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Water Injection

3K views 21 replies 11 participants last post by  Daz 
#1 ·
Hi Guys,

Any of you ever used water injection before ? I'm seriously looking into going for this on my GTI-R (sorry it's not skyline related), and i'm trying to find out as much as i can about it to help me decide what i'm going to do.

The ERL / Aquamist kit appears to be the best and they have several different kits available (i'll probably only go for the basic kit - depends how much it all is).

Just wondered what you guys know about it ?

I'm not expecting much of a power gain (if any at all), but i'm after detonation prevention - as I understand that you can run slightly higher boost levels running water injection...

Cheers,
Daz
 
#2 ·
H20

Daz,

I've used h20 in my previous car and currently my R34. I've got the Racing kit with the small jet. Its drawing an approx.50/50 methanol/screenwash mix from the washer bottle.

Its there to help bring down the combustion temp (runnng 1.4-1.5 bar on stocks) How much I don't know but I'm sure it does help especiallywith methanol.



Vincent
 
#7 · (Edited)
H2o Injection (me showing off :)) )

Isn't there 2 types of water injection?

One being sprays on the intercooler and the other being directly injected into the intake path and thus directly into the pistons ,ala Evo6 style!

Weka:
Did you take a note of your MFD for the intake temp's before and after your spray being fitted to see the actual benefits ? And when do you use your spay? Cheers
 
#9 ·
Spray

Oopps:eek: .
Sorry about that Weka I did assume for some reason that you had the 'jet spray' type of h2o cooling.

Please tell me who carried out convertion and costs?
In your opinion is it a wothwhile mod?Did you feel a differance in performance/drivabiliety?
Cheers
 
#10 ·
Water injection

Hi guys,

I have made a custom waterspray system on my cos 4x4. I have used the screenwash container which has 2 waterpumps, 1 for the frontscreen and 1 for the headlights. The last one I have disconnected and connected it to a boost presure switch. This switch is adjustable between 0-1 Bar and it is set at 0.7 Bar.

I have used 4 nozzles, 3 aimed at the intercooler and 1 aimed at the intake airbox.

My experience with this system is that power output seems to stay the same, even when the car is used at a circuit or at drag racing.
Normally power start to decrease when things starts getting hot, but with my systeem it feels the same in cold or hot conditions.

I hope this info will help you to decide what to do.

Cheers,

Cossie
 
#11 ·
Re: H2o Injection (me showing off :)) )

Paul.GTR34 said:
Isn't there 2 types of water injection?

One being sprays on the intercooler and the other being directly injected into the intake path and thus directly into the pistons ,ala Evo6 style!
Correct ! I had considered the intercooler water spray, but the injection directly into the throttle body is the option i'm really interested in.

Regarding the methanol mix...aquamists website say that anything upto a 50/50 mix is fine. It's a good idea to put some methanol in over winter to stop it freezing.

Peter - yep, i knew they were based in peacehaven....haven't been able to chat with anyone yet, but i've got some paperwork through today.

The system i'm interested is only there basic "System 1S". Comes with a 100psi race pump and 3 jets (0.5, 0.6 and 0.7mm).

The more i read about it, the more interested i am. Anything that helps reduce the combustion temperatures (and detonation) and allows more boost has GOT to be a good thing.

Cheers,
Daz

PS Thanks for all your responces....much appreciated
 
#13 ·
Cheers Paul !

I had a chat with Tony at Abbey this evening (as he was the one who mentioned it to me the other day). He mentioned that one of the better kits comes with a (suppled) ECU that allows you to map the water injection system from 2000rpm to 9000rpm so you can set it up exactly how you want it. Additionally this kit comes with sensors to let you know when the water container is getting low, whether any of the jets or pipes are blocked, etc.

I've just got to make my mind up exactly what i want to do and which system i want to go for / can justify. I expect it'll be the lesser "system 1S" kit.

Anyway, i'll be sure to let you know what i think of it if / when i get it.

Cheers,
Daz
 
#15 ·
Nozzle

Hi Glen,

For the nozzles, you won't believe it, but I went to, like we call it in Holland, a "Garden Centre". There I bought 4 waterspraybotlles were you can adjust de nozzle to get the right mist. This is much more easier than trying to adjust the pressure of the pump to get the same result.
Everyone who looks under the hood of my car can't believe their eyes, so simple but it works!

Now I want to fit an air charge temp. gauge to see what is really the result of this system.

Cheers,

cossie
 
#16 ·
#18 ·
Here's some info i've found out since "researching" water injection...

If you read the FAQ section on aquamists website, they do actually answer the question of injecting water corroding interior engine parts more rapidly. This has proven not to be the case. For example, when it's raining hard and you're out in your car, the water enters the system via your intercooler - giving a similar affect to water injection. Have you noticed how much better your car performs on damp, cooler days ?

Water injection is used simply to reduce the combustion temperature and therefore reduce the chance of detonation. It certainly isn't a crude way of getting round poor tuning or setup - every current WRC rally team is using water injection to control combustion temperatures. A high percentage of those teams use ERL / aquamist.

Running water injection also allows the boost pressure to be raised as the temperature increase of raising the boost is catered for by having the water injection. As i am trying to avoid having a full engine rebuild, but still want to develop more power from the engine and raise the boost pressure, running water injection will allow me to reduce the combustion temperature. Running more boost will obviously raise that temperature again, but it'll be nowhere near is high as if i didn't run the system.

There's alot more information on their website, and they'll do a great deal more to explain why this works, but hopefully i've given an idea to the benefit.

Cheers,
Daz
 
#20 ·
Water Injection arguments

As I understand it, the effect of water injection falls in to two categories.

1. The power output of your engine is limited by the amount of oxygen that it can consume. I seem to recall from my schooldays that the volume of air doubles every 10 degrees centigrade. Water sprayed on to the intercooler will reduce the temperature of the inlet charge making the air more dense allowing your engine to consume more oxygen and therefore produce more power.

2. Water injected in to the inlet plenum will reduce the cylinder temperatures through the water particles absorbing heat as it is turned into steam. This will allow more boost to be run ( assuming your ECU has been mapped to accommodate this ) before detonation becomes a problem, again producing more power.

The same effect at 2 can also be created by adding more fuel to keep the combustion temperatures down, unfortunately maximum power is generally created at relatively lean mixtures. Mario posted on the downunder site that he found maximum power to be at 12.6 : 1 air / fuel ratio.

Methanol in the mix is generally regarded as being better than water alone.

Does anyone know where you can buy methanol? I believe it is quite corrosive, I previously looked at the contents label on a bottle of Methalated spirits and seem to remember it contained a maximum 80% Methanol.
 
#21 ·
Paul they are 2 different things.. one is just to spray water on the front of the car, the other is an injection system so it gets into the plenum chamber....

Hugh,

You may want to try a radio control model shop, if you have a good one nearby they should be able to get it. some people make their own glowfuel for their planes etc.. and one of the main ingredients to glow fuel is methanol if I remember correctly...

castor oil, methanol and nitromethane.

if the shop idea fails buy a mag like RCM&E and there will be fuel makers in there who should be able to supply.

hope this helps.
/Steve
 
#22 ·
Re: Info

Paul.GTR34 said:
Nice one Daz.

I am confused about the fact that water/moisture enters our engines via the I/C ! Can you elucidate please ?
Cheers
Sorry, my bad, had just read one of the websites that Peter posted about intercooler water sprays and had intercoolers stuck in my head.

The water is absorbed into the engine - via the air intakes. On aquamists website they've done calculations which show how much a 2ltr turbo charged car absorbs at a certain rev limit based on different weather conditions. They do state that if your car does suffer from heavy rust problems and has problems starting under wet weather conditions then you should not use water injection.

Daz
 
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