VP Import and You

[Aaron@English]

Ever wonder what happens to aluminum that doesnt get a gas wash down after a season of racing on Import? It takes about 2 months and it looks like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3LshPcem8

[OldSixBolt]

Holy shit. Are those deposits or is that the casting itself being eaten?

[Aaron@English]

That is pitting like I would expect on a methanol motor without the "gas wash". We saw the same thing in the gas tank and injectors from year before last as well. We had cut down a stock tank and it ate through the steel and rusted it all to hell. It has a cell in it now so thats good, but I assume I am out another set of 1600s.

[1320Addict]

Wow, I had no idea that VP Import did that. Thanks for sharing.

[Aaron@English]

Aforementioned gastank:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/Hurrikain/VPgastank.jpg

[OldSixBolt]

Crazy shit.

So solution to this is to a) not let VP Import sit in your tank for extended periods of time and b) run the car with pump gas after each season to "clean out" the tank, lines, injectors ect. with deposits of VP? Would you completely remove the tank to douche it out or just fill it completely with pump and run it through?

[Aaron@English]

What my grandfather and uncle always suggested to our sprint car (methanol on alloy small blocks) customers when I worked for them was just to fill the cell with pump (or in their case racegas...not Import obviously) and let it run for 3-4 minutes or until it was up to temp. Then drain what was left in the cell out and throw it in their car or something rather than leave a partial mix in the cell.

What we had done while we had the car in our possession (coming home again for this season) was to just keep 92 in it at all times until we got to the track, pump the cell dry and replace with VP, let it idle till it was obvious it was burning VP, and go. We'd just repeat the process in reverse when it was on the trailer.

Cliffs-fill the cell, run it through.

[Mysterio]

Did the vp do any damage to the fuel rail, lines or injectors?

[Aaron@English]

It did last year so I am thinking we are down another set of 1600s. Since its going to get a dual rail this year we might mix it up and get crazy with the injectors though.

[Marco]

VP import destroyed my fuel pumps. When we used to run it. After one year of not flushing it out it mangled my fuel pumps and injectors. It left a horrible yellow chalk residue in my Bosch pumps, one was still kicking but it completely seized the other.

It also left crap in all my injectors, they were so badly out of balance, I smoked a cylinder head trying to run it on the dyno. The combustion happening outside of the engine sounded like machine gun fire.

Methanol is way less corrosive than this stuff!

Good times!

[Public Enema]

On a serious note, what causes the vp import to be so corrosive? They refer to it as "oxygenated" but what exactly does that mean? What properties does it have that regular C16 does not?

[Aaron@English]

It comes with hydrazine? Or some other rocket fuel I would guess ;) I always thought it was methanol but Marco says its not that bad. This stuff eats injectors like candy though. Marco were able to have the injectors cleaned and repaired or were they 100% smoked? We didnt even try with the last set, we just tossed them.

[The Wookie]

MSDS sheet tells all, just not %.

[Aaron@English]

"complex combination of hydrocarbons" >49%

"tert-methyl-ether" <50%

"Motorfuel antiknock compounds" <0.2%

[The Wookie]

In other words, its got a SHITLOAD of MTBE.

[The Wookie]

Hahahaha! According to Wankipedia, MTBE It is also used medically to dissolve gallstones.