Description
Water injection is a technology that has been used for many years in motorsport, that was designed to safely maximize engine output on turbocharged vehicles. In essence, once a desired level of boost is reached, a fine mist of water is sprayed into the intake system before the throttle body. Since the vaporization of water requires a lot of energy (heat), the charge air is cooled dramatically. Since the intake temps are reduced so much, an engine can be pushed much further before encountering detonation. Therefore, more aggressive boost and timing maps can be utilized to produce more power. In a way this mod is similar to upgrading your intercooler. The goal is to control intake temperatures. There is one benefit to water injection on top of this. Water injection also provides 'in cylinder' cooling, which helps to lower your EGT's as well as combustion temps, due to the vaporization of the water. Again, this is a good thing if you would like to avoid detonation!
The bottom line is that it works. Water injection can benefit everything from stock cars to heavily modified cars, whether you are looking for an increased level of safety to run slightly more boost on the stock systems, or you are looking to produce extra power on an already powerful machine. There are a lot of sceptics out there about water injection. You can either continue to believe theories like "there's no replacement for displacement", or you can accept the fact that technology and efficiency can maximize your engines potential. Dennis Heath has done an extensive write-up on this subject, which I encourage you to take a read through. CLICK HERE to read what Dennis has to say about water injection.
Installation
For the most part, the installation of the water injection kit is not that difficult. You might be surprised when you first open the box to how few parts there are! Basically, you have the water pump, a small filter, nylon hose, your choice of 3 jets, a relay, and the boost sensor. There are a few areas to watch out for when installing the parts, which might cause some difficulty. I will try to go through the installation as in depth as possible.
The Reservoir
The first thing you need to decide is what you are going to use to hold the water. I wanted to keep everything as close to the intake as possible, so I decided to use the stock windshield washer reservoir for this. I chose this because it is already mounted securely, fairly easy to access, and is close to the engine. I wanted to avoid mounting things in my trunk, since I do like to use it from time to time. haha.
If you are planning to use the windshield washer reservoir, be sure to first empty it out. First pull the main washer hose, run it into an old fluid bottle or whatever you have handy. Turn on the winshield washers and let it pump out as much as possible.
You will need to buy a screw-in barbed fitting to attach to the washer reservoir, so that you can hook up the nylon hose to it. You can get this at Home Depot. Find the proper drill bit for this fitting, and drill a hole in the bottom of the reservoir. I drilled mine on one of the angled corners so that the fitting wasnt sticking straight down. Drilling the side was not possible, since I couldnt fit the drill in the space. Have a ice cream pale or something ready, because the rest of the washer fluid that was in there will probably pour out once you drill into the reservoir.
Next you screw in the fitting into the side of the reservoir. I used a whole bunch of RTV sealant so that it wouldn't leak. This might be a good idea. Attach the fatter hose to the barbed fitting, and immediately connect the filter. You want it below the reservoir if possible. Run the hose from the other side of the filter to wherever you plan on mounting the pump.
The Pump
For me, this was the most difficult part of the installation. This is not because mounting the pump was physically difficult, however, it was because there is virtually no room to play with in my engine bay! Since you want to keep the pump as low and as close to the reservoir as possible, your mounting options are limited. I found that the best spot was already used up by the radiator overflow tank. This is no problem though, because it is easy to move that tank. I relocated the tank and mounted it to a bracket I made out of an "L" peice of aluminum, bolted to the chassis where the OEM air filter sits. In order to make enough space available, I had to also remove the charcoal canister. I'll leave that for another write-up, although it isnt difficult. Here are some pictures of the relocated overflow tank. I have since fixed the kink in the PCV hose, so don't mind that.
Once the radiator overflow tank was moved, mounting the pump was fairly easy. I cut and bent some thin aluminum to serve as a mounting bracket for the pump, as well as the relay and the boost sensor. I drilled holes in the aluminum to mount it to the existing brackets intended for the overflow tank. I also drilled appropriate holes in the aluminum for the boost sensor and the pump. The peice sits fairly solid in place, although I might look into using some thicker aluminum if I can find it. Once the pump is in place, you simply run the thinner nylon hose from the out port on the pump to the jet. Here are some pictures of the pump installed and in place, along with the boost sensor and the relay.
The Jet
The installation of the jet is not extremely difficult, however it requires a bit more work to do. You need to install the jet after the turbo, and before the throttle body. From what I have seen, the best results have been obtained by mounting it after the intercooler. Given the very tight space between the intercooler and the throttle body, this does not leave you with much room. The best place, in my opinion, is to mount it on the intercooler outlet.
The aluminum on the intercooler outlet is somewhat thin, which does not make it ideal for tapping threads. You should take your intercooler to a good welder, and have him do one of two things. The way I chose, was for him to weld a thicker peice of aluminum onto the outlet. This is nice and solid, and makes it easy for me to drill and tap threads for the jet. The other option is to have the welder build up the aluminum. My welder advised against it because it would not be as solid as a single peice of aluminum, plus it would be nice and flat for drilling.
Once you have your intercooler back from the welder, you need to prepare to drill and tap into the aluminum. File the peice of aluminum down as much as possible, however keep in mind you want it thick enough to tap threads in. Use a punch to mark out where you want to make the hole. Use a small bit to drill an initial hole first, then use a 9/32" bit as specified in the Aquamist instructions. This will give a nice smooth hole. Be sure to stick a clean wrag in the intercooler to avoid getting aluminum shavings trapped in there. You wouldn't want that going through your engine! Next take the supplied tap, and slowly and carefully tap the hole. Remember the intercooler is a pretty expensive item, you wouldnt want to mess it up at this point. Just go slow, be firm and never force it. If it gets caught, back off a hair and continue.
You probably won't want to remove the jet many times, but screw it in and make sure it fits good. You will have to choose a jet. I chose the middle size, .6mm (blue). I might test the other sizes but for my current power levels this seems good. Here are a few pictures of the jet installed on the intercooler.
The extra aluminum that you had welded on will cause the rubber coupler to not fit very well. You will need to cut part of it out with an exacto knife, so that it forms around the bulk of the aluminum. Be very careful doing this, because you don't want to cause any leaks in the intake system. Here is a pic of mine, after being modified.
Finally, here are a few pictures of the intercooler installed, showing the jet and modified rubber coupler.
Wiring and LED
The wiring for the water injection is fairly simple. One wire goes to ground, one to constant power from the battery, and one to ignition switched power. Two wires connect to the boost sensor. This is outlined well in the instructions as well, so there is no need to go in depth on it.
In order to know when the pump is activated (ie. what boost level is triggering it), you should install an LED in the cabin. In order to do this, you simply solder a new wire on each of the boost sensor wires, and run them to the cabin. Attach these new wires to an LED and mount the LED somewhere visible in the cabin. This way you can see what adjustments you are making to the activation point, and what works best for your car. Most of Aquamist's pressure sensors come pre-set at 10psi. (obviously you need a boost gauge to know when it is activated)
Rating
Product quality: 10/10
Difficulty level: 5/10
Aquamist's product is top notch. This is probably one of the best mods I have done to date. I consider the price of this kit WELL worth it. In my opinion, this should be near the top of everyone's list if they own a 3SGTE.
| 
