I only mention it because it sounds like you're going to have a good amount of money wrapped up in this setup and it seems like you want more power. I get doing bolt ons to a supercharged setup, but I just wanted to bring it up before you get too deep since it's expensive to change your mind later (as you only get a fraction of the original cost when selling mods).

Do keep in mind an IC pump has the exact same potential. I have seen people cook their engine by having the pump die. Certainly the KR gauge helps you see something is wrong, the only downside is that spinning at 5000+ rpm by the time you notice something is wrong and react, the engine has completed a ton of combustion cycles. It's not as bad on newer engines as they react more quickly to knock, but always keep in mind that the KR value is only a reaction to it sensing a knock event that has already happened (likely multiple times with this old pcm).

I personally wouldn't spend another dime on power mods until you have the funds set aside for a better tranny. You'd hate to put a couple grand into e85, IC, and a tune only to puke the trans all over the road a week later. You're better off having a lower power car that runs than a broken car that you're scrambling to save to fix.

 

How often do you have to refill on Methanol. Also what power gains does Meth get vs. E85?

Also I'm not promising I finish the build :P It will take a long time to save up that kind of money while in college, and if I have a serious failure which is possible at 155k miles I will probably have to cut my losses

 

The problem I have with a turbo system is that it is out of my abilities to do myself so I would have to pay a shop to do it for me. That and its gonna be about $4-5k more for a turbo setup. I can do most if not all of the mods on the supercharger route minus a tune. And the trans issue is a big issue for me and I'm frankly not sure how long a stock trans will live under a intercooler+E85. My main reason for not immediately going for a trans is (besides that it is far less fun to drop $3k on a trans than $2k on power mods) that I'm afraid of buying a really nice transmission and then finding out the engine has a major issue. But you are definitely right about the transmission.

 

Lifted this off of a site, read from a manufacturers perspective. I rarely fill my tank up, perhaps one time a year at most, it only comes on when under boost. But I have a 2.5 gallon reservoir and do not drive daily either. Mine is set up with a dash mounted warning light that comes on when the meth reaches empty, and then the redundant AEM fail safe measure insures we don't damage our engine.

INFO ON W/M:

A water injection kit can increase the octane of your fuel while dramatically decreasing the air temps going into the engine. Giving you maximum performance from your tuner all the time! So how does it work? Water-methanol is injected into the intake tract of the vehicle at set boost points. The water evaporates in the cylinders and takes away as much as 100 degrees from the air charge (more than any air to air intercooler that might take temps down 20 degrees on a cold day). The methanol enters the combustion chamber and spikes the octane of your fuel by 25 points giving your bmw the equivalent of 116 race gas if you put 91 octane in the tank. Because you now have the coldest air charge and octane possible the computer will increase timing and boost safety for large HP gains.


Figure 1.1 The Stage 2 Boost Cooler uses a progressive controller that mounts in the engine bay for a clean appearance. We recommend installing the water-meth nozzles in a aftermarket charge pipe with 1/8" NPT bungs but can always be installed with the stock configuration.


Injecting water-methanol into a direct injected engine like the BMW is 100% safe and has recently been adopted by BMW M Germany in the new M4 GTS. Snow Performance is on the fore front of water-methanol injection technology, and to this day is a 2nd tier supplier to BMW M AG water-injection systems.

Lets get on the dyno! Our initial base line for the bone stock 135i was 296.02 WHP. After installing the JB3 tuner that number jumped to 321.85 WHP (25.8 HP increase over stock). Now time to add some water-meth. After the Snow Performance Stage 2 Boost Cooler was installed we threw it back on the dyno. With the system progressively injecting off of boost pressure the HP number jumped to 338.96 WHP (17.11 HP increase over JB3 Tune).

 

Interesting, I will have to consider it. Where do you have your meth tank at for it to be that big? It would be great to not lose fuel economy with it, but that may be countered somewhat by having to fill the meth tank occasionally. I'll be honest though, having another working gauge in my pillar pod would be nice, currently it is a non-functional trans temp and boost gauge and then my interceptor . Could you get me information on what injection system you use?

 

My tank is mounted in the trunk, now using the Holley pump and injector and the AEM fail Safe system. Ran an all new line as my other was pushing 8 years old. Wanted all virgin everything, line, pump, nozzle, filter. Using Holleys " EFI Dominator EMU to control everything.

Here is my systems info:

Take your forced induction ride to the next level with a Holley water/meth injection system! Integrated into the Holley HP and Dominator EFI Systems is the capability to control water/methanol injection, allowing you to safely run on lower octane pump gas! What makes the Holley water/methanol system unique and light years ahead of competitive systems, is that the solenoid flow has been characterized within the ECU. Program in an exact flow amount into the software, and that flow is injected into the engine. This is critical to ensure that neither too little (causing engine damage), nor too much (causing a large loss in power) water/methanol mix is injected into the engine. Select the exact percentage of water/methanol mix to be delivered vs. the percentage of fuel flow present, at any RPM and load. This makes tuning a very simple and accurate process.

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel.../parts/557-100


https://www.holley.com/products/fuel.../parts/557-106

TurboMonte and I both have used this companies systems with no complaints. I think they are one of the very best on the market.


https://www.coolingmist.com/product-...allon-pro-tank

https://www.coolingmist.com/



Here is the tank link:

https://www.coolingmist.com/product-...injection-tank

 

I'm a little confused. You can strip an engine down to the heads (to do an IC), but you can't install a turbo? A turbo is actually pretty easy to install with a bolt on 3800 turbo kit. Other than pulling the front bumper to mount the IC, the rest is just exhaust work. I would totally understand if you had to actually fab the piping yourself, but that's not the case on this platform.

Also curious why you think it'll cost so much more? The base kit is only like $3500 brand new. There are often used kits for sale for just over $2k which is easily what you're going to spend on the setup you're talking about. Also, you could make some money back if yiu find someone local wanting to do a top swap. You could probably make at least $500 back swapping top ends with a local NA car if yiu don't mind the labor.

 

The cost to refill is near nothing as it only sprays at WOT. How much it consumes depends on how big a nozzle you go and when you have it kick on. I've went through maybe 3 gallons in my vette in the last 5000 miles. At $5/ gallon, thats almost nothing per mile.

I actually use my windshield washer tank on my vette to hold it as its almost 2 gallons.

 

Fair point, perhaps I shouldn't have said it would be harder. But getting a TEP transmission for a 325 WHP supercharged car is over $1000 cheaper than one for 450 WHP on a turbo setup. Looking at a new ZZP Z7 kit it was much cheaper to do the supercharging setup.

 

As I mentioned before, that's a hard to answer question. It depends what mix you go with and how much you spray. You can get to e85 octane levels, but it'll take a pretty good amount of meth. Granted that's talking actual e85, not the lower e5X winter stuff.

Also, the real gain doesn't come from the fuel, it comes from upping the boost and timing to take advantage of the extra octane. How much you push the limits also dictates how much it makes.

Not to be rude, but from reading that, you shouldn't bother doing any of this at all until you can save up some cushion money. If you blow a bunch of money on parts and then the thing blows up and you have to scrap the car, you're going to lose a ton of money.

It just doesn't make any financial sense, especially with that kind of mileage.