Appendix B
A Proposal: The Effect of the Long-Term Use of Methanol
B.1 Background
Methanol, one of the leading alternatives to gasoline as a motor vehicle fuel, has been highlighted in national competitions such as the SAE Methanol Marathon in 1989 and the SAE Methanol Challenge in 1990, but little has been done in the area of long-term testing of methanol as a motor vehicle fuel. The 1988 Chevrolet Corsica modified by Texas Tech University, which finished fifth in the 1989 competition and second in the 1990 competition, is an ideal test bed to determine the long-term effects of methanol on engine and emission systems performance.
The Texas Tech Corsica was optimized to operate on M85 for the SAE competitions; however, it has recently been modified to use M100. A methanol compatible fuel system was installed for the SAE competitions. The engine has been modified by increasing the stroke to take advantage of methanol's increased energy availability, and decreasing the bore to maintain economy. The resulting displacement is 2.8 liters, which is the same as the original gasoline engine. Because methanol has a higher octane rating than gasoline, the compression ratio was increased to
by installing custom flat-top pistons. A custom camshaft was employed to compensate for the slow burn characteristics of methanol. Allied Signal, Inc., Tulsa, Oklahoma, provided the specially designed ...