I have been wondering this for quite some time. As an avid nitro boater and car racer, and being new to the gas boats I often wonder why no one seems to run an alcohol based fuel in their gas engines. Having raced motorcross and go-karts, along with being in drag racing as well i have had some experience with alcohol burning engines. I do know for a fact that it is very possible and somewhat beneficial to run engines on methanol and have converted( which really only involves a plug and jet change) in my 2 stroke dirt bikes to allow them to run on methanol. I was just wondering if anyone had opinions on this or their own experience with it. I plan on running my 260 in my rigger on methanol possibly a nitro blend when completed. Please post any thoughts you may have on this subject. I will be testing the methanol in my 260 soon and will post results.

Zach

I have used alky (methanol) in Sachs based ignition model airplane engines runs cooler need to raise compression and play with both port and spark timing for full power benefit, stock you will see some gain. I don't think any of the major R/C boat sanctioning bodies allow anything but gasoline and have a octane rating limit. Methanol has a adverse effect on gasoline spec fuel system & carb parts , I don't remember where I got the alcohol safe parts for the Walbro carb but rest of the system was standard glow fuel model airplane stuff. Used alky in my blown alcohol flatbottom v drive drag boat. ran cool enough we filled water passages in block with epoxy. I don't remember cr or boost figures but it was a Aris hemi head conversion on a aluminum BB Chev Also used it in hot rod motor in full size experimental aerobatic airplane. It did take about twice the fuel per hour than gasoline. Jim Nissen of Jim's rc boat dock has done some work with methanol,you might contact him. Have Fun

Thanks Ed, I had no idea Jim had experiece with it. I know that it will harden the seals and pumps in the carb and yes that fuel use goes way up due to requiring larger jets for the correct a/f ratio.

Thanks Again,
Zach

IMO, don't waist you time doing an ALKY mod with a 260.

When you raise Exhaust port enough to get the RPM up and point where a tuned pipe becomes effective, Compression is TOO LOW !! to burn Alky efficiently.

From a mechanical perspective, Alki is nasty stuff and requires ANY engine using it to have a MUCH higher maintenance regiment.
* Alky is Hydroscopic ( Attracts moisture ) Crank, bearings & ring will rust REALLY easily !!

* The rubber parts like seals, carb diaphragms, hoses will not tolerate alky very well and will require constant replacement.

Hope you see the light ???

Sorry to be negative, its more being REALISTIC from my perspective of 25+ years within the field of small engine mechanics.

Regards.
Scott

Yeah definately understood the maintenance aspect from racing, but as far as the mechanics of a small engine i did not understand why you couldn't run it, i.e. compression and so on. I did not figure that burning it efficiently would be an issue, or that low compression would factor in to much due to the biggest compression factor being detonation and alky is just a higher octane not so much a power improver but am looking into running it on nitromethane/methanol blend. Therefore it would be necessary to use methanol. Thank you very much for your input.


Zach

Nitromethane is another odd product, it to requires HIGH heat to burn properly and in saying that, even mixed in a Alky blend, without the Alky burning efficiently the nitro won't either

Also Nitromethane is FAR more difficult to ignite than alki or gasoline. Our little wimpy ignition systems do not offer enough "POP" to light it off with enough heat from the actual spark itself if used in higher quantity.

never though of that. I always was under the impression it was easier to ignite and burn than gas.. Thanks for the info Scott.

Zach

another thought---if you just have to do this conversion go ahead and convert to glow plug ignition using a disc tapped for a glow plug in top of the cylinder. that way you can keep original port timing i don't know how much material can be removed from the top of the Zenoah piston but you may be able to gain compression and have room to play with it. may need to machine a boss on the disc to fit in original spark plug hole to get enough thickness for the plug threads . may have a he---va glow motor when this is over. have fun

someone else told me i should convert it to glow power. HMMMMMM ;D

We tested a 26cc Quickdraw with standard glow fuel. We used a WYK carb converted to act like a nitro carb, but otherwise the engine was the same as the gasoline version. We could not get glow plugs to work well. All the plugs we tried either wouldn't light the fuel or blew out the seal. Ignition worked well with 15% nitro, but the plug electrides burned off with 40% nitro. The electrode made a large dent in the piston and exhaust port when it left, ending testing. This was a very short test session, but was enough to discourage us from considering that engine as a SAW nitro engine.

Lohring Miller