I won't say nothing ....... until you start cussing at your car for the lack of performance or when you start drilling out your nozzles to get fuel out of it . but at the end of the day the crew will be giggling and slobbering at dinner from slipping away to "fill the jugs" (have a nip !) they'll love you for it . Methanol make the most power at 100% because of L.H.E .

 

DUH! Just looked at my TYPO Les, "Methanol makes MORE power than Ethanol PERIOD! Sorry for the confusion, must have been nipping the Ethanol

 

I'm aware that meth. makes more power and is a better race fuel for a blown motor, but with the recent cost increase to appox. $ 4.00 per gallon it would appear that the time has come to look at ethanol in the classes like TD and TS that don't run heads up. We only need to qualify, so if I give up a tenth or so, who cares? We should be able to run straight ethanol with a tune up change. And before anyone posts up, no the cost of fuel is not and should not be the limiting factor of my or anyones racing. If you can afford the car and rig, you can afford the fuel, I know, I know. But since the cost of fuel is more or less based on supply and demand, it's not a stretch to see fuel going even higher or worse, getting hard to buy at any cost. Having talked to a chemical supplier, he had two grades of ethanol 200 proof and 190 proof, I assume that the 200 proof would be the better of the two, although, it may be possible to run e-85. I'm not trying to get the nhra or ihra to change the fuel, just trying to be ahead of the curve in case of a meth. shortage. The cost did jump almost two dollars a gallon withen the span of a week or so. Anyone out there have any reasons why, other than it makes less power, that ethanol could not be used , after all, nitro makes alot more power than meth. but we all still use meth. Just to make a point about the hp diff. Thanks