That time of the year again for Sacramento Autorama, California.

Or call for info: 877-763-7469

Previous shows included hundreds of professional custom vehicles, low riders, boats, great food, vendor booths, and entertainment.

Quite a few drag and land speed racing vehicles were displayed.

As usual, we were particularly interested in the racing mechanical fuel injection setups.

Considerations for converting from gas to methanol for motorsports:

Methanol is corrosive.  Fuel systems need to be upgraded to corrosion inhibitive components not necessary in fuel systems for gas.

Methanol requires approximately twice the amount of fuel for the same power level as gas.  Fuel pumps and jetting need to be upgraded for the higher volume.

Methanol has a higher heat of vaporization.  That together with the increased volume can condense the inlet air, increasing the weight of air into the engine.  That together with the proper air/fuel ratio will usually increase engine power.  A power increase as high as 10% is reported by several racers who converted to methanol.

Methanol cooling throughout the intake system of a drag racing engine may eliminate the need for a cooling system that would otherwise be needed for gas.

Methanol is widely available throughout regions where racing is common.

Methanol absorbs moister.  For long term storage, it should be kept in sealed metal containers.  Methanol in plastic containers may get contaminated from humidity from long term storage.  Plastic at the microscopic level is porous and will let moisture in.

Methanol is poisonous in all forms.  It should be handled with protective clothing and eye protection.

More info in our book: 5000 Horsepower on Methanol.

In our previous article about tax tips for motorsports businesses, a basic sole proprietorship was described.  It is a simple business form from a taxation standpoint.  Once business activities, income, and expenses become significant, a sole proprietorship may not be the best.  More indemnification and accounting flexibility may be needed.  An accounting example would be a business fiscal year for tax obligation reporting that is more in-line with your annual business fluctuations.  It may be different than your calendar year required for person income tax.

Corporation

Forming a corporation is the next step.  This can provide less business liability to the owner and with different accounting that sets up the business as a separate entity.

Various forms of corporations exist.   Information about various forms of corporations are in many books and info on the web.  Also, an attorney or accountant can be consulted to find the right corporation for your needs.

The following information is based on our experiences several years ago forming and running a C-corp. (more…)

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Developed from airdensityonline.com/free-calcs/ and tech info in our fuel injection publications

A common trend in some motorsports classes that run mechanical fuel injection is to run a bigger replacement fuel pump than previously used.  One common example is drag racing blown alcohol.  For an engine combination making just above 2,000 horsepower, about 11 GPM of methanol fuel is needed at 8,000 RPM.  Several fuel pump manufacturers have pump sizes that range around 12.5 GPM that were traditionally used for this power level.  Further information about the proper amount of fuel to the engine with mechanical fuel injection is throughout our publications.

LARGER FUEL PUMP WITH PUMP SIZER

Many racers are now replacing these pumps with bigger pumps.  Common sizes are 15 and 17 GPM pumps.  These can be equipped with a fuel pump sizer (pump loop).  That is an added fuel bypass usually connected at the fuel pump outlet, going back to the fuel tank or fuel line feeding the pump.

It is usually equipped with a jet restriction and a poppet.

That added bypass sizes down the fuel pump output, back to the needed value.

EXAMPLE

Examining one combination:

>> the setup with a 12.5 GPM pump supplies 11 GPM without a pump loop.

>> The same setup, with a 15 GPM pump and a 0.070 inch diameter pump loop jet supplies the same amount of fuel.

>> The same setup, with a 17 GPM pump and a 0.121 inch diameter pump loop jet supplies the same amount of fuel.

These setups were determined using our ProCalc fuel injection calculator and customer interaction.

All would make the same power level.  All would be tuned with the same nozzles and main bypass jetting changes for air density changes.  Spark plug readings would be the same.

PUMP LOOP POPPET

The purpose of the poppet is to force all the fuel to the engine during starting.  Then it opens under pressure to reduce the fuel pump output to the engine.  The poppet size should be a low pressure such as 5 psi.

EXCESS PUMP LOOP POPPET PRESSURE SETUPS

We saw setups with pump loop poppets up to 50 psi.

While this also works for starting assistance, the pump loop will not open until the fuel system gets to 50 psi.  That can be as high as several thousand engine RPM.  Operating the engine below that RPM becomes complex with that burden.

The engine is drunk rich until the pump loop opens.

Bob of RaceCarBook.com will be in Texas this weekend at the Funny Car Chaos finals at the Texas Motorplex. He’ll be walking around wearing a RaceCarBook.com hat. If you see him, stop and say hi!

Methanol fuel is very popular in motorsports.  It is common in drag, circle, and boat racing for example.  It is readily available and reasonable in price.  It has favorable properties as a racing fuel such as wide tuning window and good tolerance to high compression or high boost.  However, it is a hazardous organic compound in vapor or liquid states as well as in mixtures with other liquids.  That hazard is misunderstood by many who race with it.

Methanol Safety Information Source

Screen shots are provided from our tech manual, 5000 Horsepower on Methanol, to illustrate some of the safety issues: (more…)