Informative Fuel Article on EngineLabs
 

Came across this and thought it was pretty interesting and informative. The test car is a centri C7, so pretty applicable I think to a lot of builds on here. Note the E85 test was actually E40 mix due to what was available at their pump and pure E85 would have exceeded their fuel system limits I believe. It's a 5 part series, more info on specific fuels are available in the earlier segments, but part 5 has the final results.

One thing I find interesting is the relatively small performance delta between 50/50 (boost juice) and 100% methanol. Part 3 has more details on that, but pure methanol made only 8 more peak hp and 5 hp on average. But that's still about a ~15-20% increase in gains, if you want to look at it that way.

Part 1 (intro): https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-te...ions-showdown/
Part 2 (boostane additive): https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-te...-adds-24-rwhp/
Part 3 (metanol injection): https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-te...-adds-42-rwhp/
Part 4 (race gas): https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-te...ls-fight-back/
Part 5 (E85): https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-te...inner-crowned/

Those "Tuning School" guys have a whole series of videos on Youtube. All good info.

I met Bob locally a few years back- actually from buying some seats for my Lincoln. Knowlegable guy. I've thought about taking his courses and getting into doing my own tuning

Thanks for sharing.

Very good info. Makes me wonder how Full e85 would have performed with a proper fuel delivery system and tune. -20 here in minnesota today, but I do have E85 4 miles from my house year round and it is cheap....

Good stuff. Interesting that the 50/50 "Boost Juice" made nearly as much 100% methanol. I have seen many on CF advocate just the opposite. And I have always just run 100% methanol, but now I know i can mix without any detriment.

Yeah, I would have done a proper fuel system and ran E85 if that was a feasible option for me. I know the quality of pump e85 is not always great/consistent, but I still feel it's a better route than spraying tons of methanol. I only have 91, so I of course and spraying tons of methanol :D

I think the real argument is that.... hey if he put on a Ysi blower and ran 20psi.... then the margin between all methanol and 50/50 would increase more significantly. I don't really contest that and on a turbo car where it's easy to just turn up the boost, I can see the desire for methanol and maybe this simplified version of things that "methanol is way better than 50/50".

I think the takeaway is that.......... it depends. Don't make assumptions and take everything you read on the forums/internets as fact. Maybe do a little bit of your own experimentation if you so desire.

Keep in mind water has other benefits like keeping cylinder temps/EGTs down, which I think is really a great idea for a stock engine with weak pistons and tight ring gaps. So maybe in a 600 hp motor, a few less HP is well worth it vs the safety margin benefits.

I'm tuning on pure methanol right now because that is what the tuner likes, but I plan on experimenting with 50/50, 70/30 mix down the road.

Part of the injection issue...is you have no idea what quantity they are injecting.

Lots of meth users simply dump in a load of it. If you dumped that same volume of 50/50, there might simply be too much water relative to the fuel to be effective/efficient at the engine load in use.

So there are still variables everywhere. But it does go to dispel the nonsense that methanol is the only fluid that works for that sort of thing, and that going 50/50 is useless. 50/50 has always been a very viable, efficient and cost effective option both at low and high power levels.