KR> water injection installed

[Mark Langford]

NetHeads,

After years of threatening to do it, I finally got around to installing 
water injection on my plane, and test flew it today.

I ran water injection on my 2110cc Karmann Ghia back in the late 70's 
when I lived in the desert, to tame the detonation caused by the 9.9:1 
compression ratio (lots of long stories in that sentence).   It was only 
activated above certain throttle settings using an adjustable vacuum 
switch, squirting water down the throats of twin Weber 40IDF carbs, and 
worked quite well.  What I didn't realize is that water injection also 
"steam cleans" piston tops and combustion chambers, because when I 
pulled the heads to lower the compression, the chambers and piston tops 
looked like new!

I don't have detonation problems with the latest incarnation of my 
2180cc airplane engine, especially since I dropped the compression ratio 
to 8.1:1 so I could run 93 octane auto fuel on the hottest summer days, 
but I do like the idea of keeping the chambers and pistons squeaky clean 
and deposit free.  So I found a "windshield washer kit" on ebay for $12 
that uses a pliable plastic bag for the reservoir, allowing me to easily 
fasten it to my engine mount in an area that is otherwise quite tight on 
space.

I can report today that running the injection at near wide open throttle 
is barely perceptible, indicated only by a 20-30 rpm drop in RPM, and it 
makes the engine run slightly leaner, according to the mixture meter.  I 
installed the push-button switch that came with the kit, but only used a 
pint or so of water in two minutes of operation, so I'll probably 
install a toggle switch so I can run it for 10 minutes to empty the bag 
and do some serious cleaning.

I welded primer port fittings into the intake manifold for each cylinder 
(total of four), with a standard .020" diameter primer nozzle installed 
in each cylinder's inlet manifold runner for the primer system.  Since 
the engine starts without priming in the summer, I simply disconnected 
the fuel line and slipped the plastic tubing into the tee that goes to 
each side.  Works like a charm.  I was concerned about the primer 
nozzles sucking water out of the bag at high vacuum (idle), so I also 
bought a $10 "pneumatic" 12V solenoid (a Keurig coffee maker replacement 
part) from ebay so water only flows when I want it to.

Although this likely falls under the heading of "stuff you don't need", 
I like the idea of having clean combustion chambers and piston tops, and 
a quick way to quell detonation should it ever happen with this low 
compression ratio.  Obviously, this won't work in freezing temperatures, 
but it's not needed for detonation in the winter anyway.  See enclosed 
photo for my rather shoddy (but temporary) installation, but it does 
work fine this way.  As you can see, real estate is limited, so a normal 
hard plastic reservoir wouldn't fit.  All electrical connections are 
insulated and there's a fuse and a breaker in the line also.

See http://www.n56ml.com/ghia2.jpg for a picture of the Ghia (still got 
it), and see the water injection "installation" photo below this message 
as an attachment.

-- 
Mark Langford
ML at N56ML.com
http://www.n56ml.com

-- next part --
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: injection-setup.JPG
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 84421 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: 

KR> water injection installed

[mark jones]

>>On Sat, Jul 30, 2016 at 10:21 PM, Mark Langford via KRnet <
krnet at list.krnet.org> wrote:
>>  What I didn't realize is that water injection also "steam cleans"
piston tops and combustion chambers...

When I was 16 years old I worked as a mechanic helper in an auto repair
shop. One of his tricks of the trade was to clean out the combustion
chambers on every car he serviced. The way he did it was to take a 12 ounce
CocaCola bottle and fill it with water. As I revved the engine up he would
pour the cold water directly into the carburetor throat. At the time I
thought he was crazylittle did I know.

Mark Jones (N886MJ)
Clearwater, FL
flykr2s at gmail.com
www.flykr2s.com


>

KR> water injection installed

[Raymond Fuenzalida]

Hey Mark.
Sounds like a great tech session at the Gathering.  Have everyone
interested order the parts in advance and show how to install it.  Even if
it just goes in a car (like my 64 convertible), it would be fun and
educational.

Ray_pilot
New Orleans

On Sat, Jul 30, 2016 at 9:21 PM, Mark Langford via KRnet <
krnet at list.krnet.org> wrote:

> NetHeads,
>
> After years of threatening to do it, I finally got around to installing
> water injection on my plane, and test flew it today.
>
>
>
> ___
> Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search.
> To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to KRnet-leave at list.krnet.org
> please see other KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html
> see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change
> options
>
>