Running on Alcohol???

[Ian M]

Is there anything as far as internal engine components that have to be changed / beefed up to run on ethonal? I know the valvetrain is supposed to be beefed up, but I am assuming the internals of the 600cc engines are exremely hardy anyway. I do the engine management for my team, and am just wondering what the advantages and disadvantages of alcohol are?

[Ian M]

Is there anything as far as internal engine components that have to be changed / beefed up to run on ethonal? I know the valvetrain is supposed to be beefed up, but I am assuming the internals of the 600cc engines are exremely hardy anyway. I do the engine management for my team, and am just wondering what the advantages and disadvantages of alcohol are?

[repeatoffender]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ian M:
advantages and disadvantages of alcohol are? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Advantages: makes for a good night out

Disadvantages: hangovers and getting yourself into too much shit

[Ian M]

Good point, but not quite what I was looking for. I did get a good laugh out of it though. I was just wondering if I could dump ethanol in, change the mapping a bit, and let her eat!

[Maverik]

Most professional teams that run ethanol have at least their piston friction surfaces coated... I can't remember what the coating is... but it is geared towards preventing eventual corosion caused be the e85 or pure ethanol. Aside from that, you can find typical advantages and disadvtanges through a search on here or google.
Dan

[pengulns2001]

ethonal certainly has nothing to do with your valvetrain, not sure where you got that idea, you could get your pistons ceramic coated (its a win win) but its not needed, you really dont need to do anything apart from a little math on your fuel table and start her up (and tune it obviously)

i wouldnt bother using it unless your going turbocharged. it does corrode when you have steel and aluminum in the same system so in 10 years when your car is some POS hidden outside your lab rusting away it might have some corrosion in the fuel rail but nothing your going to see anytime soon