If we could give you the solution to detonation and overheating, and actually increase boost in your ride, would that be something you'd be interested in? Normally, high boost combined with the extreme running temperatures of today's cars spell a short lifespan for your engine. Enter "water injection" and its benefits. This miracle invention (circa 1940) is used to increase compression, allow advanced timing and cool the intake charge in one shot. That said, just dumping water and/or methanol into your intake isn't going to do anything but hydro lock your engine. What's needed is a precise metering and atomizing of the liquid into your combustion chambers. This allows the miracle to happen. Once the mixture is atomized with the fuel, it becomes more dense (kind of like Jonny). The first benefit to happen is that the "dense" mixture raises the compression slightly because water is heavier than air. Second, the alcohol raises your octane level, which will aid in combustion while reducing detonation. Third, the water's natural properties of heat dissipation help get the heat off the piston head, cooling the intake charge.
The funny thing is not a lot of people know about this. Old hot-rodders have been using "water injection" for years, usually just squirting some water from a bottle into their manifolds through an old nitrous jet or something like that. The results always varied, but the overall consensus was that the benefits of lowering temps while raising compression are a good thing. Fast forward to now where injecting the precise amount of water/alcohol and adding the cool feature of "boost safe" (which retards your timing if you run out of solution), AEM's kit provides the benefits of water, with the added boost of higher octane from the alcohol in a safe user friendly system.
Break it Down
MSRP $522
PROS Cures most problems associated with engine heat
CONS Pricey
INSTALL DIFFICULTY Advanced
VERDICT AEM's water injection kit may be expensive, but is worth the peace of mind.
 Disconnect the battery. On...  Disconnect the battery. On this NSX, we removed the strut bar, vacuum lines and hoses to make room and allow easier access. The nozzle with the three interchangeable jets must be placed before the throttle body and after a MAF sensor in any car. This is done so the additional "heavy" mixture can be read by the factory ECU. Otherwise you could end up with a flooded engine, and that's what you don't want happening. |  Since this car was already...  Since this car was already plumbed with a 1/4-inch bung fitting (not included in kit; AEM recommends buying a 1/8-inch bung fitting or screwing the nozzle directly into the pipe), we bought a nifty 1/4- to 1/8-inch NPT fitting to screw the nozzle into. The alternative would be to drill and tap a hole in your inlet hose for the nozzle. |  Find a mounting point for...  Find a mounting point for the reservoir and pump; AEM recommends mounting the pump below the reservoir container. Since we had space-constraints, we mounted the bottle in the trunk and the pump near the throttle body. Lucky for us, AEM supplies enough hose to run the length of any car. |
 Run the inlet water line from...  Run the inlet water line from the reservoir to the pump, but be careful not to kink the line or run it near anything that might damage it, like the header or exhaust piping. Run the outlet waterline from the pump to the nozzle. Again, be sure not to kink the line. Mount the control unit where it won't be exposed to the elements. Like Jonny's fear of the sun, similarly the control unit (although sealed) may not function very well if it gets wet or has a coilover come smashing into it. |  Wire everything up according...  Wire everything up according to the instructions; it's so easy, even we figured it out. "T" into the boost signal vacuum line. This pressure signal is key in letting the control unit know you are in boost and to squirt the sauce. You can then reconnect the battery and test the unit out before putting it into full play. | |