Custom Made Methanol Tank Problems

[chrisb33]

To the methanol injection guru's out there:

I recently installed an enginerunup methanol injection kit (single m7) on my galant vr4 and decided to fabricate my own methanol tank located in the engine bay. I put it there because i had no space in the trunk because i have a soundsystem installed there and didnt want to ruin the clean install.

Materials used:

6" stainless steel tube capable of holding a gallon of meth
radiator cap housing
radiator cap
generic breather
custom made breather tube

here is a pic of the design and some pics of the actual product. If you are wondering what the other two cans are, they're my custom made two catch can set up inspired also by this forum. The last picture shows where the pump is located: under the meth tank, near the firewall and passenger side area.

now my problem is that i see methanol seeping out of the breather. as you can see on the design. the breather tube is higher than the top end of the tank so im actually wondering why this is happening. this happens even when the car is at idle and the hood open, so i doubt if heat is really a problem.

any inputs and suggestions are welcome. thanks.

chris b

 

[chrisb33]

what if i do this? will it help vapors from escaping the tank? and will it allow enough room for the liquid to expand inside the tank?

thanks again in advance.

chris b

 

[crimsondragon]

I personally think the breather tube should be put directly on top, not the side.

 

[chrisb33]

here's an idea, what if i put a one way check valve in between the breather and the breather tube? that way no liquid or vapor can come out but it can still suck air in?

chris b

 

[crimsondragon]

It won't look very clean unless you weld a valve on. Also, if it's an incredibly hot day, you don't want pressure to build up inside the tank.

 

[propeine]

Why not just drill a pinhole in the top and be done with it? It looks nice and all but I think you over complicated your tank. Now about the fluid flowing out the breather thats just weird but it looks like the bottom edge of the filter is just about at the top of your tank. Try taking an inch or two out of her and see what happens. You still might get meth/water coming out from sloshing around though. I don't like the check valve idea because as the tank heated up it could push meth/water into your intake tract.

 

[chrisb33]

ok i see the logic on why not to put on a check valve.

I actually thought that the design of my meth tank was as simple as it could get hahahaha.

im leaning towards right now to just cut that breather tube, weld that part shut, and then find a better place to place a breather on the tank.

Thinking about it, a Pin hole on top of the tank SHOULD do the trick, although im pretty sure vapors will still escape the Pin hole and might pose as a fire hazard as well.

I think what's happening with the current design, the vapors are accumulating on the breather that would give me the impression that liquid is passing out through the breather. Since it's accumulating in the breather and staying in its liquid form, i think it's more of a fire hazard right now!!!!

I was looking at plastic tanks sold by meth/water injector brands on the net, and i actually dont see any breathing system in their plastic tanks. now that makes me wonder if i really do need to have some sort of breathing sytem in my tank. If not, then i would just seal the tank completely but not fill it up 100% so that there would be room for liquid expansion.

I'm pretty stuck at this point and dont know how to go forward without doing trial and error which would entail me putting holes, sealing some, welding etc. etc. and the end result would be an ugly looking catch can hahaha.

so any theories or suggestions at this point for discussion will definitely help before i actually do some more fabrication on the tank.

Thanks guys!

chris b

 

[propeine]

I run the Snow Performance Kit and its just got a pinhole in the cap. Hence my suggestion. Its maybe 1/16th inch or so. I saw where you were trying to get to with your tank. Just overkill for what it needs to be. It is pretty though!

 

[chrisb33]

I run the Snow Performance Kit and its just got a pinhole in the cap. Hence my suggestion. Its maybe 1/16th inch or so. I saw where you were trying to get to with your tank. Just overkill for what it needs to be. It is pretty though!

hehehe thanks for the complement. But as i was designing it and putting much thought in doing the design, i really thought it was such a simple design that almost nothing could go wrong except for danger in the following:

1. boiling the 100% pure meth using a stainless steel tank.
2. boiling the 100% puer meth given that it was designed to be located inside the engine bay.

i never expected that there would be meth seeping out of the breather!

Anyway, i went out today and had a few runs running at 14psi of boost @ 120kph max due to damn sunday drivers on the road!

when i got home, i would have expected that the heat in the engine bay would be hot enough for me not to be able to touch the surface of the meth tank. but to my surprise, it wasnt really that hot! i could touch it and feel that it is hot, but not enough to burn my skin nor to force me to take my hand of the tank. i guess the meth inside the tank actually cools the tank.

the other two cans beside the meth tank (the oil catch cans) were HOT! not boiling hot but definitely hotter than the meth tank.

I also noticed that some of the liquid that were accumulating around the breather has dried up. For sure it was because of the heat of the engine bay.

i dont know, but i think that your suggestion of just putting a pin-hole on top of the tank is the best practical solution as this time.

I'll finish up the meth inside the tank and refabricate it afterwards. i hope that will solve my problem.

chris b

 

[propeine]

I've got my plastic tank in my engine bay mounted where the battery used to be. Haven't killed myself yet . If you're concerned about the vapors I would say run the breather to a point outside the engine bay. If you wanted to be really trick you could put it through some copper coiled up in a low temperature area with a second tank to catch the cooled vapors as they condensed back to liquid. Now there's real overkill! Truthfully you would probably pull most of the condensed meth back as your pump pulled the meth out of the main tank but on long periods of no/low boost you might get some in the catch tank.

 

[chrisb33]

HAHAHAHA! now THAT's a complicated meth tank design!!!!!

i think im going towards the simple route. Less elements in the system = less elements to troubleshoot and fix!

BUT, i just might give that design a try if a simple pinhole wont do the trick

thanks.

chris b

I've got my plastic tank in my engine bay mounted where the battery used to be. Haven't killed myself yet . If you're concerned about the vapors I would say run the breather to a point outside the engine bay. If you wanted to be really trick you could put it through some copper coiled up in a low temperature area with a second tank to catch the cooled vapors as they condensed back to liquid. Now there's real overkill! Truthfully you would probably pull most of the condensed meth back as your pump pulled the meth out of the main tank but on long periods of no/low boost you might get some in the catch tank.

 

[chrisb33]

I think ive solved the problem by taking out the breather tube, sealing it up, and just place a pinhole on top of a tank as mentioned above.

I dont see any liquids forming outside the pinhole so i guess they're just vaporizing.

i did hard pull earlier at one bar for a bout 5-6 minutes or so. what surprised me is that the tank is almost cold! way way way way colder than the previous set up, plus way way way way colder than the two catch cans beside it right now!

i attribute this to adjusting the bracket to making the tank a bit higher because i discovered when i dismantled it earlier, that it was sitting on top of an A/C tube that goes in the firewall which probably was heating up the tank before. and i think this is also why the meth was seeping or vaporizing more quickly than normal before, thus accumulating in the breather.

this tank will still be under close observation in the next couple of days. thanks to the guys who helped me troubleshoot and solve my problem

chris b

 

[propeine]

Congrats on getting the problem fixed. Glad I could be of assistance.