Water injection?

[1974dodgecharger]

Someone told me if one wanted easy power just add water injection to the intake manifold? I googled it and man thats some weird thinking adding water mist to a intake saying it increases power?

If so easy how come u dont see it more often?

[dual fours]

A very old man (to me at the time) back in the late 70's was talking about this (water injection) at an old hangout (coffee stop) for my dad and I. He was trying to talk/sell his "Invention" of this setup. I guess he had a good point there . Come to think about he was in to airplanes and cars.
Thank for bringing this out of the storage shed of my brain.
 

[1974dodgecharger]

Thats what i just read that they were used i  planes and stuff and then kinda used in cars in the 70s but faded away but now its very popular it seems....i just did some basic youtube and huh interesting stuff.....

[Bob]

JC Witney used to sell water injection kits for cars and trucks. I regularly sprayed water down my carbs while reving the engine to clean the cylinders and valves. Was it wrong or not I don't know.

[Troy]

Adding water injection just for the sake of it probably won't help much at all. Guys who run turbos use water/methanol injection to cool the intake air since compressing it adds a lot of heat. Some supercharged (and maybe NA) WWII planes had it for roughly the same reason. It should allow more compression and decrease detonation. It basically allows you to get the most of your other performance modifications. You need to tune for it - which is something you can do with MegaSquirt and other after market EFI controllers. The reason you won't see it on a production car is complexity, cost, and hassle for the driver remembering to fill it up.

Troy

[Mike DC]

  
As I understand it, methanol (basically windshield washer fluid) injection is an alternative to higher-octane gas.  You get the real benefits from methanol when the motor's compression is too high to run well on the fuel without it.  That, plus the fact that it wants a computerized injection rig (even on a carb'd motor), prevents it from being more widespread. 

[John_Kunkel]

Like Troy said, water injection is about preventing detonation, it won't add power that you didn't already have.