Another contribution to the Avanti legends

[MikeValent]

Browsing through a do it yourself boat and propulsion design/building forum, I came across this gem:

"There once was a passenger car with water injection, the Studebaker Avanti.

Like you said just to allow a 12:1 compression without detonating the pistons to pieces. Because the car had an unorthodox shape for that era and when Studebaker closed down, the Avanti was continued by a small private company that silently disappeared after a couple of years.

A stillborn child, no serious company ever used the technology again."

This from someone billing himself as an engineeer, and trying to answer some fool who believed that water injected into a carb actually separated into hydogen and oxygen and burned. The ignorant trying vainly to lead the insane to wisdom...

[lschuc]

Let me guess.... the author probably wrote that the cars were all made in Canada, too!!

[okc63avanti]

Forget the water injection..... but fuel injected, now that would be nice!

[Gunslinger]

While the guy obviously hasn't a clue when it comes to Avanti's, the fact is water injection does exist and has for many decades. Many military planes in World War II had water injection into their piston engines. It was called War Emergency Power and was only to be used in times of combat when the extra performance was necessary to survive.

It's actually a water/alcohol mix injected into the combustion chamber cools the chamber temperatures and allows higher compression ratio and/or higher manifold pressures without detonation. The alcohol acts as an anti-freeze for the water.

It does exist and has been used in autos to a very limited extent, but the guy is clueless about Avanti's.

[J Boyle]

Some jets also used water injection for takeoff, especially at heavy weights.

The most recently used ones were KC-135As with the J57 engines before they were re-engined with turbofans in the 80-90s.

Edited July 4, 2009 by J Boyle

[Charlie Kile]

Some jets also used water injection for takeoff, especially at heavy weights.

The most recently used ones were KC-135As with the J57 engines before they were re-engined with turbofans in the 80-90s.

Part of the reason for water injection is that when gasoline is burned at standard atmospheric temperture and pressure it expands aprox 750 times. When water is vaporized under the same conditions it expands aprox 1600 times. So if the burning gasoline will also vaporize some water it should put out substantialy more power. However the water vapor will combine with the exhaust gasses forming sulfuric acid. Not a good thing in an internal combustion engine.

Charlie RQB3921