Really? I thought that methonol had an octane rating in the 114-120
range, which is pretty equivalent to race fuels I'm aware of if not
slightly higher. The reason that you need more to make equal power is
that it has a lower BTU rating, and you have to run closer to a 6-8:1
air:fuel ratio as opposed to a 12-14:1 air:fuel of gasoline (leaded or
not) to get the same burn. Alcohol also burns slower, which is why you
usually advance the timing 14 or so degrees further than you would
with gas. In the real world I have no practical experience with this
though. I'd also note that alcohol burns cooler than gas, so you can
produce more power without the latent heat that you would get from
gasoline.
On 5/24/05, Dave Dahlgren <ddahlgren@snet.net> wrote:
> It actually has a lower octane rating than a good race gas.
> Dave
>
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~Jon
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