It has taken years to get to this point. The tune file for my final test is written. It will be loaded and tested the very next time I go out for testing and will answer my own question whether my idea will actually work or not, an idea I came up with while I slept back in 2018. Took me back to my college days when I solved math problems in the middle of the night while sleeping. I would wake up, jot some notes then go back to sleep. I learned I had to do this because when I don't, I never remembered when I woke up. I was an engineering math major...
Totally vague, agreed? If you are a fan of e85, this is a must read. An FYI first. It's important to note that I do my own tuning. That being said, here's a little history and background.
I have been a die-hard methanol fan for many years before entering the Ford realm around 2004. I had a simple system on many cars, even back in the day when we weren't using methanol. We were using denatured alcohol bought from Home Depot at that time. Technology has certainly advanced since then. I've used it on centrifugal superchargers and also turbo cars. Turbo Buick guys all seem to swear by it. Anyways....
When I had a 2003 Cobra and a "new-to-me" roots-style blower and learning about it by reading what guys here were posting, I was kind of surprised how little info there was on methanol, much less anyone's results. I never installed it on the Cobra. But when I got my first GT500 in 2008, I decided to install a relatively simple kit and find out for myself why hardly no one was using it.
I discovered a couple of reasons why it does not work well: 1) Because it is sprayed pre-blower, the cooling effect in-cylinder is negligible. I really saw very little difference, if any, on IAT2 temps, and 2) Because there is no way to use it as a replacement for gas, i.e. reduce the amount of gas used when methanol is being sprayed, AFR is super rich and cannot be tuned. It is what it is. The only advantage I could see was to use it as an octane booster, as safety. The conclusion is methanol is not worth the cost on an Eaton style supercharger engine.
Specific info for both counts >>
1) The intake air where the methanol is sprayed is cooled. The air then passes through the blower and whatever cooling had already taken place is negated when the air is compressed. Is there a way to solve this?
2) The fueling table(s) in the tune file CAN be modified (leaned out) to compensate for the methanol. This is simple to do. The reason why it is not, and the reason why professional tuners refuse to tune for methanol is because of the possibility the methanol system will fail to one degree or another. Or more likely, the user would forget to arm the methanol system. If either of these were to happen, the result could be a dangerously lean AFR. Possibly kaboom. I can understand the professional tuner's apprehension; eliminate liability by just saying, "No."
Years ago, there was a device on the market called a Flip Chip. I don't recall who made it or what vehicle it was made for. Essentially, it was a device that allowed two separate tunes in one vehicle and by flipping a switch, you could run either tune. Something like this would work, I thought.
The one solution I can think of is to trash the factory electronics and go with aftermarket. Lots of Benjamins though.
So questions to myself were, 1) Is there a way to cool the IAT2 with methanol?, and 2) A way to tune the AFR? In other words, reduce the amount of gas ONLY when methanol is flowing, insuring safety when it is not.
Answer to 1) Through trial and error (and a lot of sweat) I believe I have come up with a design that results in significant IAT2 temp cooling, but there is one drawback. I use a 5-nozzle configuration. Four small nozzles are located in the lower intake (post-blower) and the fifth larger nozzle in the supercharger elbow behind the throttle body. The four lower cools the compressed air and the single larger insures evenly distributed methanol (mixed by the blower rotors). I have seen IAT2 temps go DOWN with rpm on a WOT pass. I'd be happy with this temp not increasing through a pass, so to see it going down is amazing. Problem solved.
Answer to 2) The fueling... this one is far more difficult to solve. I'd bet no one has... maybe... There are two distinct scenarios, both requiring different fueling, which must be switched AUTOMATICALLY, thereby eliminating human error. My basic premise was the methanol controller must somehow be able to communicate with the factory PCM. And NO hardware changes to the PCM (I'm not smart enough to know what goes on inside the box.) hmmm... I thought about this for a very long time, then one night, had an idea. I got up, fired up the laptop, pulled up a tune file and started looking for certain things to see if my idea was valid. As I looked through every scalar and table, my idea became more and more valid. I jotted down some notes and went back to bed.
It has been years since that night. I had to build one simple circuit. So simple virtually anyone could build this. It is installed and tested on my car. Then a thorough research of the tune parameters and many nights datalogging one tune change at a time, however slight. I put on 5,000 miles last year for tuning only.
As of today, I have only one datalog left to see if my final change to my file works. I may be premature posting this now and maybe should have waited, but I am very excited that this will work, but still super nervous. If this works, I will seek a patent.
Why did I want e85 fans to read this?
Methanol and e85 have all the same benefits, but the difference in drawbacks are huge. I'm willing to bet that most e85 users do not know most of the drawbacks, none of which you have with methanol. And if you knew, some would probably not use it. So if my design works and I am able to patent it, this will give the e85 a serious run for the money.
I have also given thought to marketing my design, but I would have to make some serious commitments to protect it, just like professional tuners do to their tunes they sell. I could easily market my circuit without revealing its components, and it is easy to install. The rest of the changes are all in the tune. I would probably market this with the company I get all my methanol components from, but this is all just thoughts and wishful thinking at this time.
More than enough for now... the things a retired engineer does....
Totally vague, agreed? If you are a fan of e85, this is a must read. An FYI first. It's important to note that I do my own tuning. That being said, here's a little history and background.
I have been a die-hard methanol fan for many years before entering the Ford realm around 2004. I had a simple system on many cars, even back in the day when we weren't using methanol. We were using denatured alcohol bought from Home Depot at that time. Technology has certainly advanced since then. I've used it on centrifugal superchargers and also turbo cars. Turbo Buick guys all seem to swear by it. Anyways....
When I had a 2003 Cobra and a "new-to-me" roots-style blower and learning about it by reading what guys here were posting, I was kind of surprised how little info there was on methanol, much less anyone's results. I never installed it on the Cobra. But when I got my first GT500 in 2008, I decided to install a relatively simple kit and find out for myself why hardly no one was using it.
I discovered a couple of reasons why it does not work well: 1) Because it is sprayed pre-blower, the cooling effect in-cylinder is negligible. I really saw very little difference, if any, on IAT2 temps, and 2) Because there is no way to use it as a replacement for gas, i.e. reduce the amount of gas used when methanol is being sprayed, AFR is super rich and cannot be tuned. It is what it is. The only advantage I could see was to use it as an octane booster, as safety. The conclusion is methanol is not worth the cost on an Eaton style supercharger engine.
Specific info for both counts >>
1) The intake air where the methanol is sprayed is cooled. The air then passes through the blower and whatever cooling had already taken place is negated when the air is compressed. Is there a way to solve this?
2) The fueling table(s) in the tune file CAN be modified (leaned out) to compensate for the methanol. This is simple to do. The reason why it is not, and the reason why professional tuners refuse to tune for methanol is because of the possibility the methanol system will fail to one degree or another. Or more likely, the user would forget to arm the methanol system. If either of these were to happen, the result could be a dangerously lean AFR. Possibly kaboom. I can understand the professional tuner's apprehension; eliminate liability by just saying, "No."
Years ago, there was a device on the market called a Flip Chip. I don't recall who made it or what vehicle it was made for. Essentially, it was a device that allowed two separate tunes in one vehicle and by flipping a switch, you could run either tune. Something like this would work, I thought.
The one solution I can think of is to trash the factory electronics and go with aftermarket. Lots of Benjamins though.
So questions to myself were, 1) Is there a way to cool the IAT2 with methanol?, and 2) A way to tune the AFR? In other words, reduce the amount of gas ONLY when methanol is flowing, insuring safety when it is not.
Answer to 1) Through trial and error (and a lot of sweat) I believe I have come up with a design that results in significant IAT2 temp cooling, but there is one drawback. I use a 5-nozzle configuration. Four small nozzles are located in the lower intake (post-blower) and the fifth larger nozzle in the supercharger elbow behind the throttle body. The four lower cools the compressed air and the single larger insures evenly distributed methanol (mixed by the blower rotors). I have seen IAT2 temps go DOWN with rpm on a WOT pass. I'd be happy with this temp not increasing through a pass, so to see it going down is amazing. Problem solved.
Answer to 2) The fueling... this one is far more difficult to solve. I'd bet no one has... maybe... There are two distinct scenarios, both requiring different fueling, which must be switched AUTOMATICALLY, thereby eliminating human error. My basic premise was the methanol controller must somehow be able to communicate with the factory PCM. And NO hardware changes to the PCM (I'm not smart enough to know what goes on inside the box.) hmmm... I thought about this for a very long time, then one night, had an idea. I got up, fired up the laptop, pulled up a tune file and started looking for certain things to see if my idea was valid. As I looked through every scalar and table, my idea became more and more valid. I jotted down some notes and went back to bed.
It has been years since that night. I had to build one simple circuit. So simple virtually anyone could build this. It is installed and tested on my car. Then a thorough research of the tune parameters and many nights datalogging one tune change at a time, however slight. I put on 5,000 miles last year for tuning only.
As of today, I have only one datalog left to see if my final change to my file works. I may be premature posting this now and maybe should have waited, but I am very excited that this will work, but still super nervous. If this works, I will seek a patent.
Why did I want e85 fans to read this?
Methanol and e85 have all the same benefits, but the difference in drawbacks are huge. I'm willing to bet that most e85 users do not know most of the drawbacks, none of which you have with methanol. And if you knew, some would probably not use it. So if my design works and I am able to patent it, this will give the e85 a serious run for the money.
I have also given thought to marketing my design, but I would have to make some serious commitments to protect it, just like professional tuners do to their tunes they sell. I could easily market my circuit without revealing its components, and it is easy to install. The rest of the changes are all in the tune. I would probably market this with the company I get all my methanol components from, but this is all just thoughts and wishful thinking at this time.
More than enough for now... the things a retired engineer does....
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