Is water injection a proven technology for improving engine performance?
Similar to the benefits of using hydrous ethanol blends, many water injection systems for high performance engines use a mixture of water and alcohol (approximately 50/50). The water provides the primary cooling effect for air and fuel injection mixtures due to its great density and high heat absorption properties. Water instantly reduces air intake charge temperatures by 50-200 plus °F. This provides a substantially cooler and denser air charge for greater expansion of power within the combustion chamber. It is becoming quite common to find engine builders using 91-93 octane gasoline combined with water/alcohol injection to support engines well over 1000+ horsepower. One top engine builder in the industry has already made upwards of 1700+ horsepower with a ProCharger supercharger carbureted big block Chevrolet on 93 octane regular unleaded gas using 100% water injection.
