Corvette H2O / Methanol

Water-methanol injection has been in use since the 1930’s as a way to extract as much power as safely possible from internal combustion engines. It gained widespread use in fighter and bomber aircraft during WWII as a way to extract great amounts of horsepower for takeoff and dog fighting. While the physics are the same today, modern technology has allowed greater power increases and better performance while using even less fluid. You could run one system on a turbo diesel tow vehicle and another system on a race vehicle – getting benefits of performance and reliability on both.

How do we get great increases in power on a gasoline engine? Through greatly reduced inlet air temperatures, condensed air charges, and suppressed detonation. Straight water, or a water/methanol mix, is injected in a superfine mist which starts to evaporate once it’s introduced into the intake. This evaporation acts as a cooling process – the same as if you get out of a swimming pool on a breezy day and feel chilled. Typically a 50-150° F intake temperature drop is the result. Cooling the inlet air that much also condenses the air charge, which gets more molecules of oxygen into the combustion chamber. Inside the combustion chamber, the methanol acts as a super-high octane fuel (as much as 120-130 depending on the measurement) to help suppress detonation, and water, being impossible to “flash ignite”, has an almost infinite octane rating and absorbs the peak heat and pressure of combustion. During the combustion process the water turns to steam, increasing cylinder pressure after TDC during the power stroke thereby increasing torque output. Suppressing detonation (typically a 20-23 point octane increase over pump gas) allows for more ignition timing, higher boost levels, higher compression ratios, and a leaner air-fuel ratio to make more power while being safe from detonation compared to what pump gas can support. Power improvements are in the 5-10% range for naturally aspirated engines and 10-20% for forced induction engines, depending on the tune.

Snow Performance has several Boost Cooler™ kits designed for Corvettes, depending on the particular engine configuration. For a naturally aspirated engine, or a positive displacement supercharger like a Magnacharger or a twin-screw, we use our Stage 2 GM MAF Boost Cooler™ (#20012). This system injects proportionally according to the airflow going into the engine, so it is correct over a very wide range, and very easy to adjust the delivery curve of the water-methanol.

For applications with turbos or a centrifugal supercharger, our Stage 2 Boost Cooler™ (#20010) is the correct kit. It injects progressively according boost pressure and is also very easy to adjust for maximum performance increase.

Options/Accessories:

SafeInjection™ (#30020): If the engine is tuned aggressively for water-methanol, and the tank is run dry or the nozzle somehow clogs (they have 100 micron pre-filters) and the amount of water-methanol injected is reduced, there could be detonation. Snow Performance developed a very comprehensive safe guard so an engine can be run with complete confidence on a very aggressive tune. SafeInjection™ measures the fluid flow in the system, anytime it injects. If there isn’t enough fluid flow, it automatically sends out a signal that can be used to reduce boost, timing or switch engine management maps. No matter what happens, the engine remains safe. The SafeInjection™ can also be used with an optional gauge to display real-time flow of water-methanol in milliliters per minute, so you can see exactly how much fluid is being injected, and when.

Boost Juice™ is Snow Performance’s proprietary mix of 49% methanol and 51% water. It is made in a controlled environment with special care to make sure the ratios are accurate to result in a high performance water-methanol fluid formulated for use in the Boost Cooler™ injection system. If Boost Juice™ is used exclusively in the Boost Cooler™ kit, Snow Performance offers a free lifetime warranty.

Nitro Booster™ is a great power adder designed for use with gasoline engines using Boost Cooler™ water-methanol injection kits. A proprietary blend of nitro methane and a specially developed emulsifier that keeps Nitro Booster equally distributed in the water-methanol mixture. This allows for a small percentage of nitro methane to be injected into the engine in the correct proportion with air and fuel to produce impressive increases in power. Usually, around 30 to 50hp increase can be measured. Nitro methane has fewer BTUs than gasoline, but contains oxygen and acts like a chemical supercharger and an octane enhancer to safely increase power.

Solenoid Upgrade (#40060). A solenoid is simply an electric on-off valve for fluid flow. We mount them near the injection nozzle when required by certain installations. If the nozzle is mounted below the top level of the reservoir (common on Corvette installations using the washer reservoir as the tank), fluid could gravity feed through the nozzle and a solenoid will prevent this, as it only opens to allow fluid flow when the system injects fluid. The other instance where a solenoid is required is when the nozzle is placed after the throttle body or carburetor (between the butterflies and the intake valve). In this location, it will be exposed to vacuum when the engine is running and the butterflies are closed causing it to siphon fluid when not needed. The shut-off solenoid positively prevents this.

Quart Reservoir (#40020): The 7 quart reservoir gives much more range than the included 2 qt tank, and is fairly small in size – 10″l x 12″h x 7″w (similar to a very small car battery).

Additional Nozzle Upgrade (#40004): This allows an additional nozzle to be mounted in any of our Boost Cooler™ kits. It includes a tee, or splitter, junction piece with our quick-connect fittings, a nozzle holder and a section of hose. Note – injector nozzle is not included. Mounting additional nozzles are required when you need a quantity greater than one nozzle can provide, or if you have a dual plenum/throttle body/carburetor setup to get even distribution.

Low Level Indicator (#40035): This is a float switch and indicator light that let you know when your reservoir is running low on fluid. Simple to install and wire in any reservoir.

220 PSI Pump (#220): Higher pressure/volume pump. Only necessary in the highest horsepower installations running 3 large nozzles, or if more quantity is needed with a smaller number of nozzles. Adjustable pressure just like our 150psi pumps.

For More Information Contact: