Is alcohol injection legal in Street Modified under SCCA rules? I know that engine mods are generally anything goes, but it looks like there is no provision for it under fuels (Section 3.6) and only water injection is legal in Street Prepared.

Anyone know for sure what the rule is?

Thanks.

 

You obviously missed warrtalon's thread before it got deleted

The short answer is no, it's not legal...

JW

 

Here's a link to warrtalon's thread....

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=186713

 

Actually it is legal. At least according to this (pay attention to Doug's reply):

http://www.scca.org/garage/forum/for...sp?TID=83&PN=1

EVOlutionary

****edit - sorry, Doug changed his original post a bit so now he is not so clear as to supporting alcohol use. (in cars that is)

 

We're still waiting on a ruling from the SEB, but there is no indication that they are even looking at the issue even though it's a hot item all over the place with chiefs and safety stewards asking for clarification. For now, the answer is "no."

 

From the May 2006 fastrack Solo technical bulletin:

1) All: Alcohol may not be used in manifold injection or spray bottles unless it is specified for this use by the OEM.

There's your answer. Not legal.

 

Yeah, just saw it today. The wording makes no sense to me (manifold injection?), but I'll assume no one can do any form of alcohol, methanol, or washer fluid injection. It's too bad they didn't give any sort of explanation, but at least they addressed it to some degree.

 

injecting into the manifold? ...like direct port injection.... vs the way most of us run it ...inject into TB or just before it....

 

What are people doing that are flash tuned for alcohol, and want to compete in events? I'd be OK with using race gas, but not sure if it would be safe enough to turn the alcohol off, if I am using the tune for alcohol.

 

Well, I may be the first/only person to deal with this directly, but I'm not sure. This is what I did:

- Booked the dyno for 2 hours
- Did some baselines with custom tuned alky and ~26psi
- After a few baslines, turned off the alky, poured in 3 gallons of 100oct with my existing 1/8th tank of 93oct.
- Installed my old SAFC and added 15% fuel from 3500-7500 and turned boost down 2 full revolutions
- Re-dyno'd to see power, boost, AFRs and timing
- Power was down ~40whp/60wtq, but the AFRs were safely rich in the low 10s and timing was not being pulled
- I then slowly raised boost while leaning out the AFRs by removing some of that 15% depending on the AFR curve
- When I was done, I wrote down my exact SAFC settings for each 500rpm increment from 3500-7500, wrote down the number of clicks on the Forge UNOS, and noted that I was only 5whp/5wtq lower than my original baseline when I started.

Then, I turned the alky back on, turned off the SAFC, put my boost back where it was, then went drag racing the next day (Saturday). After that, I went to the next SCCA-RM event (Sunday), turned off the alky, turned on the SAFC, adjusted the boost, then went and got the head tech to come look at my car to show him everything I had done. He was appreciative of the time spent, but my method of turning off the alky will not be acceptable at the national level, I don't think. I just removed the fuse, since there is no off switch, but I could easily reinstall the fuse in grid or while waiting in line for my run. They were ok with my efforts, but I admit that I will need something more concrete at Nationals. I can't remove my tank or control box with any ease, so I need to think of something else.

In the meantime, the RM region is happy with my method, and they have enlisted my help in finding/recognizing alky injection systems, since they are not always obvious like mine.

 

^ good stuff

 

You need to make a rig so you can remove it with ease.

It comes down to what the rules state. The SCCA rules are written that if the rules don't say it's allowed, then it's not allowed. Since there's no allowance for your tank/control box in the rules, (and the rules were clarified that Alky inj is specifically NOT allowed) then you need to find a way to remove them before your national events. (And at that, I'm surprised that it's allowed even locally...I would have thought they treated Alky like NO2).

Its not the SCCAs fault that you have something that wasn't legal for competition and had it installed before you 'found' auto-x, and understood the rules. Just do what you can to be legal if you still want to participate. You need to figure out how to fit within the rules structure, and not have the rules structure fit around you.

--kC

 

Are you running your SAFC with a MAP sensor? Otherwise, you're probably running super rich at part throttle on the autocross course.

 

Your post comes across like a slap in the face to a ricer who just started autocrossing and then starts *****ing because of all of the SCCA technical rules. That's not fair or appropriate here. Warr knows the game and has said nothing critical of the SCCA at all. Why the snobby attitude? Veterans like you should be encouraging newcomers to the sport, not pouncing on them.

 

Rich, no, it's not MAP-based. I am not worried about being rich at part-throttle. My alky isn't active unless I'm at 18psi or higher, and between 25-65% throttle, it uses partial settings. It's not that bad, or at least I couldn't tell during the last auto-x.

KC, I'm not sure where your comments are coming from or why you're even on EvoM, but I'm trying hard to work around this. I didn't just "find" auto-x. I just happen to not have my car setup for 4 minutes of racing per month. It's setup for 24/7 enjoyment that can be used at the drag strip or road course with no changes. It just so happens that it's not legal in SCCA. Not a big deal - I have a workaround. My local SCCA leaders and head tech inspector were very pleased with the trouble i went through. _I_ am the one saying that I don't think my current solution will fly, and _I_ said that I will continue looking for a better solution for Nationals. Why do you come at me in attack mode as if I'm complaining?