What is the Deal with Methanol Injection?

Since we started carrying Snow Performance Water/Methanol Injection Kits last month, we've been getting lots of calls from people who are asking "What is this stuff all about?"

To put it short and sweet, a methanol injection kit injects a mixture of water and methanol into the intake of the vehicle (very similar to the way you would inject nitrous into the intake system). Methanol has amazing cooling effects, so injecting this into the engine has many benefits. If you have ever heard the term "chemically intercooled", this is probably exactly what they were talking about.

With the water/methanol cooling the temperatures, we're able to do some cool stuff. We can save a little fuel (gas mileage), we can up the boost on turbos and superchargers, and we can tow bigger payloads without overworking the engine.

Some of the common FAQs for water/methanol injection are posted below. Call us if you have additional questions!

1. What are the benefits of Water/Methanol injection? Boost Cooler Benefits (Gasoline): 1. Low cost - where else can you get up to 70-100HP for as low as $519? 2. Greatly reduced EGTs - Decreases of 250 degrees F are common using a 50/50 water/methanol mix. Increased EGTs are an engine killer in today's performance diesel world. 3. Efficiency - Fuel economy increase - increase your fuel economy up to 10%-15% (1-3 mpg). 4. Greatly increased air charge densities - 3-5 psi boost increases are common with liquid intercooling. 5.Allows you the ability to greatly increase boost on turbos and superchargers (if you have one). 6. Ideal for heavy loads and towing!

2. If I don't have a turbo or supercharger, can the Boost Cooler be applied to naturally aspirated and or nitrous engines? YES! 1.Naturally aspirated/high compression engines: In this application, water/methanol injection allows the use of pump fuel in all but the most extreme situations which effects tremendous cost savings as well as horsepower increases due to air density increase and realized timing potential. The system is activated by a boost referenced switch so that injection takes place only during high engine loads when needed.

2. Why is Water/Methanol injection so effective on Diesels? Unlike gasoline engines, the power in a turbo diesel is largely a function of fuel. The problem with continually adding fuel is that you create an overfueling condition and reach a point where the exhaust gas temperatures become prohibitive (over 1500 degrees F). A Snow Performance Methanol Injection kit, using a 50/50 water/methanol mix will decrease EGT's approximately 200-300 degrees F while increasing power 70-100HP safe and effectively.

Power is increased through: A. Air charge cooling - Water/methanol will lower air charge temps over 200 degrees F in this application. Low air temps makes denser air charge which provides more molecules of oxygen for combustion. B. Combustion conditioning - the methanol acts as a combustion catalyst as well as a cooling agent. Water increase torque and power output through "the steam engine" effect.

3. Is this technology new with Turbo Diesel? Water/methanol injection has been used extensively for years in high performance truck/tractor pullers. With the elevated boost levels required for peak power, water/methanol is a common means of cooling the intake charge and reducing exhaust gas temps. Also, truckers have used water injection for years to increase fuel mileage.

Where else can you get this kind of power with cooler EGT's, reduced emissions, and more fuel economy? In most instances our standard 2 quart reservoir works well to provide the required amount of fluid. We have seen that a 2 quart reservoir provides enough fluid for a 400-500 hp car to make 12-15 full throttle quarter mile passes.

For those looking to get more range out of their system, they can tap into their factory windshield washer reservoir and use it to hold water/methanol. This is a good option because most washer reservoirs have a large capacity (normally at least a gallon) plus they're already methanol resistant (washer fluid has methanol in it). Also, the washer reservoir is already under the hood so it doesn't require having to add another bulky item into the engine bay.