Boost Cooler.

[Hemet8]

Has anybody tried this on an NA engine? For the boost crowd this is supposed to be as good as gold, but i wonder what it would do for a 10.5-11:1 3400sfi at full throttle? It would be nice if you could get 10-18% more power from "windsheild-washer" fuild. The instrustions have you inject 50/50 methanol/water. Just curious.

[eliteweapons]

Water injection has been an old trick to help stop knock. Holley used to have a kit for that a while ago but I don't know if they still offer it. Some people say it is a gimmick. I don't think too much about pumping water into the intake myself.

[eliteweapons]

Found the page I was looking for. Holley doesn't offer water injection anymore.

How a water injection system works

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Water injection systems are predominantly useful in forced induction (turbocharged or supercharged), internal combustion engines. Only in extreme cases such as very high compression ratios, very low octane fuel or too much ignition advance can it benefit a normally aspirated engine. The system has been around for a long time since it was already used in some World War II aircraft engines.

A water injection system works similarly to a fuel injection system with the difference that it injects water instead of fuel. Water injection is not to be confused with water spraying on the intercooler's surface, water spraying is much less efficient and far less sophisticated.
A turbocharger essentially compresses the air going into the engine in order to force more air than it would be possible using the atmospheric pressure. More air into the engine means, automatically, that more fuel has to be injected in order to maintain the appropriate stoichiometric value of the air/fuel ratio (around 14:1). More air and fuel into the engine leads to more power. However by compressing the inlet air the turbocharger also heats it. Higher air temperatures lead to thinner air and therefore an altered stoichiometric ratio which results to richer mixtures. Over-heated air intake temperatures can cause detonation.
Detonation, an effect also known as engine knock or pinging, occurs when the air/fuel mixture ignites prematurely or burns incorrectly. In normal engine operation the flame front travels from the spark plug across the cylinder in a predefined pattern. Peak chamber pressure occurs at around 12 degrees after TDC and the piston is pushed down the bore.

In some cases and for reasons such as a poor mixture, too high engine or inlet temperatures, too low octane fuels, too much ignition advance, too much turbo boost, etc. the primary flame front initiated by the spark plug may be followed by a second flame front. The chamber pressure then rises too rapidly for piston movement to relieve it. The pressure and temperature become so great that all the mixture in the chamber explodes in an uncontrolled manner. If the force of that explosion is severe some of the engine's moving parts (pistons, rods, valves, crank) will be destroyed.
Detonation, in any engine, should always be avoided by either lowering inlet temperatures, using higher octane fuel, retarding ignition (hence lowering engine output), lowering engine blow-by (a situation in which high crankcase pressure sends oil fumes back inside the combustion chamber), running the engine a little richer than at the stoichiometric ratio, lowering the compression ratio and/or boost pressure, ... .
Water injection is used to lower in-cylinder temperatures and burn the air/fuel mixture more efficiently thus helping avoid detonation.

In high pressure turbocharged engines the air/fuel mixture that enters the cylinders can, in some cases, explode prematurely (before the spark plug ignites) due to the extreme engine environment conditions. This situation is extremely destructive and results in severe engine damage (piston piercing). To avoid damaging the engine by detonation or pre-ignition phenomena, water is injected, along with fuel, in the combustion chambers in order to provide a water/air/fuel mixture which not only burns more efficiently and avoids detonation or pre-ignition but also provides additional inlet air cooling and, hence, denser air. The sole function of water injection is avoiding detonation.

There are mainly three variations of water injection systems. They are dependent of the location of the water injectors. The first technique consists of injecting water at the entrance of the intake manifold. The second injects water at the exit pipe of the intercooler. The third technique injects water at the entry of the intercooler and is only used in competition vehicles. In this latter variation most of the in-cylinder detonation prevention is done by injecting additional fuel which is then used as coolant (i.e. is not burned) and runs the engine above the stoichiometric ratio (i.e. rich).

How water injection works

The system is, usually, made up of 3 elements:

*

A water injector (similar to a fuel injector)
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A high pressure pump (capable of attaining at least 3 to 4 bar pressure and sometimes even more)
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A pressure sensor connected to the inlet manifold
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An inlet air temperature sensor

Usually a water injection system is engaged when the inlet air temperature is exceeding a certain value, typically 40 degrees Celsius, and the engine is on boost. The most advanced systems add to the above electronic circuitry that provides 3D cartography similar to the one used in fuel injection systems. Cartography based devices take into account many more parameters such air/fuel ratio, throttle position and so on.

[Ortie666]

sounds pretty brutal to me, dunno why one would wanna pump water in, its compleatly oposite to everything in the engine.. water/oil, dont mix... water/metal, Dont mix, water and anything moving, dont mix.. i wouldent do it myself...

[X11_STE]

It may sound like an oxymoron but water has many benefits. For one, since h2o cools the air, you can run more boost hence more power. Plus, as the water is burning, it turns to steam! A steam cleaned engine that has no carbon build up an lasts longer. Also, if the water gets hot enough (with a little alchy help) the hydrogen(sp?) and oxygen can seperate and burn individually which makes more power. See? Water and a motor can mix and make a beautiful thing, POWER!!!!!

[heysoundude]

BMW has a complex system: https://youtu.be/PhShcJZ3JAk

Here's a much simpler, homespun, passive method: https://youtu.be/53n1WGkPKzA

Here's why it's a good thing: https://youtu.be/dAkRLjx8FeU

50/50 distilled water and 99% isopropyl alcohol when temperatures dip into the freezing range, otherwise you can just use water. I once toyed with the idea of wrapping a coil of copper around my exhaust to heat whatever liquid a BMW PCV cyclone air-oil seperator managed to extract, and shoot that back into the intake snorkel before the TB, but I realised that the liquid might include oil. Now I'm leaning towards the passive method.

it may be too much trouble to get uncertain returns for some, but I'd be willing to bet even on a daily driver you'll see a slight improvement in mileage. if it's in the range of 10% or more, your wallet/bank account/credit card/vacation fund will thank you consistently over time better than simply having money in the bank. No idea how this would work in jurisdictions with visual inspections, but your tailpipe will test cleaner and cleaner over time.

[ericjon262]

well, maybe they'll come back... this thread is 14 years old... lol! but that being said, that's young compared to water/meth, it was used at least as far back as world war two fighter planes.