Methanol Injection: What Are The True Performance Gains? (1 Viewer)

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Iceaxe

I am my rig's nemesis.
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For those of you who have methanol injection installed, have any of you noticed a true noticeable difference in hp / torque gains? On the net, there are claims from Snow Performance along these lines. And then you'll find YouTube videos of guys running it on dyno and finding only 2 hp of performance gain.

So, has anyone here run the numbers to see?

I understand the other benefit of keeping your SC in optimized range and keeping your engine cool... But I'm looking for answers to the question about hp/torque gains...
 
I am ALMOST done with my install and will report back, but I believe it really only gives you a safety net, as well as the chance to bump timing. Moving timing will be the performance gain, the injection just supports the change.
 
Zero if not tuned properly.

Zero - 15hp if tuned properly for a Land Cruiser.

30-45hp if tuned improperly for a Land Cruiser.


If you just throw water/meth on and don't tune the system properly you will see very little if any gains at all. By tuning properly I mean knowing your IAT's, finding the correct nozzle size, adjusting the proper start time and flow rate for the pump, etc.

In a non-Land Cruiser application with similar power output you could make more power by adding more boost and timing and compensating with the higher octane and cooled air charge. I don't recommend that in an LC since you could be very far away from methanol sources. So my take with water/meth on a post OBDII Land Cruiser is just use it as an extra safety feature but don't tune the truck to the point it has to have it.
 
I am planning my package this way: Supercharger, 3" pulley, intercooler, water/methanol injection, slightly bumped timing (not sure how much yet, it will be conservative). When I do trips, I will likely go back to stock timing for reliability. Around town, I will bump it for fun factor if it proves to handle the timing well. I'm not looking to damage my engine but at the same time, if I break it, i'll fix it. I think the 1fz-fe is way undertaxed for how well it is designed and built. Another thing about this setup is the fact that it is a crutch for the unhackable engine management from the factory. Hopefully next year will for me, bring a standalone engine management system and dyno tuning (plus related goodies- injectors, fuel pump, etc).
 
Yes we are only talking about forced injection motors.

Ok. Just making sure. It also helps with cooler temps. I had ran the aem meth injection kit. I was happy with it but ended up switching to a higher octane and received better numbers when tuned. It was a pain to buy the methanol and make sure the tank wasn't going to empty. It it's a dd I wouldn't do it.
 
you can with the Wolf system. Check out @tomcat thread, he's doing a turbo now with that set up
 
I've never used it on a Cruiser, but on another truck it has allowed me to advance the timing and add more boost. While it may not affect peak hp much, it does seem to broaden the curve and give more power on average throughout the RPM range.
 
Utterly noooob question, but I'm assuming the computer doesn't adjust anything once the methanol system is doing its thing, right? This is where I was confused- couldn't tell from my reading whether you can to tune the rig yourself or whether the computer makes the adjustments automatically based on the IAT temps...?
 
I don't want to deal with the 3 quart tank snow provides, so I'm building my own tank with pump mount. It holds 4 gallons
20150915_212457.jpg
 
No the stock computer will not make any adjustments you will need a water/meth controller that is sold usually in the kit. There are a couple different ways to do it, but for the TRD SC I would recommend MAF voltage.
 
Scott, MAF voltage? Would you pls explain? Sorry for the dumb questions...

Dogfish, why did you decide to go with the 3" wheel versus the 2.8"?
 
Scott, MAF voltage? Would you pls explain? Sorry for the dumb questions...

Dogfish, why did you decide to go with the 3" wheel versus the 2.8"?
It is really just to move in increments on mods . I'm not sure I won't try the 2.8, just want results with the 3 first
 
Mine rattles like a coffee can full of marbles over ~3,600 RPM under boost without methanol injection.
 
Just got my injection working. Did a 0-60, still stock timing, so really shouldn't see any gains, stock pulley, supercharger, intercooled, 4.88 gears, 35's. Under 9 seconds. My son turned 21 today so time to go celebrate! I'll get back to it tomorrow and bump timing, do a couple 0-60, then 3" pulley and a couple more 0-60.
 
You should see a power loss if nothing else is changed and it was running correctly before.

No one uses water or washer fluid (meth/water) on land cruisers? Water takes a lot more heat to vaporize than alcohols. More heat lost = more knock resistance. Google enthalpy. Plus you can buy washer fluid at every gas station for a couple bucks. I've tuned a few +1000whp supercharged Vipers with washer fluid. Efective, cheap, less corrosive & available.

I would recommend anyone tuning on your own to get a set of electronic knock ears setup. (pizo mic, hearing aid amp, headphones) You can easily build it for $50 and it could save your engine and make more power safely. It's not hard to hear knock as well as a high-tech Bosch knock sensor processed by an ECM. The human brain is a pretty good signal processor it turns out!
 
No loss of 0-60 time but no real gain yet either. Everything I'm doing is on the conservative side, small timing bump, slightly smaller pulley, so I'm not too worried. Methanol is $27 for 5 gallons, so mixed with distilled water I'm just over $6 a gallon 50/50 mix. I'm not using my 80 in the winter so cost is no big deal for 6 months
 

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