The methanol/Hydrogen Peroxide blend we used in the family race car back in the early 1950's was the real killer. The peroxide was the stuff that caused most of the problems, though. Medicinal peroxide (first aid for cuts) is 2% by volume. (98% water) Hair-bleaching peroxide is the strong stuff, a whopping 4% mix. now, the stuff my father used to mix racing fuel was technical-grade, at 20% concentration. The proportions went like this:
Methanol: 75%
Peroxide: 20%
Amyl Acetyate: 5%
Amyl acetate is a mixing agent, a surface tension reducer to promote good blending of the other ingredients. Because of its pungent banana-like odor, it got dubbed "banana oil". A few drops in a cup of coffee would get anybody's attention!
The above fuel was corrosive beyond belief. We had to run an 8-gallon stainless steel pony keg for a fuel tank, stainless steel fuel lines all the way to the carburetor, and run the carb dry every time the engine got shut off to prevent the fuel from eating holes in the aluminum float bowl. The carb (a big Zenith 2-BBL with a removable venturi from a WW II truck engine) got rebuilt once a week. With that single big carburetor, our 300 cubic inch bored and stroked flathead ford V-8 outran everybody else, multi-carb Fords, Chevvies, and GMC's, too! The entire inside of the carb turned a chocolate brown from the corrosive effect of the fuel. Boy, did it run, though!
We kept the exotic chemicals in stock, and sold the additives to other racers, who had their own supplies of alcohol. At one time, a competitor forgot to add the alky after Dad had poured the other ingredients into a 5-gallon steel GI fuel can, and the stuff ate the bottom out of the can in less than an hour!
Jerry
