|
I used to use a Binks #7 spray gun to feed well atomized water into the intake manifold of a 81-81 280 ZX to remove carbon deposits from the piston and cylinder head. About 1/3rd of the head was only 1 millimeter from the top of the piston and carbon buildup would cause a knock that made most people think the engine was coming apart.
We would use a pair of vise grips to lock the throttle at about 2500 RPM (air cleaner removed) then set the paint gun to a certain amount of atomized water and let her run for 15-20 minutes. It always worked, you could see the clean tops of the pistons through the plug holes and the knock was gone, and you had one tickled to death customer who had his engine knock fixed for less than 1 hours labor and no parts.
I guess I should have tried adjusting the paint gun to a minimal amount of water to see if it actually increased the power, but I never saw any increase in RPM with a small amount of water delivered from the gun, and it was very well atomized by that old #7 gun.
I simply can not see how additional humidity in in coming air would increase power. In the B17 at War Emergency Power ratings you were basically destroying the engine in a matter of minutes with 2 atmospheres of boost in an air cooled radial aircraft engine. You had separate controls for mixture, boost, and timing, I believe and those controls could be maladjusted and destroy an engine. Not really a possibility with any modern computer controlled engine that is running in its designed parameters.
As far as the steam pressure created by using combustion temperature to superheat the steam, I just don't see that as taking place in the milliseconds when combustion temperatures are at their peak, probably for less than 45 degrees of crankshaft rotation, possibly much less than that as the pressure of combustion drops precipitously after ignition at TDC.
regards
Mech
|