i have a few questions before i begin buying the parts, i plan on getting the nozzle from mcmaster.com and i determined how much water/fuel ratio i need in CCs, but the sizes are in GPH (gallons per hour), anyone know the conversion from CCs to GPH? Also, is a 60 psi pump enough pressure for good atomization? And lastly, is a solenoid really necessary, shouldnt a check valve be good enough?

edit - Also what water/fuel ratios are you guys using? coolingmist.com says 10-15% while rbracing-rsr.com says 12-25%, i could play it safe and call it 15% but i want to get an idea from 1st hand users

To convert CC/Min to GPH
Multiply CC/MIN by .01585

You can use a check valve as well if you want. It won't cause any problems. As far as the pump 60 psi should be fine i had it on one of my old setups with no problems.

Water injection is one of the things I wouldn't home-depot. Any leakage, and you start running the risk of hydrolock.

A professional kit runs about $200-400 depending. A new longblock runs upward of a grand from a junkyard, and a rebuild generally costs around two grand.

1 US gallon = 3,785.4118 cc

Remember, it's cc/min versus gallons/hour, so 1gph = roughly 63.09cc/min

I've made 3 pieced together kits so far. I haven't had one fail on me yet. Most of the prebuilt kits end up using the same pump and check valve or solinoid valve as the home built ones. Just make sure that everything is safe to use with alcky and you should be fine. I check my plumbing and soliniod valve as well as my nozzle every 6 months just to be sure it's all still working fine. I would be doing this even if i purchased one of the prefabbed kits. As long as you use quality parts there shouldn't be any more risk of leaking by running the home made one versus the prefabbed one. But this is just my opinion.

Talesin said:

Water injection is one of the things I wouldn't home-depot. Any leakage, and you start running the risk of hydrolock.

Click to expand...

Well id say its all in the install, even a pro kit can fail if the installer isnt knowledgeable, and besides ill be using the exact same parts from kit, just without the price mark up from vendors.

Thanks for the conversion formula btw

Now im just debating on the 60psi or 100psi pump from Shurflo

I'd go with the 100psi pump. Higher pressure/flow = better atomization = less chance of the water condensing in the UICP or intake manifold.

Heres where my journey began with alky injection:

http://members.cox.net/stevemonroe/AlcoholInjMod.html

Hes added some more info links on the page now...

When I 1st built mine, I tried to get complicated with multiple stages and solenoids...for me, it was too much. Keep it simple if you're going to DIY. Youll get virtually the same performance as adding extra stuff to the system.

60 PSI pump does work. I went with 100 psi.

Percent replaced can be up to 25 percent. Start low and work up. Experiment what mixes of water work best, and how much fuel to pull out with percentage mix you're using.

I started with a 2 or 3 gph nozzle. Experimented with turn on points-ended up with a low turn on point-2 psi for my homemade system. Its piece of mind!

The DIY systems do work very well. I just like the ability to ramp up injection with boost, so I have moved on to a progressive system from alkycontrol. Any system that allows some sort of progressive injection with cockpit control is very nice.

I also read the ENTIRE forum for alky injection at www.turbobuick.com. All 3 years worth! You'll learn about mixes, why they work and why not (and sometimes nobody knows why!)
and systems. Its highly recomended.

Good luck. HTH
Jason