I remember that device being advertised back in the late 50s. I actually did make and use a water injection system on my 396 back in the 70s and early 80s. This was because the gas was so crappy, and in a lot of places, it was difficult to find premium. It took a little tuning but worked great. I used a Ford windshield washer bag and pump to move the water, (or water/alcohol mix in the winter). I found an adjustable jet from an aquarium air pumping system, and used a vacuum switch to activate it when the vacuum dropped to 5 in. It worked great and the water used to last about the same number of miles as the tank. I never checked the mileage, because I didn't give a damn, I just wanted to be able to mash the pedal to the floor without worrying about pinging or detonation. I can tell you that when I pulled the heads to change the valve seals, the upper cylinders were so clean that they looked like they had been steam cleaned. On the 747-200s I was flying back then, we used water injection for our max gross weight takeoffs for the trans Pacific flights. We loaded 700 gallons of distilled water, which was used to cool the engines and allow the addition of more fuel. I can't remember exactly how much additional thrust it gave us, but it was significant. After takeoff, we dumped the remaining water. The use of water to augment thrust, goes all the way back to the early fifties and the Allison powered T-33. The reason was, that the metallurgy technology wasn't good enough to design turbines that could withstand the higher temperatures. My point here, is that sometimes crazy works. Bob
Jon, I worked part time molding fishing lures for a guy in the early 70s, whose dad was a wild ass inventor. I guess he inherited some of his dads ideas, because he had a beautiful Chevy powered 47 Ford coupe and under the hood, he had two humongous magnets attached to the fuel line. His belief was, that the magnets aligned the molecules of the fuel, so that it burned more efficiently. The car was so pretty that I didn't want to laugh out loud, but I never forgot his modification. Bob
I wonder how Garlits got that. The last I heard "Big Oil" bought it up and killed it.[/QUOTE] "Big Oil" is no match for "Big Daddy"!
In the sixties some good salesman sold our police department on those boxes. I had to take them out and reinstall them into new models several times, until someone high up said “don’t put that junk in the cars”. I finally hauled them to the junk yard and bought some ingredients for salty dogs for our Christmas party with the proceeds. They finally did serve a purpose! Bones
Add to the working water injection: Factory equipment on Olds F85 with turbocharged 215cuin aluminum v8, '62/63. They put a turbo on a 10.25:1 comp ratio engine. Had to have the water to live.
The lure I was making was called a Buzz Bomb, and the molds, as well as all the other equipment, belonged to Rex Field, the inventor. I have made my own and they aren't that difficult to make if you have a milling machine, or are handy with a Dremel. The lure was a killer for salmon and all manner of salt water fish. Boat limit almost every time out. My record was 62 lb Spring salmon on 14 lb test. Damn near lost it to a seal. PM me if you want a picture of the lure Bob
Once in a blue moon, one of those gadgets or liquid horsepower in a bottle does have some benefits. I remember waiting in line for my turn on the dyno at Mr. Norms and watching them put in an advance "kit" plus a carb jet "kit". I found out it was money well spent and was happy about the experience. Those guys at the Sunoco station also charged me extra for that 260 blue gas once the tunning deal clicked in my pea brain. In the late 60s, I was seeing these ads about "synthetic oil". I asked my local speed shop/engine builder his opinion and he said: "Oh, that's regular oil with some extra additives to make it last a little longer and not wear out so soon". I kept reading the ads carefully and it sure seemed like it was more than "additives" so I tried it out. Much later on, when I was pulling the valve covers to adjust the lash, I was shocked to see how squeaky clean the valve covers and valve train was. I was expecting the usual gunk and crud. But I agree with the consensus that normally you can't bolt on or pour in some sort of magic that must be an oversight that Detroit left off due to the engineers being clueless. .
Every jet in the air flys on synthetic oil. The problem in automotive use, was that the cost of the oil is approximately 4x the cost of petroleum oil, and to take advantage of the stability and longer life of the synthetic, you needed better filtration. Good synthetics can cut internal friction by up to 15%, yielding between 4-10% more power, with the advantage of less wear on critical components. I have been flying on synthetic oil since the early 60s, and putting it in all my engines, transmissions, and rear ends, since the late 70s. Synthetic oil for automotive use, required reformulation to work with automotive seals, and that was a real problem for some manufacturers. Bob
Oh man, I have one of those. yeah it looks like part of it is a calibrated vacuum leak, maybe they were counting on the fact that a lot of cars ran too rich back then? I don't know, but this one was made by Sparkomatic I believe it is the same company that made shitty stereos back in the 70's
Here's one from Australia-and endorsed by a racing driver who should have known better. It was actually an in-fuel-line fool-money separator. I worked for a research facility where we were asked by an importer to test a "magic box" which was just stuck to the side of the fuel tank, and was supposed to "align the chakras of the fuel" or some similar baloney. He wanted us to do an on-road mileage test with & without his "bullshit box". I tried explaining to him that unless the conditions are exactly the same- temperature, humidity, traffic, driver, - the test was meaningless. This guy still wanted to test it. So my boss said "We will do the best we can, and he will pay up, we will do it". We did, and there was minor decrease (<1%) in fuel consumption. The customer didn't like that (but he paid up), had it tested by someone else (worse result), and that's the last I heard of it. Months later, I found one of these "magic boxes" which was left behind in the workshop, so I had at it, opened it up and there was a whole lot of nothing in there - (empty plastic box).
Here's a lifetime supply for an average person. ^ Couldn't help laughing when I saw them at the swap meet this morning. The dude selling them didn't share the humor, however.
When I bought my '51 Ford Coupe back several years ago it had wooden clothes pins on the fuel line. Don't seem to work as it will still vapor lock after setting for 20-30 minutes. I left them on just for the sake of history on the car. I now have a phenolic block to put under the carb before summer sets in. My brother used to run a water injection and it did help with performance and also in keeping combustion chambers clean. That's been 40 years ago. Man I'm getting old! Dave
Does anyone else remember seeing those black rubber straps with the lightning bolt on them that used to drag the pavement to create a ground or something to prevent a shock? I think they may have been referred to as static straps.
My Dad was fascinated by the idea of the little propeller under the carb to mix the air/fuel better. He was also way too cheap to buy one. He hand-made some little propeller blades and the base plates and tried them. Not sure how it worked. He also made some plates with stationary "blades" designed to spin the mixture as it passed through, not sure how that worked either. Thinking about it now, he must have put a lot of time in on those with a hacksaw, drill and files. I remember seeing all that stuff in a drawer in his old roll-away, it may still be there in his old workshop. Thanks Jon for starting this snake-oil celebration, cool thread.
During WW2, German aircraft engines were often fitted with methanol/water injection to allow more boost. It apparently worked well. I think they called it MW50. When I was a little boy I bought a "real submarine" that was advertised on the back of a comic book. Even then I was puzzled about how anybody could build a submarine at such low cost. When it came, it turned out to be a big box I could sit in. With a picture of a submarine on the side. I bet my parents got some amusement out of that.
available now. Kind of reminds me of the NOX Box they used to require in california. http://www.nonoxbox.com/revolutionary-clean-air-technology-patented-in-2018/
I have been involved in mechanical & electrical engineering for over 40 years, and looked at the patent drawings for this- Was this issued on April 1st?
All this talk about water injection reminds me of some of the things I did back in the day. If I was going to rebuild/overhaul an engine, before I tore it down , I would get it up to operating temperature and pour about a quart of water slowly down the carburetor while keeping the engine running. Then let it clear up. When I tore it down the combustion chambers would be spotless, no carbon. The exhaust valves and ports would be relatively clean. I would also use this procedure on old junk engines in an attempt to squeeze a few more miles out of them. I was always worried about carbon getting crunched in between the exhaust valve and the seat doing this, but it never seem to happen. These old engines would always seem to run a little better after doing this. Bones
The Jalopy Journal
