Being offered by Snow Performance, it was only natural that the new kit featured methanol injection. There seems to be a great deal of confusion in the industry about methanol injection. It is not some type of liquid power adder (except in the case of diesel applications, where the additional fuel will provide significant power gains), akin to nitrous oxide. Adding methanol injection to your existing combination will not magically increase the power output. What methanol injection will provide is the necessary charge cooling and additional fuel flow that can allow you to increase the boost pressure and/or ignition timing, thus gaining additional power.
Care must be taken to rely on the methanol injection as fuel enrichment, since the proper air/fuel ratio for methanol is twice as rich (6.0:1 versus 14.7:1) as gasoline. Thus, running an air/fuel ratio of 11.5:1 with (straight) methanol is actually dangerously lean. It is best to rely on the cooling properties of the methanol. According to Snow Performance, the system also acts as a form of chemical intercooling, lowering the charge temperature to further minimize the chance of detonation.
Methanol is effective when in use, but what happens if you're running at wide-open throttle and the system fails to operate or your methanol/water reservoir runs dry? The Snow Performance methanol injection employed on this turbo kit has all but eliminated this possibility by upgrading the system with its Safe Injection ($99), which electronically lowers boost pressure to the wastegate minimum if the system either failed to operate or the water/methanol reservoir ran dry.
The Safe Injection is also combined with LEDs to indicate system operation and fluid level, thus helping to minimize the chance of engine damage caused by the owner forgetting to refill the reservoir. On this '05 GT, we installed the Snow Performance methanol injection pump and reservoir in the trunk (the pump works better as a pusher than a puller) and the injection controller and Safe Injection on the firewall. The Snow Performance system was adjustable with jetting and in line with the mass air voltage. We were able to adjust both the onset voltage (when the system was initially activated) and the point at which full system pressure was reached. Between these two MAF voltage points, the controller drew a linear curve to increase the flow of the injection. These two adjustment points allowed us to dial-in the flow level with the Stage 1 kit.
With the car on the lift,...
With the car on the lift, the guys at HP Performance disconnected and removed the factory after-cat pipe.
The highlight of the single-turbo...
The highlight of the single-turbo kit was the 60-1 turbo. Capable of supporting over 550 hp, the 60-1 was just getting started at 5 psi of boost.
The new turbo kit retained...
The new turbo kit retained the stock cast-iron exhaust manifolds.
A custom Y-pipe was designed...
A custom Y-pipe was designed to join the exhaust to a single inlet for the turbo.
The turbine housing was attached...
The turbine housing was attached to a short section of exhaust tubing prior to installation. Note the V-band clamp on the end of the tubing.
It was necessary to remove...
It was necessary to remove the oil filter to feed the tube used to mount the turbo.