This post is in no way knocking anyone who runs meth. But i'm looking for thoughts on it because my personal experience has been somewhat sketchy.

I ran Meth in my evo back in the day. The car made good power but there was always the possibility of failure and a few times i caught my foot on the gas pedal when the meth failed and got out of it before a disaster. Since then i always was a little apprehensive towards it.

Since then i ran meth in my SC'd Z06 back in the day....in that case though the boost wasn't increased and the meth was there only for knock suppression and cooling. Even still i was nervous. Worried something would fail and/or the corrosive nature of the methanol would wear away at something. I sold the car within a year of installing the kit....so in that case i have no complaints.

Lately i'm reading more and more about 997's running meth. namely Longboarder. Obviously the guy is running it and doing lots of racing...which is a good sign...but there is a small part of me that still says to myself...is it worth it for another 30-40hp to have the hassle of methanol and corrosion and plumbing and all that BS....and long term is it a benefit if i'm going to keep the car a long time....

I feel like it's one thing to run Meth on an Evo or even a C6....but when you're talking cars that were once $150k+....i'm not sure.

Or maybe i'm looking at it the wrong way...

Thoughts?

 

You have a 997.1, why don't you just run E85 with a set of larger injectors and call it a day?

 

I've thought about it...but i have a few issue's that surround that. I bought the car for myself and my wife. She drives it about as much as i do and while i have a ton of E85 in my garage....it's just of an issue is she is driving the car and she runs low on fuel for her to be able to go to a gas station.

Also...we take the car on long trips and E85 isn't available in many states.

If Cobb or another tuner could figure out a Flex/Fuel situation like i have in my GTR that would be Money. But as of now that doesn't seem to be an option.

 

I understand the concern. The thing is, as long as you keep the AccessPort in the car, you can swap back and forth at will. I do it all the time. You don't have to drain the tank completely empty to swap. I usually drive 20 miles or so once the light comes on and then pump E85 in. I also intentionally tuned it with 2 gallons of pump gas in the tank of E85 for this very reason. The OTS and hotter E85 maps from ProTuners are mild enough that you can do this as well with no issue.

Conversely, some residual E85 in the tank when you go back to pump gas is nothing but a benefit.

With the 997.2 fueling limitations, they have no choice but to run meth. Having a 997.1 and the ability to go with larger injectors and E85 is a huge plus. It's also much, much less of a headache than worrying about the meth pump working correctly, a line developing a leak, etc.

 

You make a very good point. And considering i keep 150+ gallons of E85 in my garage at all times it might be the way to go. Many thanks.

 

No problem. The other thing to consider is a blend map if you go with a protuner. I have an E30 map, which is 4-5 gallons of E85 to a tank of pump. It is VERY strong, and a big power boost over my regular pump gas mapping. Consistency is also better. I run this map a fair amount of the time as the power is really great, but it's not blowing all 4 tires off in second gear like it does on the big boy map. Something else to consider which will stretch your stash of E85 farther along if you so chose.

 

More like 80+ hp.

The Snow, AEM, etc systems scare me too. But the Aquamist systems continuously monitor flow,.. and trip the system AND your boost-control circuit if there's something not kosher. (Have an issue and you drop to just a few psi of boost at high revs.)

I have the HSF-3 system in my 997.1TT and it runs terrific. (I run two 1.0mm jets and a 75% / 25% meth to water mix.) Lot of hassle to set up though. But E85 is not only seasonal here,.. but not a lot of stations have it. And if I want to do a track day or go on a road trip,.. E85 isn't viable.

 

Running 93 oct and meth

no issues, but my car is not tracked and driven 1-2x per week in fair weather months here in NY.

So far, its been bulletproof.

I too am going the e85 route in spring

 

I agree with A418t81, with the 3.6 mezger definitely go e85. I wish I could but I cannot with my 997.2. With my 991 I have been doing e30 on the stock turbos and it doesn't knock on the race gas file and from the data it was the fastest tune only 991 TTS on the planet, posting quicker 60-130 than the Stage 2 and 3 991's. Now that my 991 has upgraded turbos, I will be experimenting with different ethanol blends to see when/if I hit the fueling limit. When I do I will probably have to do meth for a fuel supplement.

By the way there is a right way to do meth and a wrong way. Buy a cheap off-the-shelf kit and sh*t will happen. I've seen cars burn to the ground. Build a custom kit with a fuel cell and steel braided lines, etc and it can work safely and reliably for years.

 

I just got rid of a high horsepower C7 Corvette a few months ago that I ran Alky Control meth on. It's a solid system, but I, like you worried about it every time I stabbed the throttle. It never failed, but it was always in the back of my mind. I absolutely will not run meth on my TTS unless I max out and still can't find another option for fuel.

An idea was presented to me to run a "street tune" and a "race tune" on my Cobb AP... street tune being 93 pump gas and race tune being MP109 race fuel. Eh, stlll mulling it over. I'm at 546hp to the tire on pump gas and Europipe only. Next option for me is AMS intercoolers and more boost. See how far I can go on pump gas only. Just my opinion, but meth is waaaaaay more trouble than it's worth.

 

meth is a bandaid for when there are no better solutions and people want to push beyond the status quo.