I saw in Japanese Performance mag a couple of months ago a guy with an Mr2 Turbo had installed an "Aquamist" cooling system which uses water injection to help cooling and boost performance.

 

Did anyone read about this, or has anyone looked into it for the 300zx?

 

Ooh - found their website : http://www.aquamist.co.uk

 

Looks like very nifty bits of kit they supply...

 

Any thoughts?

 

Pete

Hmmm, well if it was a white MR2 turbo, then there's just a possibility that I installed it ....

 

Clever bit of kit actually, but the control system could be improved upon with a fully mapped ECU. Seems to do the trick as standard though, but you need some setup time on the dyno to get it to work right. Also a little better if you run a water/methanol mix ! ;)

For those that cant be arsed to go to the site ;)

 

THE CONCEPT of injecting water into the internal combustion engine has been around for over 50 years. But the desire to extract more power from the standard production engine has increased at a neck-breaking speed. ERL has just revived this old principle, applying the latest techniques in both electronic and mechanical engineering to take water injection into the next millennium.

 

WATER? Water exists mainly in a liquid state because that is its most stable inter-molecular structure. When we apply heat energy to it, its molecules begin to expand: a great deal of heat is absorbed during this process owing to water's specific heat capacity - approximately 4.2kJ/(kg.K). When the water changes from the liquid to gas state, large amount of heat energy is consumed in sustaining the process. The latent heat of evaporation is 2256kJ/kg, approximately six times more than gasoline!

 

SO WHAT? Because of its huge specific- and latent- heat capacity, water is the perfect liquid for regulating excess heat under certain engine-operating conditions, for example induction charge air cooling; but its biggest contribution is inside the combustion chamber where, under excessive loading, pre-ignition and detonation can otherwise occur. Such abnormal combustion is particularly common in force induction engines, where exhaust temperature can exceed 1100°C!

 

WHAT CHANCE has a piston got under these conditions, given that aluminium melts at 660°C? 99% of production cars keep exhaust temperature below 850°C by fuel-dumping, and hold crown temperature below 550°C by conduction to the underside and skirt of the piston, which is constantly being quenched by engine oil. Most of the heat is transferred to the cylinder wall. Simple and wonderful solutions, but ...

 

TURBO-CARS are easily upgraded just by adjusting the boost pressure and adding a commercially-available pre-programmed chip; but the hidden drawback of this solution is that even more fuel is being dumped -- as a coolant! -- to compensate for standard engine-cooling arrangements (inside the engine bay your fast-road car has more-or-less the same radiators and cooling fans as the family car next door). But as you upgrade your power-upgrade, you will get to the point where the fuel becomes so rich, and the flame is burning so slowly, that power is being lost rather than gained.

 

WORSE STILL your piston is no longer being lubricated properly: bore-wash is taking its toll of the pistons. You might decide to combat this with a very special synthetic oil, developed from years of research, which helped some car to win a few championships last season. Your favourite racing-driver recommends it on TV, so of course you want to believe him. But have you ever wondered why he has to get his engine rebuilt after every race?

 

HELP! Help is indeed at hand! The ERL Aquamist system, using sophisticated electronics to process engine-data, injects a precisely-metered quantity of coolant: not gasoline, but water, six times more effective, and freely available! We eliminate fuel-dumping, leaving your air/fuel ratio unaffected, enabling maximum power to be extracted from the engine. To ensure that each cylinder receives exactly the same dosage, we deliver the coolant in a fine mist: not only does Aquamist eliminate piston-ring damage ... it steam-cleans your engine with every stroke!

 

THERE'S MORE ... The Aquamist system offers a full range of diagnostic features, enabling you to detect blocked nozzles, cut water-pipes, and all sorts of other smashing things. If track record and expertise is what you want, don't wait for your favourite racing driver to tell you about Aquamist on TV: it might be too late ...

i must ne bored .. i read the whole thing ,...... well 1/2 anyway .....

 

i'll wait until front intercooler boost controller afc ....huge turbos .. then i will c ......

 

that will prob be ....

 

never :)

I think Paul Gunn is getting this installed on his 300zx ?.

I have looked into this and if it can reproduce what happened to my Z earlier this year when there was a really fine mist about then it is on my list..........:D

what about cooling the charge air with water on the intercooler ?

 

I bet you need to change your oil more often though when adding water to it

The main draw-back with water injection is that it reduces the volumetric octane of the fuel in the cylinder. Until you start reaching seriously big power, the benefits of water injection are rather moot, and better results can be achieved with mild retardation of the ignition timing. On the scoobs, the ECU can alter ignition retardation throughout the map, and all the equipment is built in. So a good mapper can replicate the effects of water injection without needing lots of extra hardware.

 

Saying that, Water injection is very very VERY effective if you are over stressing a tiny turbo you can use water injection VERY effectively to reduce charge temperatures without changing the turbos for more efficient ones.

 

At least that's my understanding, anyway :D

 

It's a perfectly viable soloution (excuse the pun) but INMHO there are better ways...that don't involve carrying a huge tank of water around.

 

Also, you will need some kind of sensor that inhibits your boost levels when the water runs out. Otherwise, if you are relying on your aquamist and it runs out........BANG! :(

now feel free to tell me I am being stupid here...

 

I have been thinking about this since myself and andyp discussed this aquamist. Surely, despite the potential good that can come of spraying water into the cylinder, you are also chucking a load of water back out, in the form of sulphuric acid?

Aquamist system fitted in SCC's Z32 project car:

 

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/projectcars/0102scc_proj300zx/

 

Scroll down to "Water Injection"

 

-Andrew