Liet, I think we're talking about different things. I don't know anything about corrosion liabilities, but i imagine that's a matter of choosing the right materials for gaskets and intake/fuel delivery components.
I stand by my statements in re energy density. You're talking about something different: the power an engine can produce. Methanol's hurt in energy density (the high proportion of bound water) is, interestingly enough, the same property that makes it such a good performance fuel: the low molecular weight gives great expansion, and the high "ash" component makes for cool combustion, sparing valves etc. So i have no doubt that racers use it for a reason.
I will also wager another thing. Water has the best expansion ratio of them all (about 1500 from liquid to steam), and it cools the combustion process, which is why water injection allows running piston (and turbine!) engines beyond their usual safe compression/specific power envelope. I would bet that if ethanol were diluted to methylene equivalency (about 72% ethanol in water by weight, or 144 proof), it would burn jusyt as well in methanol-tuned engines ... assuming the gaskets etc. are up to it. Your grandpappy would very probably have had GREAT git-go but lousy range running ~150 proof squeeze, with less engine trouble.
A big problem with E85 was that most engines are gasketed for hydrocarbon fuels, which are generally gentle on typical gasket/connector synthetics. But if you had a vehicle with an engine that was built to run hydrocarbon, pure ethanol and pure methanol with similar efficiencies, a gallon of hydrocarbon would take you 1 1/2 times as far as a gallon of ethanol and 2 1/2 times as far as methanol under the same duty cycle. For road use, that matters an awful lot ... not so much for non-endurance races.
Some Sunday-night musings. cn
I'm no chemist but your comments vis-a -vis the expansion and cooler burning are correct, methyl alcohol (and ethyl too) carry a large burden of water in most solutions, however, racing fuel and model engine fuel (both pure methyl alcohol distilled to as high as 99.9% purity in WorldWide's Performance Blue) deliver maximum performance for off-road and model aircraft racing, but they require frequent maintenance, special cylinder walls, valves, combustion chambers, exhaust manifolds and piston heads to prevent corrosion. interior chroming, stainless steel, zinc plating, and ceramic/metallic composites have been used with varying degrees of success. when its burnt under pressure methyl alcohol produces strong acid salts that wreck engines fast. racer still use it because it performs. it's popular with off road racers because a couple jugs keeps yourt shit moving longer than gasoline would. i know some cats with enduro bikes which they ride on the street as well (im strictly cruisers) when they get off the dirt tracks they are required to drain their gas tanks and refill with gasoline to drive on the roads, (legislation declares methyl alcohol a deadly toxic and explosive product). they report better performance with methyl than gas. They hate the damage methyl does to their engine's combustion and exhaust systems, but they love the power and endurance of the fuel in their racing.
They pay MORE for their methyl alcohol racing fuel than gasoline (upwards of $6.75 a gallon) which is illegal for use on the street (so they must drain tanks or trailer to races) and deposits corrosive precipitates in the combustion chamber and exhaust system. These dudes aint stupid. Higher cost per gallon, more maintenance time, and more replacement parts, and a fuel that congress says ins deadly poison, and dangerously explosive, yet they use it in preference to the standard gasoline products, and only switch to gasoline when facing 25-life if they use methyl on the street.
using methyl alcohol on the street is:
Felony Use of an Unapproved motor fuel: why yes. a felony. punishable with 1-5 years in slam for violating federal highway statutes, and thats a three strikes violation, but just a normal one.
Possessing an explosive device: when used as a motor fuel methyl alcohol magically transforms a dirt bike or sand rail from a racing machine to a BOMB when the wheels touch the street. and thats a violent felony three strikes violation.
Bootlegging: Illegal felony intestate transportation of illegal un-taxed liquor and thats your second violent felony, triggering three strikes mandatory 25-life imprisonment
if you make your own Methyl Alcohol:
the still is a bomb violent felony
the product is toxic poison violent felony
the product is un-taxed liquor regular felony
the product is illegal explosives violent felony
and im pretty sure they could shoe-horn in some terrorism charges as well, for your gitmo vacation.
Those in charge REALLY dont want Methyl Alcohol as a motor fuel. check your sources bro, my sources say the shit is corrosive, expensive and fraught with legal hazards, but its worth the extra bullshit for the performance gain over legal and unrestricted ethyl alcohol, or gasoline.
oddly, the one place methyl alcohol is still available is as a fuel stabilizer, where it is 98% pure methyl alcohol, and costs $10 a quart, but is legal to put in your gas tank even on the roads. i cant even begin to figure out how that works in the tiny minds on capital hill.
edit: e85 was not a corrosion or gasket problem like "Diesel #2" (the engine wrecker), E85 is a shit performance and low fuel mileage problem. methyl is a metal corrosion problem. when you burn it in an engine methyl alcohol makes metal eating salts that dissolve aluminium at a frightening rate, and pit and scar steel fast too. "Diesel #2" was aa powerful solvent that dissolved the gaskets and seals on truck's fuel systems, and ate away the sealing material on head gaskets and injector nozzels. that shit put hundreds of owner-operator truckers out of business, and drove up rates for independent farmers. (ruined a few tractors too, but most small farmers ran on homemade biodiesel already)
regarding water injectors, as far as i know the only place you inject water in a running engine is in a jet engine's secondary combustion chamber (afterburner) and mostly only military and performance jets have those at all. even a few drops of water in a standard piston engine at operating temperature can raise pressures so high that cylinder heads pop and tie-rods break. when you want to increase pressures in a piston engine, you pipe in nitrous oxide (inert, non-expanding, non-flamable laughing gas) use a propane trickler (to richen the mxiture with the choke wide open) or pump in large volumes of air with a supercharger
NOBODY injects water in their piston engine except in science labs or research facilities.
PS. I suspect you are a spy from House Corrino, or possibly in the employ of Shaddam himself! Can i expect a team of Sardaukar Terror Troops at the entrance to my sietch tonight?
