GM testing Methanol in T-types?

[scot w.]

A good friend of mine has a 87' buick regal that was said to be a GM test car for methanol. it's got a huge 30gal stainless steel gas tank with in-tank dual pumps and -8 feed/ -6 return lines and also had a box under the hood on the drivers side that was wired into the fuel pump that went to the injector harness for use with methanol, i guess you hooked it up to use methanol and then un-hooked it and pluged the injector harness into the stock plug for use with reg. gas. ALL FACTORY! Any info about these cars?? please let us know. Thank you! Scot w.

 

[garyk1970]

ive got one.where all five blue/blue like mine??

 

[scot w.]

ive got one.where all five blue/blue like mine??

So there were only 5? and all GM test cars? My freinds was blue! 60-40 bench, colum shift? his is silver now with a custom interior and ALOT of up-grades!!! . here is a pic.

 

[garyk1970]

yep.the only options mine has is tilt,rear defrost,ac. no cruise p/w,pdl,etc.

factory lightweight(fancy way of saying they were ordered striped)

 

[scot w.]

yep.the only options mine has is tilt,rear defrost,ac. no cruise p/w,pdl,etc.

factory lightwhieght

Exactly the same as his!

 

[garyk1970]

the story is they were ordered by the gov for the methonal testing.then donated to tennesse college....auctioned off in 1999? i believe. mine only has 47k miles still.

 

[turbolc2]

Buick was ready to release a turbo & methanol (non-intercooled) car for 85 production.The car was never released for 2 reasons.1) The methanol bottle was in the front of the car (attached to the upper tie bar ) and considered as fuel.I don't think NHTSA liked the idea.2) Engine damage was possible if the user neglected filling the methanol jug.I'm sure GM did not wish to own a "by design" warranty situation.I have driven such cars at Buick Engineering.I thought the methanol car was quicker than the early intercooled cars.We also had a variable geometry (variable vain) turbo driven by a dedicated Motorola controller.My T type is also a factory test car which is light blue with 60/40 bench.

 

[garyk1970]

that makes three.theres two more out there....maybe reunite the cars at bowling green?

 

[scot w.]

turbolc2, please post a pic of your test car. it would be nice to see them.

 

[CHANCE]

any pics of the meth box

 

[garyk1970]

its a 30 gal stainless steel tank.they (gov?)took out the spare tire well to accomadate the larger tank.also,theres an access plate in the floor of the trunk to access the pumps and the sending unit.

 

[CHANCE]

no im sorry i mean the box in the engine bay that controls the meth or really any pics of the set up would be great

 

[turbolc2]

The actual vehicle number of my car back in the day when it was parked outside of product engineering was 46GF143.I still have a parking sticker on the car.For whatever its worth.

 

[EightSecV6]

Jim Dotson had one, he bought it at the auction after the college was finished with it, I am 99% sure it was dark blue too.

 

[Underboost]

This is pretty cool.

 

[garyk1970]

the setup

the mods that i understand are;

1)30 gal s.s. fuel tank w/two pumps.

2)large aircraft grade fuel lines.

3) dual fuel filter setup

4)injector impendence (balance?)box that was mounted on the drivers inner fender well.

5)boost/vaccum switch on pass fender well to activate the second fuel pump (i tested mine and it kicks in at 4 psi)

6) nickel plated fuel rail

7) my car had a pad lock bracket riveted to the trunk and quater.

8)methonal only stickers on the gas door and on the gas guage dash bezel.also a note taped to dash not to reset the tripometer.

9) i believe there was some kind of other chip installed-i found one in the glove box,not sure what it is.

10)you can still see "federal methonal fleet" on each c pillar where this decal used to be.

ill take some pictures and post monday if anyone is interested.

 

[RUQWKNF27]

My buddy SMOKINTTYPE on this board had one but it got in a accident and was bought form some guy in the carolina's. I think he still has all the meth stuff that came off it. It had the big stainless tank. He didn't like it cause he always had to put lots of race gasin it. Car was blue with bench and column shift. Just like one above. I think he got it in Georgia or Tennesse. I know the guy he got it from had others just like it. He's a big Buick racer "GS's" from what I remember.

 

[scot w.]

With only 5 built from GM for testing metanol this is looking to be the rarest of regals!! so we got four cars listed here running and one wrecked that's only four out there running!! wow! Jim dotson runs at Knoxville dragway alot maybe i could find out if he still has his, to confirm #4..

 

[puddinpower]

Those cars went from GM to the Y-12 and The X-10 plants in Oakridge for testing.They were then Given to the University of Tennessee for further testing for some kind of alternate fuel race that goes on between Schools.
The university then held an Auction I think it was in 2000 or 2001,and these cars were sold.One of the cars, before it was sold,The UT R&D Dept Rebuilt one of the motors and they could not figure out how the cam sensor was supposed to be set.They had gotten my Phone # from somebody and called me to help them with setting the cam sensor.I did and i actually heard the car start up over the phone. Very interesting cars.I can see some of the minds working already on this type of Methanol injection.There is prolly going to be alot more than 5 of these cars in the future. ( of course not the Factory GM's There will only be 5 )

HTH

puddin

 

[yullose]

20-30 years from now, we will see these cars passing through the Barret Jackson auction.

Uber-rare stuff like this is a gem in disguise. Park those Meth cars boys. You may be sitting on your retirement fund.