Originally Posted by ninja3.8

Ok guys, Water/Meth injection has been a hot topic on the forum lately so I wanted to make a thread to try and consolidate some of the information you need to know.



What is Water/Meth injection?

Water/Meth Injection is to put it brutally simple, the injection of a water and methanol mixture into the intake charge.



Why use it?

Again to put it simply, water/meth lowers intake temperatures and increases octane in order to allow the motor to better resist knock. This cooling affect will allow you to advance timing and increase boost safely.



Who can benefit from this?

Every engine can benefit from water/meth Injection. Turbo and supercharged motors benefit more than N/A motors due to the increased intake temperatures they normally experience.



Here is a nice video to give you a general explanation:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkPFZWd8wj4



Now lets get a little more in depth on the benefits.

Methanol has an octane rating of 116, that is more than E85(105) and race gas(110). The methanol in the mix is going to increase the overall octane of the air fuel mixture going into the motor. The vaporization of the methanol will also help to cool the intake charge. Where the cooling really becomes substantial is the water. The vaporization of the water pulls large amounts of heat from the air cooling the intake charge significantly. You can expect to see intake temps around 20 degrees below ambient with water/meth injection. Another great benefit of water/meth is that the water essentially steam cleans the motor. This will help keep carbon buildup off of your valves and pistons to keep the motor running tip top.



Can I run 100% water?

Yes you can. With 100% water you will need to use a small nozzle to avoid quench but it will work perfectly fine. You will still get the cooling and cleaning benefits but not the octane benefits that come with the methanol.



Do I have to tune for this?

No, you can run this with no tune whatsoever and will see some small gains. However, without a tune you will not see a great power gain. Look at it this way, Without a tune, this is a safety mod, keeping ait and knock in check. With a tune this is a power mod, adding power by increasing boost and advancing timing whilst having the safety of cooler ait and higher octane.





Can I run this with E85?

Yes you can. E85 has an octane rating of 105 where as methanol is 116 so there will be a slight bump in octane that will help resist knock. The water will cool the intake charge significantly so you will have much cooler air going into the motor. With E85 and meth, you will be able to run pretty much the most aggressive timing and most boost that the motor can handle. you will have an extremely good resistance to knock, better than E85 alone.



Is it safe?

Yes, water/meth alone is not going to harm your motor. It is good for it. However, If tuned very aggressively and the water/meth system fails your motor could..well...explode. This is why you need to run a failsafe.



What is a failsafe?

A failsafe is a device that will cut your boost in the event that the flow of meth slows or stops. Most either work by holding open the BOV or the wastegate.



So You think you want to run water/meth? What options do you have?

There are several companies out there with good quality kits to fit just about any car. There are some made for specific applications, the gencoupe not being one of those. Do not worry though, most all Meth kits are the same and a universal kit will do just fine for our cars. A couple of the top companies making water/meth kits are Snow Performance, Devils Own, AEM, Coolingmist, and Aquamist.



What Do I need to buy?

Well, this depends on how simple you want to make it. The more features you add the more complex the system gets. At minimum I would recommend you go with a stage 2 progressively controlled water/meth kit. You can get as fancy as you like with flow meters, gauges, failsafes, solenoids, multiple nozzles, direct port injection, etc. etc.



What is the difference between stage 1, 2, and 3?

Stage 1 generally uses a boost pressure switch that is simply on and off. The switch point is usually adjustable. Stage 2 uses a progressive type controller. This allows you to set the bosst pressure at which to start the flow of meth and then the pressure you want the meth to flow full. For instance you can set flow to start at 8psi and flow 100% at 15psi. The flow rate will increase as the boost increases until it reaches full flow. With stage 3 you will be able to control meth flow via a controller in the car, it will allow you to create meth flow maps based off of rpm, boost, and injector pule width.



Where can I buy this?

Below I will list the more popular kits by company.



Snow Performance

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3



Devils Own

Stage 1

Stage 2



AEM

Stage 2



Coolingmist

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3



Aquamist

Stage 3



A few things to note:

Anytime you mount your tank in the trunk or above the nozzle, you need to use a solenoid. I would recommend a solenoid On any setup.



I encourage you to visit each companies website and check out all they offer. there are numerous other upgrades such as solenoids, Flow sensors, Flow gauges, trunk mount tanks, low level sensors, failsafes, etc. etc.



Do your research and figure out what kit is best for you