Anyone have any experience with water/alcohol injection ?

[James_Douglas]

Anyone have any experience with water/alcohol injection ?

James

[RobertKB]

I usually inject my alcohol with some Coca Cola. LOL

[mackster]

I usually inject my alcohol with some Coca Cola. LOL

Forget the cola, I take mine straight! more space for alcohol if you leave the cola out of it! LOL. MKSTR!

[bob westphal]

That's enough of the stupid jokes! James is asking a legitimate question about a so-called mileage saver system.

I used one way back when the first gas shortage was on. I put it on my '76 Poncho LeMans. It injected a mixture of water and alky into the manifold or carb base via vacuum. I never saw any appreciable milage increase but it did keep the combustion chamber clean.

I did a huge number of processes to save gas. Only one worked! That was a system that Bruce Crower sold called a V/4 kit. It removed four of the pistons and replaced them with a piston slug. There was a huge loss of power but on those big cube gas suckers it cut fuel consumption almost in half. GM has since used this concept for many years in Cadillacs

[Norm's Coupe]

Geez Bob, you gotta have a little fun when a loaded question comes up. After all someone will eventually know the answer the person is looking for.

By the way Bob. When you mixed the alcohol in your car, did it get stopped for running under the influence? Sorry, couldn't resist that one.

[Normspeed]

Heck, if it weren't for stupid jokes this place would be awfully dull. And I'd never become a Zen Master:rolleyes:

Seems like I recall reading about water injection ages ago in a Popular Science mag but never knew anyone who installed it. If I were going to do all the plumbing these days I'd have to go with a little spray of nitrous. Just a little.

[rearview]

I ran alcohol injection on my 04 GTO when it was turbocharged to keep spark knock down and cool the intake mix. Allowed me to run a bit more boost

[Plymouthy Adams]

All turbo's I know do not recommmnd alcohol mix ...owners manual say no-no

But hey..they just enigneers...

[BobT-47P15]

The previous owner had put some type of injector on the 1970 Riviera I bought when it was a few years old. I did not try to use it, so have no idea what it did. But someone at least tried to improve the mileage on that 454.

I recall waay back there in the mid to late 70s using some alcohol, but it was inside the car. The container was either glass or plastic, and strangely, contained some ice cubes and coke.

[rearview]

All turbo's I know do not recommmnd alcohol mix ...owners manual say no-no

But hey..they just enigneers...

you blow it in after the turbo, then no knocking, no corroding, and then you can dial up the timing (and boost)

EDIT: Offered by STS on their kits http://www.ststurbo.com/turbo_system_options

[Plymouthy Adams]

I went and read what you meant after my post...and in that effect yes...antikknock sensors are a must..I love electronic controlled engines...

stock turbo system..no-no still yet...

I like Turbo..horsepower for free...have had a few..still have a Shelby CS engine in the garage...sold one because the cops were always turning around to follow it..GLH and the other was my favorite...1989 Dodge Caravan 2.5 Turbo 5 speed....sure wish I had kept that one..after 200,000 miles I figured it may be a good time to let it go while all was running well and looking good....

[James_Douglas]

I am looking at it to help with heating on long mountain climbs or very bad and hot stop & go. Not looking for millage increase or HP increase, just cooling.

James

[eric wissing]

This might be a bit off from the original thread but how about an oil cooler? I do not know very much about them. Seemd if you cool your oil you will help cool your engine. I am not sure how one would go about doing it. Would it have to come off of the line to the filter? Placement would also be an issue. It would also add maybe another quart of oil which wouldn't be a bad thing. Like I said not exactly inline with the thread but an idea. I like the fact that this is to be your only car. Eric

[Lou Earle]

When I had overheating problems with a 49 caddy in which I had installed an ac unit I got a ford truck oil cooler and ran oil to it after it left the oil cannister- Yes 49 caddy engine's had the same oiling system as our p/15 and it was an option. I actually got a cannister off a 48 Ford and installed it on the caddy.I never had had an oil filter in its previous life!!

I just ran\ the a line from the bottom of the oil cannister to the cooler - mounted it front of radiator- then back to return hole in the block. I helped quite a bit. th oil coming out of the cooler was about 30 degrees cooler.

However I do not think this is at all necessary on the 40's Chrysler original systems. I blocked the radiator with plywood one time trying to get the engine to overheat and it finallylly did in the yard not moving- but it took a good 30 minutes to boil on a 85 degree day and when I drove it at 25 with the plywood still blocking it it cooled down. I think it is almost impossible to overheat these beauties.

P S

Do not try that with a Ford of the 40's - if you look at them wrong they will overheat on a 32 degree day!!

Lou

[T.Tom Meshingear]

James,

Back in the late 70s I ran a unit made by a company named Vehtek.

It was a passive unit consisting of a 5 gallon container, hoses, a small reservoir with a float/switch unit on the lid and a washer pump to fill the reservoir from the 5 gallon container.

A tiny hole was drilled in the carb body to locate a tiny brass tube right at the narrowest part of the venturi.

Air flow then sucked the water into the air stream to mix with the fuel - more air = more water so it was self regulating.

It was very simple and reliable. It did lack a method to stop water flow when cold so I don't know about winter icing problems.

I was running it on a 300ci Ford 6 cylinder engine in my 1965 Econoline.

It was still on the van when I sold it in 1984.

Do you know how smooth your car runs on a foggy night? It was like that all the time even in the summer.

I was looking for the patent info and the installation manual but haven't found it yet and I have a complete unused kit in the Museum of Weird Car Stuff™ that is my garage.

You are welcome to it if you want a water injection with no electronic controls.

Tom

[kevinanderson]

I ran a Holley system on a 430 buick. No appreciable difference.

[greg g]

Here is a thought. Some of the fellows I know who run cars with turbos and intercoolers swear there is a benifit to be had by spraying a mist of water over infront of the intercooler. This supposedly works on the theory of evaporative cooling (swamp cooler effect) and cools the air before it travels over the intercooler's heat exchanger. Most accomplish this using windshield washer parts to establish a curtain of mist infront of the cooler. They say they can feel a difference. Any way introducing a mist of water infront of the radiator on hot days when climbing hills or sitting stopped in traffic. You could rig something up fairly easily and then remove it if there is no benefit. Might only have limited value for you as SF has pretty high humidity and EC works more effectively with low humidity.

[jimwheeldon]

I ran Redline "water-wetter" in an Audi I had that ran hot...It lowered the temp about 5 degrees . If I remember right it was about $8 from Summit racing.

[stayusmc]

most water injection is used to supress detonation in a turbo charged engine. you cant really cool the engine down that way. the best thing to do might be a better 3 core radiator or lower thermostat.

[Jim Yergin]

See Rodney's Starter Button thread. Sounds like Rodney tried the water injection thing.

Jim Yergin