[s-cars] Of Water & a new Kind of Waterfest wetter

[mlp]

Hey Bob, I came across this little ditty:

".... One last method of increasing power on turbo engines running on low
octane fuel is water injection. This method was evaluated scientifically by
H. Ricardo in the 1930s on a dyno and showed considerable promise. He was
able to double power output on the same fuel with the aid of water
injection.

First widespread use of water injection was in WW2 on supercharged and
turbocharged aircraft engines for takeoff and emergency power increases. The
water was usually mixed with 50% methanol and enough was on hand for 10-20
minutes use. Water/methanol injection was widely used on the mighty turbo
compound engines of the '50s and '60s before the advent of the jet engine.
In the automotive world, it was used in the '70s and '80s when turbos
suddenly became cool again and where EFI and computer controlled ignitions
were still a bit crude. Some Formula 1 teams experimented with water
injection for qualifying with success until banned.

My personal experience with water injection is considerable. I had several
turbo cars fitted with it. One 2.2 liter Celica with a Rajay turbo, Weber
carb and no intercooler or internal engine mods ran 13.3 at 103 on street
rubber on pump gas back in 1987. This was accomplished at 15psi. With the
water injection switched off, I could only run about 5 psi before the engine
started to ping. I think you might see water injection controlled by
microchips, catch on again in the coming years on aftermarket street turbo
installations. It works."  at http://toyotaperformance.com/fuel_octane.htm

just in case you're looking for some more inspiration for getting a system
installed & up & running.

All the best,

mlp