We need advise from a diesel GURU

straight water would give better cooling, methanol will produce heat when ignited, but produces more power than just water. So i've been told.I'd rather run lots of N02 to help cool.

First off i was meaning running 100% straight meth with NO diesel fuel being burned in the engine at all.

I disagree with that, take your hand and stick it into a pail of meth, then put it in water. the meth will always feel colder. Meth has been known to create ice/frost on fuel lines even during summer time. Ive never heard of water being able to do that. Something about alcohol in general its a natural heat absorber or something like that, its one of the best heat transfer liquids (better then distilled water). If it wouldnt be so flammable it would be the best fluid to use in the cooling system (basically straight water wetter)

Take sprint cars for example. Its all they an do to get the engine running at 160 degrees plus, and thats with 800 hp and i believe 13.5:1 compression, they dont run a fan and the radiator is smaller then a text book.

Methanol would be a decent fuel to run in a all out race ride, but if you read the rules of the rodeos it states diesel fuel only. Many organizations also have rules when it comes to fuel type and even the specific gravity. I know in the NTPA they have been known to dip the fuel in all vehicles (some as they are weighing out after the pull) and sometimes even checking the water injection system. I have heard stories of guys "treating" their water with many different things, but have never heard a real concrete story to say what it is. I've heard of nitrious, nitromethane, methanol, and a couple of others that I can't remember. The NTPA got a little curious on the water topic after a few water tanks on the tractors started exploding.

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'06 379 Pete with a MXS C-15 550 with heavy haul program, 200gph FASS, high flow mufflers, fuel and boost harnesses, shimmed fuel pump, Bully Dog downloader, Spinner II bypass filter, Schaeffer's synthetics in all boxes, and a 18 speed tranny. Leased to Schneider on their Choice program.

Your right, straight meth would be cooler in a complete conversion engine. Like the alky s/s.

As a supplemental agent water WILL cool more than methanol because the methanol will burn and add to the power output of the engine. The problem with this and propane or any other fuel that goes into the cylinder with the intake air charge is you have no control over its ignition point, so just water is a safer idea.

In a complete conversion to methanol one thing to consider is the energy density of the fuel. Methanol contains less BTUs than gasoline so it contains VERY little heat energy compared to diesel. Round numbers BTU/US Gal Gasoline=125,000, Methanol=64,500, Diesel=166,500. Contrary to what most people think, nitromethane has the LEAST amount of BTU, but it has other qualities that make it work well for race engines. Down right violent cylinder pressures with nitro, the race car I helped my friend with had a cam with the lobs ground offset from front to rear to account for the twist in the cam at full throttle.

At work we ran a fleet of methanol powered MAN pancake engines on methanol, didn't work out well and we ended up converting them to diesel like the rest of that fleet. It was everything the fuel system could do to produce rated power and maintenance was very costly, plugs for 'em were at the time around $200ea and lasted about 12k miles. Not to mention the fuel system corrosion issues.

For a race truck it would work, but the advantage to methanol requires HUGE amounts of it to produce more power than a similar quantity of diesel and that presents some issues with commonly available pumps, injectors, etc. But it would certainly work with enough thought given to the conversion for high HP.

I have not had the change to mess with the electronic engines extensively, only the common tricks and programming options. I have had some experience with hot rod Detroit 2 strokes and recently Series 60's. On diesel fuel alone it's not hard to get 3000hp out of a 92 Series reliably. For the loaded road races this engine doesn't have the low RPM torque numbers but does very well drag racing and land speed racing. Check out the Joint Venture freightliner (Interstate Wood Products and Longview Diesel) which I was fortunate enough to have some personal experience with and the Phoenix.

The 14L Series 60 will do over 1000HP with mostly stock hardware if you have the programming setup for it. Detroit Diesel "sponsored" a truck I got to work on and their sponsorship was to basically officially allow one of their engineers to help us, so he was able to write ECMs for us with completely unlocked, unrestricted parameters. I was amazed at how much power we got out it without changing any parts. To make it last of course the turbo was changed and basic plumbing and cooling upgrades.



The 3406E and C15's have marine programs that are near 1000HP, so with a good aftermarket outfit ECM hacker 1500hp shouldn't be too hard? I've never run a CAT ECM programmed by PDI or BullyDog but in dealing with high performance diesel pickups I'm really not impressed with either of them. For pickups those two outfits have blown up more stuff than I can shake a stick at, but they are good for business it keeps my shop full. I've been toying with the idea of having a spare ECM programmed and compare their fueling to a stock hot CAT program just for fun. People seem happy with their big truck stuff tho, maybe it really is better.

I agree with the rest of you posts and can tell that you are very knowledgeable and have lots of experience, but your above statement has left me scratching my head. A person can't just claim that PDI , BD, PP, or any company has just blown up engines. The sole responsiblity falls back on the owner and/or driver of the vehicle. Many pickup guys (and for that matter semi truck guys also) have no idea the limits of their parts all they know is that they have more throttle left and they should use it. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here, just trying to place the blame for blown engines where it should be...on the operator.

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'06 379 Pete with a MXS C-15 550 with heavy haul program, 200gph FASS, high flow mufflers, fuel and boost harnesses, shimmed fuel pump, Bully Dog downloader, Spinner II bypass filter, Schaeffer's synthetics in all boxes, and a 18 speed tranny. Leased to Schneider on their Choice program.

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You are correct, the driver is the last word, but if you can only pull at 1/4 throttle becuase of the tuning then there is a problem. I have seen PDI's and BullyDog tuning cause more problems than other software which is good for business.

Stated another way, with the EXACT same engine/truck/trans buildup with the ONLY difference being the software, I can make the same power (more usually) and be able to use all of it and do so reliably.

Just like the Pitts Power box, I love people who think they can twist the knob all the way and drive around at 80k+, they pay my bills. Yes, it was the drivers fault for running the truck too hard but it was the tuning that was the failure. Now a good driver would leave it on one of the lower settings and get decent fuel milage and good power and life would be good.

I was not addressing a driver situation in my first post, just the parts themselves. As I said, I haven't used a PDI cat ECM so I can't comment on that, but I have a LOT of experience with their little truck stuff and their software compared to other software that makes the same power is harder on the engine no matter what driver is operating it.

A good driver can drive the piss out of the biggest POS bucket of bolts, I just address the mechanical/electronic stuff 'cause I haven't found a way to fix a broken driver yet But I understand your point.

The only way to fix the driver is connect their foot to their brain through their wallet. i.e owner operator.