# I made a mixture mistake and it came out good?!?!



## DMVDUB (Jan 11, 2010)

I was mixing my gallon jugs of distilled water and denatured alcohol (it's easy to find and cheap) and realized I WAY over did it on the alcohol. Probably somewhere in the 80% range. 

Well, after saying f**k it and running it for a few days I all of a sudden notice a huge jump in performance! 

It's set to come on around 10psi and I max at 25psi. Around 15psi I all of a sudden noticed it's pulling harder than ever. I can also smell the alcohol burning in my exhaust 

Now I'm wondering is this alcohol acting more like a fuel than a simple octane booster? As in it's allowing my timing to run as high as it wants as well as giving it extra fuel to burn at boost?

Either way, this is going to be my new mix. This is the first time I noticed a big difference in performance. 

Just thought I'd share, and maybe someone would have some thoughts on this.:wave:


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## RadRacer513 (Nov 1, 2010)

Your car was probably running abit lean... experimenting with mixes is a great idea, just be sure to monitor all the necessities while doing it. Afr, egt, knock, timing, boost, etc would all be a good thing to watch


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## Krieger (May 5, 2009)

negative ghost rider. Alcohol acts as a fuel when in the mix past 50%... extra fuel in the mix makes the whole system run on the rich side. Now, if he ran alot of water, he would possibly run leaner...

OP is correct in thinking the extra alcohol is acting as a fuel, while allowing the motor to run better timing, and super cold.

It can be dangerous however.


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## TBT-Syncro (Apr 28, 2001)

i think the 2nd poster is saying it was running a bit lean before this fuel was added, and no its running closer to ideal target a/f (hence the power increase)


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## Fast VW (Sep 24, 2002)

or perhaps you are injecting a little too much at certain engine loads and since methanol is "more forgiving" you corrected it by injecting less water.


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## RadRacer513 (Nov 1, 2010)

Yes, sorry. I was saying his tune is a probably a little on the lean side, and then when he injects he gets the extra fuel he needs


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## [email protected] (Jan 13, 2005)

Krieger said:


> negative ghost rider. Alcohol acts as a fuel when in the mix past 50%... extra fuel in the mix makes the whole system run on the rich side.


I like nitpicking your comments, Mike, because you're 99% correct almost always. In this case I'd like to state for the record that ANY methanol in the mix is fuel. The percentage doesn't matter at all. Have you ever lit a bottle of "rubbing alcohol" from the pharmacy? That's only 30% isopropanol and 70% water. It'll shoot a 6" flame out the bottle. :laugh: Oh, YES. Even diluted alcohol is plenty good as fuel. 

Once the water/methanol solution is sufficiently heated, the two chemicals separate from each other completely. (The methanol evaporates in an instant leaving behind a pure water droplet.) The methanol is flammable and burns off as supplementary fuel. The water pulls heat out of the combustion process (which boosts effective octane) and also provides some catalytic functions that expedite the complete combustion process.









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## Krieger (May 5, 2009)

interesting, I was thinking the alcohol fumes would catch flame, not the mix itself immediately, until the alcohol in the mix was past 50%. Makes sense though, especially in the combustion process. Totally different than just having some mix spilled on the floor and lighting it on fire for fun. lmao


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