Let's say the cost of the two are equal, which one would you pick and why? I believe they should both put out similar whp, with the torque advantage to the alky setup.

 

Alcohol w/ 10.5 would be faster than 9turbo.

 

My vote is Alky with 10.5.
But my plan is to try a 20G-9 with alky in the near future!

 

My thoughts exactly

 

Not a fan of alky and the added cost it brings to the table .... 9 Turbo all the way ... think about it this way, with the Alky you have to keep paying for Alky, with the 9 Turbo its turbo tuning and done!

 

get the 10.5 and alky. Then when you get used to the power, and you will, buy the upgraded turbo and you'll already have the alky on there.

 

+1.

 

Well so far, a 5gal methanol can ($30) last me about 2 months or more depending on my right foot. Cost of alky is a non-issue to me.
I spend more on Starbuck coffee per month than the evo consumes methanol...lol.

In my opinion, I would not be happy with the marginal gain of maybe 20-30whp with just a 20G-9 turbo on 93 oct. pump gas.
Unless you plan to run race gas (expensive) all the time, alky gives me the ability to go 25+psi and see much larger gains.
My 2 cents.

 

how much does alky cost? and how long does a certain amount usually last?

 

is that all on the 20g? I was sadly misinformed

 

You have to really crank up the boost to get good numbers out of it. With pump 93 and 22 psi its only marginally better than the 05 VIII turbo.

 

VP Methanol is $30- for 5gal can from the local speed shops.

How long does alky last?
Depends on your right foot. Alky is consumed/sprayed only when in 'preset' boost. My alky is set to come on at 15psi and max at 26psi. Below 15psi no alky is ever used. On average I top off my alky tank 1 qt. a week as a daily driver.

 

Actually I was contemplating the same thing. I already have the alky but only the 9.8 hotside. Will an intercooler upgrade yield any gains or is it just redundant with the alky already there?

 

alky handsdown

 

To be honest I didn't really notice any hp gain after the nisei IC with the alky. I only upgraded to a bigger IC since the stock one was damaged. Your money might be better spent on a 10.5 hotside and O2 housing.