UPDATE: Kit is installed. Nozzle is now 2" from end of the IC pipe, directly in front of the TB. I see 100 psi on the gauge. Spray pattern from the nozzle looks good. With 75% alky/25% water and max spray at 20 psi, AFRs are decreasing only 0.5 from normal and I can't run any more boost than before without knocking. What could be wrong?

My SMC kit is installed, no leaks, and it shows 100 psi when the test button is pushed. Here's the issue: Hitting the the test button doesn't make it stumble at idle. The alky seems to be just going into the intercooler. After hitting the test button a few times, I drove the car and as soon as I got under boost the alky in the intercooler went into the motor and flooded it. I'm thinking that maybe the nozzle isn't close enough to the throttle body? It's mounted close to where the tubing starts to bend toward the throttle body, but not on the straight section right in front of the throttle body. Also, the nozzle points across the tube rather than down the tube.

Other thing is that when I tried the kit on the street at WOT and usual pump gas boost (21 psi) and tune, it didn't seem to affect AFRs much at all (50:50 mix) on my wideband guage -- maybe 0.3-0.4 decrease in AFR, if that. I tried lowering the max set point as low as 16-17 psi and it still barely moved the AFR. Is this because I'm not running 100% alky? I don't get it. This is with a 7 gph nozzle. I haven't tried raising the boost because I'm not sure that it's spraying properly.

Any ideas?

 

nevermind

 

Do you have a pic of your setup? Mine nozzle is about 2 inches back from the intake pipe right before the silicon bend hose that goes into the throttle body.
I have tested the unit at 3k rpm like the manual says and mine stubles and AFR's drop down 2-3 lower so I know mine is working fine.
Your suppose to mount your nozzle on the bottom of the intake so it sprays upwards into the air. I dont know if it makes a difference where its pointed but I followed what the manual says.

Have you tested the nozzle first before you installed it? I filled it up with water first and tested it to make sure it was a fine even mist like a water sprinkler. I guess without looking at the fine mist you wont know if its spraying right. It could be clogged or not spraying correctly and still read 100psi? Take it out ans inspect everything before you install it. SMC does recommend installing the nozzle on the bottom of the pipe. Also check to see if your intake pipe isnt leaking. I would think the closer your nozzle is to the TB it would flood easier.

 

Mine is mounted on the bottom of the pipe. I did test it in the manner that the instructions suggest before installing it, but not through the nozzle itself. Just the braided line spraying open. I don't know how a brand new nozzle could be clogged?

Derek888, when you say that your AFRs drop down 2-3 lower, do you mean 2 to 3 tenths (14.7 down to 14.5) or 2 or 3 whole points (as in 14.7:1 down to 12.7:1)?

 

I dont know if you are doing this, but you cant test the alky kit when the engine is idleing.....the throttle body plate is partially closed, and since air is not coming into the engine fast enough to vaporize the alky, it would make sense that it is draining down to the intercooler

 

2-3 whole points... (as in 14.7:1 down to 12.7:1)

I would double check to make sure your nozzle is spraying a perfect mist. I guess anything can happen with it being clogged even when new...something might be stuck in that little filter or your nozzle is defective or broken.

 

exactly... you need to test it while at 3k rpm like the manual says..

 

I did try that first, but someone else was in the car revving it for me. I was watching the pressure gauge and waiting for a stumble and there wasn't any. I'll do it again from inside the car and watch the AFR gauge.

 

Tried it again. Still no luck. And I'm not sure I'm seeing any change in AFR at all under boost after retesting.

I'm going to take it apart and look down the pipe while it's spraying. I just can't think of anything that I could have done wrong in the install. The alky is building the right pressure. It's definitely getting in the pipe because, although the AFR doesn't drop and the motor doesn't stumble when I push the test button either at idle or 3000rpm, the next time that I roll into boost after that it always stumbles a bit and shows rich on the wideband.

 

subscribing. would like to know the answer as well.

 

Okay, I took the upper IC pipe off the car. First thing I notice is liquid in the silicon hump connector that the lower part of the upper IC pipe goes into and a little alky solution on the bottom of the silicon coupling between the upper IC pipe and the throttle body. So much for it vaporizing instantly. The last 10 minutes or so of driving the kit was powered off, so it wasn't spraying.

After hooking the nozzle up to the hose with the pipe off the car, my helper pushed the test button and I watched the spray. It is definitely spraying a lot of volume. In just a second or so you have a big puddle inside the pipe. The spray pattern looked good, but the second that it hits opposite side of the pipe the vaporization is lost and it just puddles. After seeing this, it seems to me that it would work better with the nozzle pointing down the pipe rather than spraying across the pipe.

I have the nozzle mounted right on the left hand bend right before the IC pipe attaches to the throttle body. It is at most 3 inches from the silicon coupling to the throttle body entrance, closer to 2 inches, and it is mounted on the bottom of the pipe facing up. Maybe with the nozzle spraying across the pipe it needs to be very close to the throttle body opening so that it's almost spraying into the throttle body? Otherwise, I know some people recommend installing alky kits even further downstream from the throttle body.

I am just lost. It obviously isn't working correctly and yet I can't find anything wrong. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

Sorry to keep responding to my own post, but I just wanted to add that the nozzle is about 4 inches from the end of the upper IC pipe and that I'm spraying 50% water and 50% denatured.

 

Have you tested your car with the alky turned off to see if your turbo gauge is reading the same amount of PSI boost? If everything seems to work fine with the nozzle maybe there isnt enough vacumm sucking the mist into the thottle body. Check for any leaks on the pipes. BTW do you have a picture of your setup?

 

My tank is filled with 100% methanol so I really dont know if water has anything to do with it. I guess you can try to put in 100% methanol to see what happens?

 

I don't have a picture of it. There isn't much to see, except that the nozzle is installed on the bend in the pipe. After doing some googling on "pressure drop" and "pipe bend" I see that a bend in a pipe is a low pressure area, particularly the inside of a pipe bend like what I have, due to the flow path having increased friction with the pipe walls as the flow changes direction. I suspect that that might be my problem. Boost and vacuum are unchanged on my gauge. I think this has to be an issue of nozzle placement.