Could alcohol help me?

swinginbeef · 05-20-2005

I've been tossing around the idea of adding an alcohol kit to my 99 Regal GS. The thing I've been noticing is that most of the cars in this forum are less modified than mine. I haven't noticed any cammed cars here. Most people talk about being able to drop from a 3.4 pulley to a 3.2 or 3.1. I already run a 3.1 daily. I currently have the ZZP SSIC. I'm wondering if an alcohol kit would give me any advantage over the SSIC? I'm currently in the process of getting Powertuner access, because I'm having Torque Management issues (spikes of KR at the shifts that count down at the decay rate to 0 untill the next shift).

I guess my question is, would it be a performance advantage to remove the SSIC and add an alcohol kit? Or would it be a tossup, performance wise? I'm fairly certain I could sell my used SSIC for the price of the alcohol kit, so financially it's a lateral move.

Any thoughts?

99 Regal GS - MSP cold air intake, Stage 1X cam, ZZP SSIC, SLP headers w/ highflow CAT, LS6 springs, 3.1 pulley, DHPv1.0, 180° drilled tstat, AL103 plugs, AFC2.0

AdamZ82 · 05-20-2005

you could probably run alcohol with the SSIC and get the gains of a full IC. I'm in the process of saving money for a Stage 2 cam and heads swap, i plan on running the alcohol with that on a 3.00" or smaller pulley. ill let dvldoc give his opinion on it since he's the one making the kits, but i dont see any reason they would not work great together.

swinginbeef · 05-20-2005

financially, I'm not looking to "add" alcohol to my current setup, I'm wondering if it would be advantageous to drop the SSIC and add the alcohol or if it would yield very similar results? If the results would be the same, I'll just stick to the SSIC and save myself the hassle of buying and selling and shipping the parts. But if it would be a performance increase, it would be worth my time. Or if I could get more for my used SSIC than I pay for the alcohol, it will be worth my time.

My reason is, I had a 98 Regal GS with all these mods and it was hit in the rear and totaled. I bought a 99 GS and will be swapping in the powertrain from the 98. Now would be an ideal time to add alcohol since I'll have to swap the 99 throttle body onto the 98 engine so it will fit the wiring harness. And it would take just as long to install the alcohol kit as it would to reinstall the pump and radiator for the SSIC.

AdamZ82 · 05-20-2005

well in that case im not sure if you would get any more gains from alcohol- from everything ive heard, the results are close to that of an IC, the real benefit from alcohol is the lower cost. i dont know if there are any solid numbers (dyno, track, etc.) of a car that had an IC, and the same car running alcohol. there have been numbers of reduced or eliminated KR from alcohol, and obviously similar numbers from intercoolers. unfortunately, unless you do each on the same car with nothing else changed, and compare the results, numbers are just numbers- there is no true comparison since every car acts differently. in my opinion, unless you need the cash from selling the IC, i would stay with it just because there is little to no tuning involved, and i think it would be more consistant. thats my $0.02

dvldoc · 05-20-2005

A propertly tuned kit will perform as well as a full sized IC with a few advantages.

1. You just upgraded your fuel system
2. You have eliminated heat soak.
3. You steam clean your motor everyday
4. You have more money for other mods
5. You will never need race gas again (it equals to around 104 octane) with a 40/60 mix.

05-20-2005	#1 (permalink)
swinginbeef Water Injection Newb Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2	Could Alky help me? I've been tossing around the idea of adding an alcohol kit to my 99 Regal GS. The thing I've been noticing is that most of the cars in this forum are less modified than mine. I haven't noticed any cammed cars here. Most people talk about being able to drop from a 3.4 pulley to a 3.2 or 3.1. I already run a 3.1 daily. I currently have the ZZP SSIC. I'm wondering if an alcohol kit would give me any advantage over the SSIC? I'm currently in the process of getting Powertuner access, because I'm having Torque Management issues (spikes of KR at the shifts that count down at the decay rate to 0 untill the next shift). I guess my question is, would it be a performance advantage to remove the SSIC and add an alcohol kit? Or would it be a tossup, performance wise? I'm fairly certain I could sell my used SSIC for the price of the alcohol kit, so financially it's a lateral move. Any thoughts? 99 Regal GS - MSP cold air intake, Stage 1X cam, ZZP SSIC, SLP headers w/ highflow CAT, LS6 springs, 3.1 pulley, DHPv1.0, 180° drilled tstat, AL103 plugs, AFC2.0

05-20-2005	#2 (permalink)
AdamZ82 Water Injection Newb Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 14	Re: Could Alky help me? you could probably run alcohol with the SSIC and get the gains of a full IC. I'm in the process of saving money for a Stage 2 cam and heads swap, i plan on running the alcohol with that on a 3.00" or smaller pulley. ill let dvldoc give his opinion on it since he's the one making the kits, but i dont see any reason they would not work great together.

05-20-2005	#3 (permalink)
swinginbeef Water Injection Newb Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 2	Re: Could Alky help me? financially, I'm not looking to "add" alcohol to my current setup, I'm wondering if it would be advantageous to drop the SSIC and add the alcohol or if it would yield very similar results? If the results would be the same, I'll just stick to the SSIC and save myself the hassle of buying and selling and shipping the parts. But if it would be a performance increase, it would be worth my time. Or if I could get more for my used SSIC than I pay for the alcohol, it will be worth my time. My reason is, I had a 98 Regal GS with all these mods and it was hit in the rear and totaled. I bought a 99 GS and will be swapping in the powertrain from the 98. Now would be an ideal time to add alcohol since I'll have to swap the 99 throttle body onto the 98 engine so it will fit the wiring harness. And it would take just as long to install the alcohol kit as it would to reinstall the pump and radiator for the SSIC.

05-20-2005	#4 (permalink)
AdamZ82 Water Injection Newb Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 14	Re: Could Alky help me? well in that case im not sure if you would get any more gains from alcohol- from everything ive heard, the results are close to that of an IC, the real benefit from alcohol is the lower cost. i dont know if there are any solid numbers (dyno, track, etc.) of a car that had an IC, and the same car running alcohol. there have been numbers of reduced or eliminated KR from alcohol, and obviously similar numbers from intercoolers. unfortunately, unless you do each on the same car with nothing else changed, and compare the results, numbers are just numbers- there is no true comparison since every car acts differently. in my opinion, unless you need the cash from selling the IC, i would stay with it just because there is little to no tuning involved, and i think it would be more consistant. thats my $0.02

05-20-2005	#5 (permalink)
dvldoc DevilsOwn Staff Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 2,058	Re: Could Alky help me? A propertly tuned kit will perform as well as a full sized IC with a few advantages. 1. You just upgraded your fuel system 2. You have eliminated heat soak. 3. You steam clean your motor everyday 4. You have more money for other mods 5. You will never need race gas again (it equals to around 104 octane) with a 40/60 mix.