Hi all,

Just wondering whether it is possible to retro fit an IC water spray to my 2004 WRX ? Anyone done it ? What do you need ? Is it worth the hassle ? Any comments or suggestions welcome.

Cheers,

Wilky.

 

all you need is a windscreen washer kit comes with motor, bottle 1.5 ltr, water hoses, and comes with wiring aswell, better to buy mist jets than spray ones that come with it, kit comes with button aswell, only about £12 plus what ever mist jets cost

 

I have been looking into this as I bought an sti undertray and it came with the water spray equipment. It seems simple enough just need a timer relay so that when button is depressed it will give a 3-5 second burst. I was just advised that it may not be of benefit. If you want it auto then things get more complicated as you need a controller to measure boost and intake temperature then operates the system as required. I may fit it as I have it. There are a few guides on wrxtuners.com some even tap into the washer bottle. I have a nozzle on the undertray, a bottle with pump and level sensor and a manually operated switch,

 

i got a whole kit form ebay, 2ltr bottle, pump, clear plastic hose, hose connections, twin core cable, mounting clamps, rocker switch and waterproof fuse holder all for £35.
took a couple of hours to fit but looks pretty good for an aftermarket job
only problem is you have to manually operate it when you want it to work.

 

seems like a waste of time to me, very little gain and you would have to keep using it ?

 

Spend your time and money on something useful - Intercooler spray kits are a gimmick at best............ like its going to make much difference in a hot engine bay to the charge temps (you'd need a fckin bucket of ice to make the difference you need!)

Being a bit more constructive make sure you keep the underbonnet temps as cool as possible - never, ever take the heat shield off from the Turbo!, always lag the downpipe. If you have aftermarket up-pipe/manifold make sure its properly wrapped and check it to make sure it stays that way- dont want to melt some of those wires

If the power of your car is under 450bhp consider an airfilter inside the wing to get cooler temps

Fit a front mounted intercooler if you want to get better temps and improved performance (i didnt notice any increased lag when I moved from a TMIC to a FMIC)

Remap the car with methanol for extra cooling ability and save money in the process as Methanol is cheaper than V Power

 

Made 0.5 C difference to charge temps when I measured the effects of mine. Stopped using it after that.

 

I found on the motorway cruising intake temps would be 2C above ambient. Turn on the water sprayer and i can get intake temps about 2C under ambient.

On boost it lowers the peak temps and brings the intake temps back to ambient quicker.

The gains are small - but water is cheap...

+ when F1 had turbos - the teams used watersprayers till IC waterspray was banned.

 

Where are you measuring this ?

 

Okay, thanks for the comments boys. Really appreciated. Looks like I would be fitting this as a gimmick only and whilst it's not expensive I may take spend my money elsewhere.

Cheers,

Wilky.

 

Throttle Body.

 

Yup thats about the only place - I have on mine but thats only to monitor the temps.....

 

I have one on my classic sti,been told by untolds of other scoob drivers that its a waste of space unless I use my car for track days

 

Even then, you are better off saving 5kgs in weight

 

well now i know im not going to bother with this

 

think i may remove mine

 

This is on a 450hp 2.5 Sti - at the time running a hyperflow TMIC in sydney.

The graph below shows two runs on Sunday, one with the water spray on (Black trace) and onother with the water spray off (red trace). Ambient temperatures varied by 1 degree between runs. The run shows a full lap of EC starting at the start/finish line.

 

So the water spray is on all the time

Surely your talking about water INJECTION, not spraying water over the surface of the IC

If you're using WI, have you set it up to trigger on (a low) charge temp without using a pressure input?
Must be a very big water tank.

Nick

 

Yes Im talking waterspray.

When its says water spray on that means the Sti waterspray button is on - the waterspray is then activated at a certain boost point.

Given this datalog was taken at a racetrack it was on most of the time lol.

Its not my car btw.

FWIW the spec c comes as standard with a 12L water spray tank.... Im sure they wouldn't bother putting that in the stripped out lightweight group N car if it was a gimmick.

 

Still puzzled at the consistent removal of heat from the charge - surely the boost trigger on a Spec C isn't that low to be on all the time?
Can't say that it echoes what I see when using the spray button, but then I'm only running 380 hp through a std STi TMIC.

I wonder if the real story from the graph is how inefficient a (hyperflow) TMIC becomes when running very high power levels and the water spray has to prop it up.
Time to swap to an FMIC?

nick

 

For my own car once triggered the spray goes for say 10 seconds ? Then after that it can be triggered again. Plus once wet the intercooler does not dry instantly.

I think your right that at these power levels at the track driven hard the IC is starting to struggle.

But it shows that in some situations that waterspray does work and is not a gimmick. It effectively gives you a bigger intercooler so IMO very useful for TMIC.

The car in question now makes even more power and has gone fmic.

 

try also filling ur bottle with windscreen wash that has a good percentage of methanol, thus chilling the air even more and i have noticed the intercooler is alot cleaner than before almost as good as new.