water & alcohol injection
 

I've been looking at this as a simple way to keep carbon build up down. The new systems are too pricey. I am currently messing with a system created by Ron Novak and published in Mother Earth. I haven't figured out how much water is being taken in or exactly how to control it. I posted this on the geo metro forum site and it went to the high performance enthusiasts instead of to saving fuel and improving the performaance of small stock engines. Has anyone else experimented with this?

There's really nothing simple about water/alcohol injection, to my knowledge... but when I feel my engine needs a good clean, I just spray some hot water down the throttle body from a heavy-drop misting bottle.

Is carbon build-up still a problem?

My guess would be that there's a pre-existing problem...

What I wanted to say earlier was basically that there is no simple way to implement water/alcohol injection.

Simple would be fixing whatever problem is causing the carbon buildup in the first place, not throwing designer solutions at the problem hoping it will go away auto-magically.

In the bad old days of carbs, chokes, huge loafing V8s with imprecise temp and mixture controls, weak sparks, and cylinders that weren't as round and oil rings that weren't as tight, yes things got carboned up.

Now, not so much.

It would help to know what he's working on.

I'm bubbling air thru a 1 to 1 ratio of isopropyl to water. Could be a 3 to 1 ratio would work better. 100% iso is used up too fast.

I've worked with water injection (vacuum) and used a model airplane gas valve to control flow...flow needs to be very precise. My result was a slight loss in power and no mpg gain from water...but this wasn't misted in.

It's a '94 metro 1.0 engine with no pre-existing problems. Carbon build up seems to be a problem with this particular engine that I am trying to head off.

Throw some Sea Foam in it every year or two. You suck it in through a small vacuum hose, add some to the tank, take it for a drive, and imagine you're in the SpyHunter videogame deploying the smoke screen to evade pursuers. Seriously, take it for a ride when this won't cause accidents to the people following.

I have read that a large cause of carbon buildup is through the EGR. Some guys put in a blocker plate so the computer still thinks things are normal. Can always take the plate out for emissions testing. It might put out a little more emissions with no EGR, but then again a carboned up engine would likely put out more emissions too.

The cheapest way people go about water injection is using the stock windshield washer reservior and pump hooked up to a hobs switch or contacter. This application only works for WOT or Boosted applications, and wouldnt really work for non boosted applications. This is because there is only 1 level of flow which you'd only be able to use at WOT.

For N/A applications, you need to have a map sensor tied to a controller to manipulate the voltage going to the pump.... so that its not 100% at 25% throttle position, for example.

Technically, you may be able to get by tapping off the throttle position sensor if your car has one. Or, just hook a potentiometer up to the carb and do it that way. Or perhaps use an electrical vacuum gauges and alter flow that way?