race methanol vs Industrial Grade

[lcp8410]

just wonder what are u runing on pro engine?race methanol vs Industrial Grade... pro and cons... i heard the industrial have more water content than the race methanol....hope pro guy out there can give me some advise.....thanks..

[Steve77t]

Industrial grade Methanol will have a higher content of water in it most times. It is used for window washing mostly. I use VP M-5 meth as it is the same each barrel. There are other brands that are also good, but Hey it is up to the buyer I guess

[lcp8410]

VP M-5 meth

thanks for the reply.thats mean industrial methanol is not for racing use.guess i have to go for vp.

[Steve77t]

No It means Like Cheap Whiskey, it is not the same from barrel to barrel. Sometimes good, sometimes Ok once in a while bad. Why waste a good motor on junk fuel when you can get good fuel for a little more $$. Steve

[PRO-MOTIONRACING]

Is there a shelf life on methanol?

[B1PRORACER]

Methanol

I used to go to Dennis Kirk Co. near Boston and buy a drum (55gal.) of laboratory grade methanol. I would keep it sealed.... open the drum once and pump it into 5 gallon cans and then quickly seal each one. I had MIXED fuel in some square plastic 5 gallon cans that were mixed and stored in those cans for a year! I used them when I won the Nationals in '95.....
I didn't want to throw that much mixed fuel away $$$$$! I could get some "fresh" fuel if I needed it, so I shook up the cans to remix the oil and tried it testing and it performed the same!
I used to do a lot of things that I was told wouldn't work.....

[T Chance]

I have been using Industrial methanol off and on since the 1950's. It is listed as 99.85% + or - pure. I guess that 15 percent of 1 percent (.0015) + or - could be water. I do know that if the fuel has water in it it turn milky when mixed with castor oil. I have never run milky fuel. I have bought and used VP racing methanol and it is good stuff. I just found a source for Sunoco racing methanol and have started using that.

[KURPS]

I have been using Industrial methanol off and on since the 1950's. It is listed as 99.85% + or - pure. I guess that 15 percent of 1 percent (.0015) + or - could be water. I do know that if the fuel has water in it it turn milky when mixed with castor oil. I have never run milky fuel. I have bought and used VP racing methanol and it is good stuff. I just found a source for Sunoco racing methanol and have started using that.

I'm like Tim always ran Industrial Methanol, for closes to 50 years, never had a problem with fuel.

[bill van steenwyk]

I'm like Tim always ran Industrial Methanol, for closes to 50 years, never had a problem with fuel.

Ditto on the same type, and as Tim Chance pointed out it is easy to tell if water is present, as it turns milky when mixed with castor. Never had milky fuel in the years I raced, unless I left the cap loose and it absorbed moisture from the air, which it will do, QUICKLY if not securely closed tightly.

[lcp8410]

50 years on industrial methanol

50 years on industrial methanol....thats what i want to hear....

[raceright]

only use Power Mist less chances of getting water in with fuel.
Always open new 50 gal drum and immediatly place in 5 gal cans making sure to fill them to the max. Its what Bill Fales told me to do 40 years ago and has been a habit ever since. Cost difference well i guess I will have to go out to eat one less time a year.

[Bob Rusnak]

Power Mist is real good fuel. Being a low budget race team I used whatever I could find. Years ago I located a drum of methanol where I worked. I use to use this as it was an unlimited supply which I am sure was industrial grade. (I found out it was used for canopy washing fluid and mixed with water when they used it). The cap on the drum was always left loose which bothered me because I knew it absorbed water very fast. I really never did have a problem but never really knew if affected the HP of the engine. When I left the company, I bought fuel at the race site.

[Danny Pigott]

Fuel

What? nobody ran Prosser's Nitro X fuel This was around in the 50's? 60's

[T Chance]

What? nobody ran Prosser's Nitro X fuel This was around in the 50's? 60's

I blew up more than one Konig on that stuff. Ended up using it up in my lawnmower. That Briggs and Stratton loved it.

[Al Peffley]

My Advice on Storage

I think storing the race methanol fuel in 5-gallon metal cans is good advice. If you store the fuel in plastic fuel jugs for motorsports racing (I use jugs at race sites) make sure you put a piece of wood under each jug when they sit on cement floors or bare ground (I have been told the jugs will draw moisture from the inherent dampness in cement floor and bare ground surfaces.)

No matter what brand or type of methanol you use (I use filtered Sunoco Race Fuel), each time you open up the 55-gallon drum you will let air moisture and airborne contaminants into the supply drum. When the drum is half full or less it can generate condensed water droplets inside the drum with significant temperature, humidity, and pressure (altitude) changes.

The 5-gallon storage cans are also easier to handle and stow while traveling (especially evenly distributing the weight within a race trailer.) The only time I see an advantage to a 55-gallon drum is if you are going to a really big event and can share the fuel and costs with a few other boat racers - then it makes sense to me to have a full 55-gallon drum delivered to the race site (like at a national or world's cup event.)

Whatever grade you buy, make sure your fuel source turns over the inventory on a monthly, not yearly, basis to receive fresh fuel...

Those are my thoughts after 20 years of PRO boat racing. I am sure others have more fuel source stories to tell than I. Methanol turns into a formaldehyde compound inside your body tissue, so use disposable gloves when filling a lot of cans or cleaning up fuel spills.

Al