Installation
Our good friends at Paul's Automotive Engineering (PAE) handled the installation of the Snow Performance methanol kit. PAE is a Ford performance superstore located in Cincinnati, Ohio, that has built its business on show-stopping Shelby restorations as well as high-end custom hot-rod Fords. We've done a lot of technical work with Paul Faessler, Tom Honsaker, "Big Mike" Wilson, and the rest of PAE's crew, and they never let us down. They have installed a number of the Snow Performance methanol kits on customer cars, so they had no trouble with this installation. With new technician Chris Tino handling the wrenching, we had the kit on our test truck in less than half a day.
The only part of the installation that we can help you save some time on is with the settings for the boost controller. Following Snow's instructions, we set ours up so that the system activates at 3.5 volts at the MAS. This coincides with a full-throttle effort or at about 2,700 rpm when laying into the gas pedal aggressively. Our maximum setting is programmed to 5.0 volts, which our truck never reached, but the system was ramping the pump output throughout that range, making sure we were chemically intercooled.
Testing
With the advertisement of chemical intercooling, we had high hopes that our Snow Performance kit would give our extreme Lightning even more power. Matt Snow has often stressed that these kits really shine on vehicles that are forced to run 89- or 91-octane fuel, but we found horsepower with 93 octane in the tank and a mild street tune. The baseline for our test Lightning was 536 rwhp and 607 rwtq. With the activation of the Snow Performance methanol kit, those numbers went to 556 rwhp and 618 rwtq, for a sweet 20 hp and 11 lb-ft gain to the tires.
Our air/fuel ratio went from 11.8-11.9:1 down to 11.5-11.6:1 with the Snow Performance methanol kit activated. Big Mike also recorded a 7-8 degree decrease in inlet temperatures, a clear indication that our kit was working as advertised.
A key to understanding the power of methanol injection is realizing that when you activate one of these systems, it's just like running higher octane fuel. As such, you may not see the increase in performance that you are expecting with only the kit. Take your Lightning to a tuner who knows how to use this product, and get a retune for a higher octane rating. Something on the order of 110 octane is a good comparison. You can get away with outrageous amounts of timing with a Snow Performance methanol kit (we've seen it first hand). Experiment with your own application to maximize the benefits of methanol.