I've been told that Alki kits are a sign that a supercharged car couldn't be tuned properly...is this true?

 

If that was the case, then that means we have a BUNCH of stupid tuners..

Do me a favor, walk over to your friend and slap him across the face. He has NO CLUE what he's talking about.

Alky is mainly for 3 things...

1) A fuel supplement- When your fuel system comes up short, the alky can make up for it.

2) Detonation control- It allows you to run higher boost without the fear of blowing up your motor.

3) Lower Intake Air Temps- Cooler air makes for a denser charge. Which equals to more power. PLUS, heat is also directly related to detonation. The cooler the charge, the less chance of detonation.

 

Well, it all depends on the car and shop that is giving you that info. Alki kits can be used as a measure of safety on more agressive tunes. Eg. you could run a bit more boost with Alki than not and still be "safe" which is a relative term in itself. Properly tuned cars can benifit from say an ECS system which has been designed around our C5's. I personally don't have Alki yet and when I do do it, I will be going with the ECS system and may add a pound of boost, maybe 2. Am I going to add it becuase of a unsafe tune, hell no becuase I don't have to and you shouldn't have to run Alki if you don't want to and your tuner should take that info and tune accordingly. If someone says we couldn't make the tune safe without Alki, I would be looking for better tuner/advice etc... Just my opinion.

A-HP beat me to the punch on the detonation thing, I agree.

Chris/Doug care to chime in?

 

Yes, depends. If the car only make 500-600 rwhp and has to have the meth to not detonate, there is a serious problem that maybe they are hiding with meth.

 

From my understanding, and I could be wrong, Alky has nothing to do with the tune. When I tune, and have had my car tuned, it is always tuned without the alky first. After all adjustments have been made I throw the Alky on top for added security, lower IAT's, and Octane. But if my car ran out of Alky I would have no fear putting it under a load without it. Granted once you turn the Alky on you can run more timing, and a little leaner PE to make more power. But to say its a sign you cant tune it properly I wouldnt think so.

 

I ran out of meth on a 7xx rwhp dyno pull and the motor was just fine.

If you're going to run meth do it right and tune for it. Just my .02.

 

running fat on alky wont kill power like gas does. gas ratio is 14.7:1 alky is half that so.....

tune without alky....11.X then throw it on top.

 

There comes an octane requirement with running higher levels of boost. This is why you cant run 30 PSI boost on 87 octane. Can someone tune a motor on 87 at 30 PSI... no. Alcohol inj will add to the effective octane by the amount of fuel thats been displaced. The greater the fuel replaced.. the higher the effective octane.

I have imports past 40 PSI boost on 93 octane+alky injection.

One factor sometimes overlooked with a street car is true octane. Whereby your always expecting to get 93 octane.. and if one instance a mistake is made and 87 is put into the tanks.. you could find yourself in a lot of trouble. Especially if the car was tuned to the edge of knock on 93.

The comes dependance on the system. Based on how much octane is needed. There is a bit to all of this and hard within a paragraph get all the details.

And..

See the higher the timing and boost you run.. the more power. This is why you can tune a car on a dyno to make X amount of HP with the timing cranked.. but then most tuners back this down to give a cushion of relief. Having an alky kit will allow more aggressive timing.. if you choose to take advantage of it.

HTH

PS.. an alky kit can be a hose hooked to a windshield washer motor.. so the design of the system has to be in line with the deign of your fuel system, since reliability is needed.

 

Exactly. I have 790 rwhp and the car was tuned without alky. My ECS alky kit is on the number 2 setting now.

 

...and that was at 16 psi on the dyno. I hit over 18 on the street.