Water Injection for more power

[TacoKiwi]

There seems to be lots of chatter about power upgrades with related subjects about intercooler changes, exhausts, air filters etc but has anyone thought about how to get more power and cooler air charge by simply installing water injection? Ideal mix is water methanol but water works too. This cools the intake charge and therefore allows higher boost and timing curves without the need for higher octane fuel. Son had a Gen V GTi VW years back with a tune and when he added the water kit without any software changes it made an immediate feel in performance more in the higher boost ranges. Cannot remember if the fuel economy changed but it was good on fuel even after the tune. He had a 94 octane tune but could safely run 91 while using the WI.

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[theDLR]

I would say water cooling externally like a water sprayer kit misting onto the intercooler is one way to reduce heat soak. Can work ok. Internally using a misting nozzle into the piping is a higher gain, but also slight more complexity of getting it all to work. There are kits out there to integrate one, but it is definitely for someone who has the time. And i'm sure there are a good handful of time or experience with em to make working nicely.

You need your sprayers, your fittings, lines, separate adequate pump, additional reservoir, and check valves on everything. how to route it, and what might need to change out depending on if internal or external. Finally activation is the other thing someone will have to keep in mind. Use it by a button? use it with a temp sensor to flip the relay, but also know to turn off if no more water.

vs

intake
exhaust
bigger intercooler

a lot less components to wrangle into the car/ to the engine.


it can be a nice bonus, but i'd only consider it after all the rest of the bolt on stuff was done, and i'm taking intercooler temps with more heat soak than i'd want to justiffy adding a waters spray.

food for thought.

 

[izzy]

These trucks need more power?

 

[maxx075]

These trucks need more power?

 

[AmbyBomb]

This is or certainly was a very popular mod among Subaru guys. With the right setup, the gains were impressive.

 

[LincolnSixAlpha]

Checking the cost of a "Snow Performance" Water/Methanol system. They seem cost prohibitively expensive. Then again everything seems expensive these days.

 

[RUBICONXJ]

Guys are gonna keep trying to tweak the most powerful Taco ever built and when they go boom; Then they will complain about this generation's poor quality and reliability.

 

[RUBICONXJ]

Alky Control is the way to go. Julio probably doesn't have a Taco specific kit but there are universal ones. So, if you must here's his website. 1000's of Turbo Buick guys have used his kits for a long time.
ALKYCONTROL

 

[Naznac]

I would say water cooling externally like a water sprayer kit misting onto the intercooler is one way to reduce heat soak. Can work ok. Internally using a misting nozzle into the piping is a higher gain, but also slight more complexity of getting it all to work. There are kits out there to integrate one, but it is definitely for someone who has the time. And i'm sure there are a good handful of time or experience with em to make working nicely.

You need your sprayers, your fittings, lines, separate adequate pump, additional reservoir, and check valves on everything. how to route it, and what might need to change out depending on if internal or external. Finally activation is the other thing someone will have to keep in mind. Use it by a button? use it with a temp sensor to flip the relay, but also know to turn off if no more water.

vs

intake
exhaust
bigger intercooler

a lot less components to wrangle into the car/ to the engine.


it can be a nice bonus, but i'd only consider it after all the rest of the bolt on stuff was done, and i'm taking intercooler temps with more heat soak than i'd want to justiffy adding a waters spray.

food for thought.

The biggest bonus on this i would say is reversibility for warranty purposes, you change the intake or the intercooler it's going to be a fight if you have any issues. You have magnuson in the US that the dealer has to prove that the mod was the cause, but even then it's always a fight. In Canada it's a bit more strict...

on the other side basically adding a water mister in front of the rad/intercooler you are not modifying any internal components so it's a hard fight on their side to say that it caused an issue...

 

[EatMyTaco]

The water misting idea I like, but more for longevity than power. The thing has plenty of power for my uses and I’ve always regretted tunes, power mods. There’s always a downside.
But keeping the turbo cooler would be great, just for lifespan.

 

[Naznac]

The water misting idea I like, but more for longevity than power. The thing has plenty of power for my uses and I’ve always regretted tunes, power mods. There’s always a downside.
But keeping the turbo cooler would be great, just for lifespan.

And for winter you remove the water from the reservoir, put windshield washer in, change the nozzle for a harder spray and reposition it so it points to the sensor pack that keeps freaking out because it's full of crap in the winter.

 

[CAMTuning]

Back in the day this became popular in the Subaru world and then kit failures led to engine failures (lost my first ringland when my kit failed in 2008). They were all but abandoned when E85 and ethanol blends became more widely adopted. Some of the other platforms, like Mazda Speed and Ford EcoBoost, also adopted water methanol with the same results. The system works until it doesn't but you are relying on an external system to provide additional octane and if that octane is not there, things can go south really fast.

 

[Naznac]

Back in the day this became popular in the Subaru world and then kit failures led to engine failures (lost my first ringland when my kit failed in 2008). They were all but abandoned when E85 and ethanol blends became more widely adopted. Some of the other platforms, like Mazda Speed and Ford EcoBoost, also adopted water methanol with the same results. The system works until it doesn't but you are relying on an external system to provide additional octane and if that octane is not there, things can go south really fast.

True that for injecting directly into the intake, anything that messes with the internals had a potential for disaster. But I think the "misting" system in front of the intercooler isn't in the same mindset. The point there is not to add power but to reduce heat soak on the intercooler and preserve the existing power... Could even coil the tube around an AC pipe to feed even cooler water to the mister

 

[CAMTuning]

True that for injecting directly into the intake, anything that messes with the internals had a potential for disaster. But I think the "misting" system in front of the intercooler isn't in the same mindset. The point there is not to add power but to reduce heat soak on the intercooler and preserve the existing power... Could even coil the tube around an AC pipe to feed even cooler water to the mister

Some STi models came with a factory intercooler mister. They were cool, but not that effective. We used to spray CO2 or Nitrous through a bar to super chill the intercooler at the drag strip, again with limited results.

 

[Naznac]

Some STi models came with a factory intercooler mister. They were cool, but not that effective. We used to spray CO2 or Nitrous through a bar to super chill the intercooler at the drag strip, again with limited results.

My idea is mostly for long hard runs while hauling/towing, not for the drag strip. Anything that can help... And in winter empty the system, fill it with -40 windshield washer, change the nozzle to a spray and move it to clean that damn sensor in front when it gets full of crap

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