Process of installing Methanol on my car

[cn555ic]

It has been a slow and tedious job of installing a meth kit into my 07 E93 335i ...Its taken me over 2 weeks to install and I still have to finish up the wiring in the cabin and to my tune....It adds about roughly 40-50 hp from what I have been told with a tune... I am hoping with the addition of the meth kit I will be pushing somewhere near 390-400hp...The methanol will be mixed 50/50 of methanol and water.

Methanol Injection Benefits (Gasoline):

- More Power - reduce intake air temps and improve charge air density
- Efficiency - leaner air fuel ratio can be utilized for normal operation.
- Engine Health - cleans the valves, valve seats, and even the piston tops and intake when they inject. This reduces carbon build up.

The meth spray will lower the AIT and allow timing to be advanced with my tune in order to run more boost on the car and be safe without the engine knocking...Its basically running race gas but with cooling effect, but for significantly less in price....I have pics of the kit and my own wiring diagram to show you how intricate the install of the modules and wiring of the harnass in the engine bay.....I mounted the pump in the rear bumper behind the wheel whele and the tank in the console compartment of the trunk...Fuel lines were ran underneath the car alongside the gas line and the wires from the pump were wired up into the cabin underneath the carpet on the drivers side....The spray nozzle is tapped on the ABS plastic piping of the inlet to the intercooler..

[cn555ic]

here are some more closeup pics of the module and solenoid...A solenoid is used to prevent siphoning of the methanol mixture from entering the nozzle during the time when the car is not boosting and is in vacuum...

[mryakan]

Just curious as to how this will affect the HPFP and if it may exasperate the problems that it already has. Also I assume this voids any and all engine and fuel system warranty, right?

[armyboot]

I like this. Show us some dyno numbers once your done.

[hefftone]

Meth Injection is really cool. I too would like to see the results of this. I don't know how much boost the N54 runs, I'm thinking it's fairly low boost, but has a pretty high compression ratio.
Don't a lot of folks run windshield wiper fluid? I believe that is pretty close to 50/50 water/meth, besides being hella cheap and available.
Is this setup going to be used in conjuction with an electronic boost controller? Or like a chip/retune?

[jettore]

Now that's a nice upgrade for a 335. You should get a nice HP increase when you get a new tune for the meth.

[cn555ic]

I already have a tune with the meth kit...I am running abouty 15-16psi when the meth sprays which my tune switches to a meth race gas map which the timing is advanced 2 degrees I would say...When there is no flow of meth, the tune reverses back to a regular pump gas map...The meth kit will be setup where there is a on/off switch so meth is not always on....When I want it on it will automatically switch from map 1 and to the meth map...As for warranty, its out the door unless I revert everything back into place....I am not into dynos, but if I had to say by the end of the day with the meth kit installed and running I should be pushing somewhere near 390-400hp and the torque will be definitely over 400+...As for affecting the HPFP, ethanol would ruin it faster than methanol because it evaporates into the combustion chamber and is not forced fed by the fuel pump like gasoline which contains the ethanol....It does not have any effect whatsover on the HPFP...

Originally Posted by hefftone

Meth Injection is really cool. I too would like to see the results of this. I don't know how much boost the N54 runs, I'm thinking it's fairly low boost, but has a pretty high compression ratio.
Don't a lot of folks run windshield wiper fluid? I believe that is pretty close to 50/50 water/meth, besides being hella cheap and available.
Is this setup going to be used in conjuction with an electronic boost controller? Or like a chip/retune?

Stock boost is around 8.5....with the tune the boost is raised to about 13-14.5psi, with the race gas map and advancing the timing, the boost can be safely peaked up to about 16-17psi......Plus I am not going to run meth all the time because I am installing a on/off switch, so its will be used sparingly...People do use the winshield washer fluid but it has to be the blue kind which has a -20C rating, but the windshield washer still needs to be mixed with more methanol to get it to the 50/50 mixture...A couple of fl oz of HEET would do the trick to raise the methanol content of the winshield washer fluid...You can also purchase "BOOST JUICE" which is an already mixed 50/50 of methanol/water which cost about 25-30 bucks for 4 gallons....The meth kit to achieve the most performance gains would need to be to run in conjunction with a tune that can effectively raise the timing in order to safely run more boost....Without a tune, the benefit would not be as great for performance, but it will still benefit from cooler air intake temps..The N54 motor runs hot to begin with in the engine bay as we all know when you open the engine bay after the car has been on, I could imagine what the internal temps are!!

I am wondering why my thread was moved from the E92/90/93 threads...I am not doing a engine conversion!!! Maybe forced induction

[jettore]

The switch is a great idea to be able to easily switch to the system on and the map change. No need to be burning through the extra $$$ for meth when you don't need it. What are you using to control your engine tune maps?

[cn555ic]

Originally Posted by jettore

The switch is a great idea to be able to easily switch to the system on and the map change. No need to be burning through the extra $$$ for meth when you don't need it. What are you using to control your engine tune maps?

I am using Vishnutuning piggyback tune named REVII to control the ECU...They are a well respectable company that has been entrenched with the N54 platform since it first debut in the late 2006...I love the fact that I can use the Meth when i want and not have it on all the time since there is not needed...Only occasionally when I do spirited drives and decide to go to the track to drag, then its there...

[jettore]

OK, it's a piggyback system that explains how you can change the map on the fly. My only past experience is from the Subaru world with OpenEcu. SInce it's a reflash of the ECU there was no map switching on the fly at the time. This is all very interesting, I wouldn't mind having a 135 in the future the play around with. Good luck with the setup.

[cn555ic]

Finally got the whole entire system working...Boost starts at 6psi and max flow at 13psi with safeinjection set at 250 and 0.8...There is a NOTICEABLE difference for sure... I couldn't believe my butt dyno and also the fact the rear felt loose when I stomp on the gas pedal at second gear and this never happened before!!! Checked for leaks on all the connections and everything is rock solid...Had my 3 quart tank filled to the top....Did about 4 light pulls to see if all the connections and LEDs were working right and everything was perfect....I took a look at the tank in the trunk to see how much fluid was used from the tank and notice it wasn't full to the top with the boost juice and thought to myself that this system sucks alot of fluid, and I am going to go through this like water!!! I then realized that the first two pulls the safeinjection LED came on and realized before the first usage of the system, the pump and was not primed, and the methanol needed to be filled to about 25 feet of total fuel line hose before it gets to the nozzle, so thats where most of the fluid that had been pumped from the tanks and thus the warning from safeinjection...The last two pulls were perfect with green led flow and no warning...The system now is fully primed and ready and I am sure there wont be such a noticeable loss of methanol from the tank.....First time ever installing a Methanol Injection kit in any of my cars and I have a smile from cheek to cheek....The power is incredible!!

[hefftone]

Awesome!

Let us know how long that 3qt lasts you, and of course your driving style during the time period.

[boogyman]

Alcohol injection definitely is a good bang-for-the-buck mod. It is a bit misleading to say that adding meth injection will raise the power 40~50 horsepower, because really the meth just allows you to raise your boost safely, and it's raising the boost that's increasing the power. Some people may infer by reading the OP's first sentence to mean that just adding meth to a turbo car and tuning will result in 10~15% gain in power, which is NOT true.

Regarding your system of using two maps, is that really needed? Isn't the injection controller a progressive unit? Most of the kits on the market these days use a progressive controller for turbo cars that activate the pump at a predetermined boost level and just increases the amount of methanol that is injected as the boost rises.

So, if you have the pump set to activate at, say, 8PSI, at a max of 14PSI, the pump will not activate in normal day-to-day driving, only when you really need it.

If you just get a big enough tank and keep it filled up, I would think that you really don't need to have two maps. In the rare case that you run out of juice, or there's a problem with meth leaking or whatever issue, just drive normally without boost, and you would be fine, until you get the problem looked at.

[cn555ic]

Thats not entirely true, having two maps is ideal in the sense that when running with meth, my tune advances timing and boost which is made for octane of 100+ and not just pumped gas which is only 91-94 octane...When I have the system de-activated, there is no reason to be running a meth map....Advancing the timing and not having the octane high enough will cause major knock...When there is no meth flowing, my tune switches back to a normal pump map which runs less aggressive timing.....Running meth without any tuning behind it, there will be less gains for sure and what your describing is the most basic usage of meth, but in terms of power will gain the least because your allowing the factory OEM to advance timing which will not be as aggressive as it will be done with a tune..

[boogyman]

Yes, in a perfect world, that would be ideal. But my point is, is it really needed? If you have your ECU mapped to meth use, during normal driving when boost and meth is not in use, it's perfectly fine to drive off-boost with the same aggressive map. You don't really need the stock map is my point.

[cn555ic]

Originally Posted by boogyman

Yes, in a perfect world, that would be ideal. But my point is, is it really needed? If you have your ECU mapped to meth use, during normal driving when boost and meth is not in use, it's perfectly fine to drive off-boost with the same aggressive map. You don't really need the stock map is my point.

Again...there are safety measures having two maps toggle between pump and meth maps...WHen there no flow, I would not want to have the meth map which has the timing advance and not have the fuel to feed it...When there is sudden loss of flow because of clog, pump not working, the tune will switch back to a conservative pump gas map...anything that triggers the safeinjection that there is no flow, or lower than the flow trigger point, will trigger the tune to go back to map 1 which is the pump gas map...I can't understand what is so hard to understand? Safety measure are the reason behind the two map system in the tune that I am running..

[boogyman]

I never said it was hard to understand, or that I didn't understand it. I understand the reasoning, but my claim is that it's unneeded, hence wasted money that could be better spent on other things. If you want to spend money on it, fine. Most methanol kits on the market today have safeguard systems that will lower the boost automatically or even turn off the boost if there is a problem with the flow. So, I'm just saying that if it were me, I wouldn't pay needless(in my opinion) money in order to get a second map for the car. I assume it cost you more money to get the two-map system, as opposed to a single tune for meth use?

[cn555ic]

Originally Posted by boogyman

I never said it was hard to understand, or that I didn't understand it. I understand the reasoning, but my claim is that it's unneeded, hence wasted money that could be better spent on other things. If you want to spend money on it, fine. Most methanol kits on the market today have safeguard systems that will lower the boost automatically or even turn off the boost if there is a problem with the flow. So, I'm just saying that if it were me, I wouldn't pay needless(in my opinion) money in order to get a second map for the car. I assume it cost you more money to get the two-map system, as opposed to a single tune for meth use?

No it doesn't cost any more money to have a second map...Its part of the tune which allows to have maps and firmware updates for free....To get the most out of Methanol injection, it is best to advance the timing on a dedicated meth map, and while driving normal without getting on it, is there a need to have only one map that has timing advance to the point its not needed? IMO i would say no, hence the two map system...Yesterday I datalogged the IAT temps and there was a significant drop in temperature when the meth was injected...I saw a difference of 24 degrees of the charge temps...Thats a big drop and when running a tune, you can aggresively advance the timing because the octane is higher and increase boost...

Vishnutuning.com

[cn555ic]

Here is the finished product of the engine bay with the SP kit stage 2 boost cooler with safeinjection..Looks clean and kind of OEM!! lol.....I am finally done with EVERYTHING after a problem with the solenoid from the initial install, and have everything back together again...Thank god, and I am glad it over..I am very happy with the setup because I can use the extra power anytime at my disposal with a flick of an ON/OFF switch!! Although I am new to the Methanol injection, I can say that the performance gains are definitely worth it and the cooling effects are absolutely incredible..There is no longer any heatsoak of the engine...This was definitely the MOST challenging mod I have done to date on my E93. Its is definitely NOT a novice install..