Re: Water Injection

[Christopher Eveland <eveland@domain.elided>]

> On the other hand, George and Mike, most of us have experienced our
> engines running better when it is raining. Years ago, when I was messing
> around a lot with flat head Ford V8's, I devised a water injection system
> that essentially made my Fords run as if it were raining. Then about 10
> years ago, I bought an Edelbrock Water Injection system and put it on my
> Terra. The Terra ran much better with the water being injected by the
> computer. No question in my mind that the water injection increased
> power, eliminated pinging, and generally helped the engine run well.

I think the reason that your engine runs better with the water
injection/rain is that a) the state change from liquid to gas absorbs a
lot of energy and cools off your intake charge quite a bit, and b)
you're running enough advance and/or compression to take advantage of
it.  With the cooler intake charge you can get away with the extra
compression/advance without detonation, whereas you would ping
otherwise.  With water vapor already in the atmosphere, there is no
state change, so no cooling takes place, and you get the pinging.

-Chris
'67 800