Ever wanted to put meth into your engine? Here's a how to.
I decided to make myself a fully custom methanol injection kit for my cooper s r53. This was because of the prices charged by some providers, which in the right circumstances are not unaffordable or even extortionate, it's just that I don't wish to pay that much. If you have a fully custom engine and no expenses are to be spared, you shouldn't be reading this, just get an AEM kit or a better alternative (although AEM is probably the best around).
With my interpretation of this modification to your engine, you will have a fully custom meth system for £110~.
DISCLAIMER
Before you read on, my personal recommendation is this, if you have an engine which will be meth tuned, upgrade the pump used at a minimum, or just get a reputable kit as previously mentioned. In this instance my engine will not be tuned for meth, so for my use case I feel it's okay to use custom components, as there's little risk in doing so, if a crucial component were to fail.
- 12v DC pump (suitable for ethanol based fluids)
- 12v DC solenoid (not required but a good addition just for extra safety)
- Nylon tubing
- 1 gallon tank
- Atomiser nozzle (in this project I used a Devilsown injector)
- PWM controller
- 18ga wire
- Wire taps
- Rocker switch
- Fittings for pump
- Fittings for solenoid
With all the kit above every component you wish to use should be suitable to transport or store fluids which contain ethanol, so check accordingly before you buy, or as an extra precautionary measure, buy aftermarket gaskets which you can be certain are rated to not be broken down by the methanol mix.
The above components will come together as follows. I will wire my components into the ignition live wire location under the steering wheel, so due to this reason I will not be fusing each individual component but rather if anything were to short or not perform as intended the specified fuse from the ignition line will blow instead.- 12v ignition line will be tapped into, this tapped line will go into the PWM controller. Between the tapped line and the controller will be a rocker switch, cutting power to all components at once.
- A second tapped power line will come off the first tapped power line, this power line will go to the solenoid, whereas the first line will go into the PWM controller.
- A power and ground will go from the controller the the pump.
- Intsall the tank above the pump
- Install or choose where you will position the nozzle in the engine bay, intake port, intercooler etc.
- Connect the tank to the pump
- Connect the pump to the nozzle
As you can see from the steps and the crude drawing above there's not too much work if you decide to do things yourself. Obviously your own system will be less reliable and tested compared to the kits being offered, but that's where your own design choices come into play. If you wish you could add level sensors and more robust safety features.
Haven't done an extensive amount of research into this but there are a variety of ways to measure boost to enable boost control for the meth system. The best way I've found is by using MAFF sensor readings, if your vehicle isn't supercharged or turbo'd the stock MAFF may not read boost, so an aftermarket one will be necessary.
Will add more details soon.
Will include photos / videos when the install is completed, thanks for reading.