Free & Cheap ways to free up horsepower in your engine

[Vanilla Sky]

well, tap water has all sorts of crap in it that you don't want in your engine. you can set up your own water still for $50 or so and have your own supply as long as you have a fluid that's primarily water.

[mkymonkey]

wow there is a lot of techno savy people in this thread. my head hurts cuz i actually read all the posts. its a bigger high than a normal ciggie would give you. anyway.

someone explain to me what the "open side" of a spark plug is. it sounds like a useless mod to me but i would just like to know what the open side is. lol its a stupid question i know. but humor me

[Vanilla Sky]

the open side is the one that's well, open. it's the side opposite the ground electrode.

[cardoc33]

Well, first thing, you NEVER want a gas engine to ignite the intake charge with anything BUT the spark plug. That is called pre-ignition, or detonation. VERY bad. The "pinging" noise you hear is actually the two flame fronts colliding. This is what makes holes in tops of pistons.
Second, there's nothing in tap water that's worse than the carbon and unburned fuel pushed out the exhaust. And bacteria can't survive 1200+F temps in the combustion flame.
Vanilla Sky, are you running a turbo set-up?

[Vanilla Sky]

nope, i plan on doing it on my NA KA24 engine in my truck. looking more for the efficiency side of it. if i'm taking advantage of more advanced timing curves with a chipped ECU that requires the use of premium fuel for added power but start getting BETTER fuel economy, wouldn't we all be winning here?

[Deadhead]

wait, so detonation is where the intake charge ignites before it hits the spark plug? is that kind of what a diesel does because it ignites by compression doesn't it?

So with turbo'd gas engines, if you push too much boost, it will cause a detonation because of too much pressure?

[TTSpider]

Dont increase water in your coolant. The article fails to mention that antifreeze also raises the boiling temperature of your coolant. So with more water and a lower boiling point. You'll run the risk of your coolant boiling and creating excess pressure that can blow hoses and more.

[cardoc33]

nope, i plan on doing it on my NA KA24 engine in my truck. looking more for the efficiency side of it. if i'm taking advantage of more advanced timing curves with a chipped ECU that requires the use of premium fuel for added power but start getting BETTER fuel economy, wouldn't we all be winning here?

What year is your truck? Does it have a knock sensor? I had an 89 240sx but I don't think it had a knock sensor.

[Vanilla Sky]

it's a 1992. i don't believe it has one, but that would be something interesting to implement if i ever upgrade my ECU (i'm sure i'm going with a jim wolfe ECU). maybe the newer 240SXs have them and could be implemented. i'm sure it wouldn't be anything harder than adding a wire or two, the knock sensor, and repinning the ECU.

[cardoc33]

I'm not familier with the jim wolfe ecu, but I think the obd I set up has it.

[Vanilla Sky]

yeah, it's OBD1

and i seem to have added that extra "e" at the end of wolf.

the site for them is http://www.jimwolftechnology.com/.