What are the pros & cons regarding running alky in a race motor?What tuning tips would you need to run alky? Is anyone running alky? From what I understand, a specific built race motor, would be able to "take it", you'd just have to readjust the carb. Thanks, Gary G.
Three things to understand about alcohol. You need approximately twice as much, it runs cooler, and it likes more compression. So, say you already have a sturdy motor with about 12:1 or 13:1. You have to do more than just "adjust the carburetor". You need a carb specifically built to run alcohol because the passages and air bleeds all need to be sized accordingly. As you can imagine, the jets are roughly twice the size as a gas carb. You would really be better off however by running fuel injection, such as a Kinsler or Ron's Flying Toilet. Either way you should use a belt driven pump to be able to supply the volume and pressure required. Once you do that you need a front mounted fuel cell because the belt driven pump won't suck the entire length of the car. Once you get it installed it can be a little more difficult to tune. On the positive side, once you get it right, it runs cooler and it is a little more consistent if you're bracket racing. Yes, it will also make more horsepower. That's just a nutshell review. Alcohol is a very deep subject. Have fun.
the fuel system, must be alcohol compatable as well, the regular seals in a gas style fuel pump will not work with alky. I believe they will disinegrate. Bruce
If you are at the Nats you'll know about Rod Hendrickson's blown Skyhawk. It runs on alcohol and is usually in the 8.20's-8.0's. Rod's email is blownbuick455@aol.com. Email him regarding alcohol fuel, he knows a thing or two. Steve
i can tell you a little about alcohol injection, not in a buick 455 but on a olds 455. I installed a rons terminater with a front cell fed from a rear cell so it could be streeted some what. I never had a bottom end issue befor i ran alky injection. I went threw 4 455 olds blocks with the last one splitting from the intake to the oil pan. never scattered the bottom end , just taking out # 4 main webbing. on the last one i installed a mid plate and mains held up but block cracked from intake down timing boss to oil pan i did not run a girdle as some seem to think on the bbolds it would have helped, after the last crack from intake to panrail with a front and mid plate convinced me of it not helping. i went threw the big end at 5100 rpms at 132 mph at 10.08. 1.34-1.36 60s foot breaking [ i use a gearvendors over drive on a turbo 400] maybe i did not choose the best block for this as most olds runner use the dx block . now i understand the buick has a real good girdle set up. the alky will stress the bottom end a lot more than one thinks it will, but it is so fun to work with. the alky is very corrosive and will eat a cyl wall if it is alowed to settle in cylinder any length of time. i ran a dual fuel setup so i could run on gas around the pits and when i shut down after a friday night of street fun or a saturday night of bracket racing i would pull the alky shut off valve and turn on the gas pump and run all the alky out of the engine and put lots of heat in it befor shut down. I use a 15 gal rear cell with a holley black to feed my front 3 gal cell that feeds a mechanical pump that feeds the injection. oil moisture can be a problem if one dont put enough heat in motor to evaperate the moisture or run a vac pump or evac system off headers the alky is deadly if set up right. i won more dial for dollars on alky then ever on gas. I run a new combo now on alky and now 60 foot times are all over the place because of my lack of knowledge of chassie tuning.. I would be more than happy to try and answere any alky questions any one has. thanks butch
A good friend of mine put a 8-71 on with a bird catcher hat. It is on alchohol. He runs 20 pounds of boost with 11.5:1 compression and a locked out HEI with 35 total timing. It is very easy to start and makes gobs of torque. I feel that the hat is very easy to tune and instead of having to take all sorts of parts for your carb, all you need is o-rings in case anything goes wrong. (A big plus) The enderle barrel valves work well but their jets suck, So I would recommend using a jet can. Also a high speed lean out can help quater mile ET's drasticaly if you run a big pump. Plus with mechanical injection and alchohol, if you want to go faster, you can add a little nitro methane. 10% nitro will give you about 2 tenths in the quarter if you are running 9 seconds or below. That is the rule to go by. But, the nitro does take out the safety of alchohol. If you do go alchohol I would reccomend a mechanical injection. In my opinion they are the simplest fuel system you can get for a drag car. The only bad thing on mechanical injection id you have to get used to a meter out system becuase that is how they are tuned. Also I would recommend pulling your fuel from the front. I have used a carb on alchohol but I didn't like it. Besides you can get used mechanical injection parts on ebay and other sites pretty cheap. The nice thing about alchohol is it is fairly safe and even runs decent on a rich tune. But like the other guys said, it gets in your oil and is very corrosive. We use the cheap costal oil 1.09 a quart since the oil is changed after every trip to the track. Blair Phillis :stmad: :stmad: :stmad:
