WI with N20?

[JoeB]

I have the Aquamist 2d injecting a 50/50 mix of methanol/water about 5-6 inches before my throttle body. I recently purchased a Nitrous Express N20 wet kit and would like to run somewhere between 75-125 shot. The thing is, the recommendation for the N20 is to inject at about the same place as I am injecting water. Any recommendations or precautions? I've heard about a possible concern of damaging the motor because of water droplets freezing from the N20??? I posted about this before but it seems the message got lost. Thanks -JoeB

[hotrod]

It should be workable but I know of no one who has actually done it.

The nitrous comes out very cold but due to the limited flow compared to the engines total air flow it only cools the intake air something like 70 degrees or so.

As long as the water injection and nitrous injection sites were some distance apart I see no fundemental reason it should not work. Especially if your using a water/alcohol mix over about 50%. That was good enough to prevent freezing in aircraft at 30,000 ft altitude and -30 deg F temps in WWII.


The nitrous folks might be able to give you some info on that application on their tech lines.

Let us know what you find out.

Larry

[MikeD]

I did it 20 years ago! I gave my
40hp Triumph T110 a 100hp shot.
I used 50/50/(0) to 75/25/(0)
water and methanol. My mixture
was 100% to 200% too rich and
worked very well (but too much
HP for first gear). Would not burn
below about 3000RPM (overcooled),
just exploded behind bike below
3000RPM. (Nothing happened to
frightened onlookers)
Made my own direct port injection
with N2O and fuel jets inclined
a little toward each other and
pointed to intake valve, jets
5" to 6" from intake valve.
After a few weeks water/methanol
had turned into jelly. I decided
to try water/ethanol next time.

[JoeB]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Larry, that makes sense, it sounds like the 50% methanol should keep the water from freezing. I talked to a rep at Nitrous Express and he thought it should be ok as well. He also recommended I separate the 2 as much as I can. I only have maybe 10" to work with between the throttle body and the MAF/AIT. I need to spray both after the MAF/AIT and before the throttle body. NX recommended I spray the water first then the N2O closer to the throttle body.

Mike, I am using an RPM window switch so I can automatically control what RPM the N2O starts spraying so I should be ok there. I wonder why the methanol gelled. Any ideas? Did the ethanol work better for you? I think I read here that ethanol would not be good for the Aquamist pump? -JoeB

[hotrod]

I wonder why the methanol gelled. Any ideas? Did the ethanol work better for you?

I have no clue why good methanol and water would gell. The only thing I can think of is it was not pure methanol, or some odd thing like it pulled some chemical out of your tank or some such. If it set long enough to have most of the methanol evaporate you might have had some slime mold take over in the tank but that is all I can guess on that one.

What was your source for the methanol? It might have had a lubricant or other additive in it.

I can't really tell a big difference between the ethanol and methanol. In WWII aircraft engines the two were essentially identical in performance and interchangeable. When I get EGT's installed in all my header runners I'll be in a better situation for seeing if there is any difference, but seat of the pants wise not a big difference.

Larry

[JoeB]

Larry, I was talking about Mike's methanol gelling but from his post, that was about 20 years ago. My methanol source is very good and it's pure. I have an EGT in the headers but it hasn't done a lot for me in determining the effectiveness of the water injection. It seems mine is primarily working on the heat soak of the supercharger. We discussed this in another thread. Soon I will have a temperature gauge monitoring the air in the sc. Then I will be able to see how much I can bring down the temp of the sc air with the water injection. My setup does not allow for an intercooler. Well at least not a reasonably priced one :wink: . Anything can be done with limitless amounts of money right? It's just that mine is limited. -JoeB

[MikeD]

My methanol was pure but I did
strap an old 2-stroke lawnmower
gas tank to my trusty Trumpet.
Probably that tank had been
used for many years without
cleaning. On the other hand
a methanol Pro Mod dragracer
told me he has to flush his entire
fuel system with light oil after
every weekend of racing. Heard
some dragracers are using an
anti gelling additive in their
methanol.

Recently, I inspected water/
ethanol, about 50/50/(0), that
was stored in a clean aluminium
tank for over a year. Looked
like small particles of "snow"
in it. Could have been filtered
out easily, though.

I use destilled, demineralized, salt free water nowadays because over
here there is calcium in tap water. I buy it (and my ethanol) cheap at
the grocery.