Part 2: Aquamist Results to date (including the dyno...)

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09-29-2004, 06:42 AM

Mark P

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Part 2: Aquamist Results to date (including the dyno...)

Ok, I'll try to sum up all of the results I have viewed, which may or may not be easy, we'll see...

Part 1 - The Install:
<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1743767.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1743767.phtml</a>

 Part 2 - The Results:

Aquamist is a system to inject water or a water/alcohol mix into your engine. Water has a high latent heat index and thus absorbs a lot of heat, in turn cooling Intake Air Temps. Mixing water with an alcohol can richen your Air/Fuel mixture if that is desireable for the application. These primary effects can lead to secondary effects such as reduced EGTs and/or the ability to run more engine timing advance.

Let's start by looking at the primary function, reduced Intake Air Temps...

Note: Below, the colors are consistant between graphs; that is,
Red = Stock ICs, no Aquamist
Yellow = AWE ICs, no Aquamist
Blue = AWE ICs, Aquamist, no Accumulator
Green = AWE ICs, Aquamist, Accumulator
Each set was done on a different day, but the comparisons on each graph were performed together. Also, all of the graphs are 3rd gear, except the dyno ones which are 4th gear.

For completeness sake, I will first show my IATs at two stages prior to Aquamist install. Below you can see my APR Stg3 car with Stock ICs and also with AWE ICs:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/ic/iat_stockic_vs_aweic.gif">

Then, after I installed Aquamist, I noted even lower/flatter IAT curve:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/iat_AM_on_vs_off.gif">

Then I took it one step further and installed an Accumulator, and observed even lower/flatter IAT curve:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/iat_AM_wwo_accumulator.gif">

Here's where I installed the Accumulator (everything gets hidden under the cover when in place [photo coming]):
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dsc00954.jpg">

<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dsc00955.jpg">

Here was also a difference I saw when doing a 1st-4th log. This was before I installed the Accumulator. Both graphs are from the same data, but just plotted with either Time or MPH as the x-axis:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/iat_10-120mph_vsTime.gif">
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/iat_10-120mph_vsMPH.gif">

While on the <a href="http://ctny.audiworld.com/events/040925xx_dynoday2/" target="_blank">dyno recently</a>, I did two runs with Aquamist off and two with it on. Here is the IAT for those 4 runs (yes, there are 4 runs plotted there - each group of 2 is very consistant to each other):
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/iat_dyno_wwo_AM.gif">

I'll also get logs while at the drags this Friday.

"Ok, that's great, now show me the money!"
So, I think by now it should be fairly obvious that Aquamist does indeed reduce Intake Air Temps. Many reading this right now might not be content with just that alone and want to see more benefits cascading from this, so let's see what we have there...

During most of my logs on the street, while the IAT difference was blantantly noticeable, other differences were not. I could not definitively say that timing increased, the car was faster, etc. Again, recall that the primary effect is lower IATs, and to see more improvements you may have to adjust tuning for them. My tuning at the time did have some Timing Retard, so I had hoped that it would lessen and/or go away with Aquamist, but it did not. But, then I put my car on the dyno...

The same 4 runs that showed the Yellow/Green IAT graph above showed the following results...

Mid-band Timing increased:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/timing_wwo.gif">

EGT's were reduced:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/egt_wwo.gif">

Reduced EGT's lead to A/F not needing to add fuel (go rich) to keep temps down:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/af_wwo.gif">

Now, if I look at what the Dyno had to say about those runs, I observe...

Well, during some part of the RPM band, there was more power, and less at other times. It's basically too close to make any conclusion, other than just that - there were no noticeable gains:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/hptq_dyno_wwo_AM.gif">

When I looked at the actual, measured A/F, I notice 2 things. First, it appears that the alcohol that is in standard windshield washer fluid did indeed richen the A/F, and secondly the high EGTs without AM caused fuel to dump near the end of the run, but didn't occur with AM (same as noted above in the Desired A/F):
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/af_dyno_wwo_AM.gif">

Ok, with those results noted, I decided to add 3 degrees of timing via Lemmiwinks. After doing that, I noted the following:

Mid-band took nicely to added timing:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/timing_AMon_0vs3tim.gif">

...and showed a positive increase in HP/TQ:
<img src="http://ctny.audiworld.com/mark/s4/aquamist/dynoday2_results/hptq_dyno_AMon_0vs3tim.gif">

"So where does that leave us?"
Well, the IAT reductions are there, but the power differences did not come automatically. Raising timing showed improvements, but one will never know if those improvements would have also been there without having Aquamist as well.

At this point, I think what stands out most in my mind is how the IAT's are drastically cooler after a multi-gear run. While there wasn't an obvious increase in timing/power/etc during the various single-gear runs/dynos, I hope to see some noticeable improvement in those areas while in the multi-gear scenario. This Friday I am taking part in a Drag Day, and I will do at least a pair of runs as similar as I can with Aquamist on and off. Regardless of what the timeslip says, I'll be interested to see if I note a difference in timing/EGT/etc during the runs that I didn't see before when doing quick single-gear runs.

to be continued...