Run Your Car on Water!!! (emulsion that is)
 

The hho nonsense seems to be going away finally so I figured I would drag this old idea back up to the top :)

Read this patent from 1979 Gasoline-water emulsion - Patent 4158551

I had a water injection system set up on my metro back when I first got it and I picked up 10% better mileage with it but it was nearly impossible to keep it adjusted and working properly. It was adding 1 gallon of water for every 10 gallons of gas used. This old patent idea is similar to injecting water into the intake manifold since it is just adding straight water to the combustion chamber. It is just getting around the whole metering process by mixing it directly into the gas in the tank. The idea is you are using some of the waste heat to convert the water into steam. Steam helps build higher cylinder pressures so it takes less gas to get the same cylinder pressure. Dry steam is 1600 times greater in volume than water. The good thing about this patent is that he lists the exact amounts of the materials required.

For a test I was thinking of using my bike since it is very easy to drain the tank if things don't work out. I could vary the ratio of water and gas in the solution and check my 0-60 times as well as fuel used by draining the tank to find out fuel used.

Should be an easy experiment assuming I ever get time to do it. Anyone got any ideas or comments?

I'd assume freezing cold weather would be a problem - plug fuel filter - possible fuel pump damage???
But West Virginia is probably past that problem for a few months???

I would mix some in a glass mason jar and put it in the freezer, another one in a nice warm place and maybe shake one like mad to make sure you don't get some weird clotting.

How about use a piezoelectric element connected to a high voltage, high frequency inverter controlled by digital logic to squirt water into the intake? (I named that idea "Amy Aldrich" after a friend of mine. The catchphrase is "Amy Aldrich: squirting away foreign oil dependence, one gallon at a time.")

Do you have a source for the chemicals noted in the patent? Or are they commonly available by other names?

I will probably get them from school depending on what all is in the lab for experimenting. I don't think any of the stuff listed is that expensive if bought in reasonable volume. A 30 gallon barrel would last years probably.

I was figuring trying for a half gallon of gas with 1/4 gallon of water with whatever amount was needed to get a clear emulsion. That would give me enough gas in the tank to run around in it and make sure I knew for sure how it was running.

In for results. :thumbup:

well, you can experiment with a bottle of plain old heet (methyl alcohol), it is what you put in your tank when you have water in it. Maybe try it on the bench and figure out the max water/min heet & gas ratios.
Don't know why or why not it wouldn't work.

I might have missed something, but how would you prevent the gas and the water from separating in the fuel tank?

I've heard that filling up at cheap gas stations carries the risk of getting gas that was "baptised" with water, which isn't supposed to be too good for your engine.