With gas prices as they are I've been doing some research on MPG improvement for my cages.  Came across this interesting site (water4gas.com).  Now, I know the first thought that comes to you mind is SCAM.  But, after doing some research on the site and the ideas, I've discovered it's not.  So, I bought the "book" (actually, consider it more of a "membership" since you get multiple online books that are updated as new information is release, access to the forum and other useful information).  VERY INTERESTING AND USEFUL READING.  I recommend if you want to research some changes you can do to improve you MPG.

Anyway, to the point of this post, one of the items is a "Water Vaporizor".  The concept is not new, it's just a very simple water injection system.  If you are not familar with them, they've been around for a long time and were extensively used on WW2 aircraft.  I basically sucks water vapor into with your air/gas mix, which cools the engine, delays the spark (higher octane), and gives you more HP overall.  The problems being, they are expensive and large.  The site gives a very simple, cheap, but effective solution.

The water4gas solution is a sealed quart jar (mason jar) with water in it (leaving a space at the top for air).  A tube runs from an intake vacuum through thru the lid to the airspace at the top.  Another tube runs from an adjustable valve (sprinkler bubbler or other such cheap device) to the bottom of the water.  The adjustable valve controls the vacuum suction allowing you to adjust the amount of vapor that pulled into your intake.  This allows you to adjust the vapor to your application.  Below is a picture of the device.

I'm interested to know if anyone has done anything like this.  I'm planning on building one of these and connecting it to my Honda Shadow (it's running really lean).  Then I'd like to try the Suzuki after it's back together and running.  I'll let you know how things turn out.  Maybe later I'll try an auto.

All I know about water injection is that I was talking with an owner of a 1969 GTO back in about 1987 and he said he had a water injection system on his car.  He showed me a box under the hood and some piping.  Not sure exactly what it did though.

Water injection was used on WW2 fighters who needed a burst of speed to get away from the enemy.  It was used under these circumstances and was not a system for continuous use, because it did not work well except for power bursts.

It works by cooling the intake mixture and thus shrinking its volume,  thus allowing more fuel mixture to be sucked into the cylinder.  More mixture means more power.  
Starting in the '50s, water injection systems were widely available for motor vehicles, from auto parts stores and catalogs like JC Whitney.  They were no more than a water bottle with a tube going into the air cleaner or intake manifold via a fitting with a spray nozzle.  Some kits had an adjustable valve to regulate flow.  Some kits didn't even have the nozzle and just provided a hose with a T-fitting to be spliced into a convenient  engine vacuum line.

None of these lived up to their claims, and indeed were found to decrease power and efficiency.  Reports of cylinder and intake manifold rust were common. The problems were differing demands for water volume and flow rate, depending on a variety of engine conditions such as temperature, RPM, vacuum conditions changing with engine conditions, and so on.  For example, vacuum is high when you let off the throttle and the vehicle is slowing down, yet at this time water from the source is going into the engine at the greatest flow rate at the worst possible moment. ( Remember the fighter planes only using it at full throttle for a burst of get away speed?)

Some years ago Holley sold an advanced water injection system using electronic controls to attempt to meter the introduction of water and thus solve some of the variable waterflow demands created by all the many different changes in engine/combustion conditions, during the course of everyday driving.  It was not successful and was discontinued

To this day you will still see small businesses selling the old style primitive water injection systems,  some with electronic control added.  They prey the un-informed.

One has to ask, don't you think the auto makers would have refined and incorporated this un-patented, 60 year old idea in their vehicles by now
if it really worked, as a marketing advantage?

I bought one of these water injecters from JC Whitney many years ago. I put it on a Plymouth Duster that I was driving about 200 miles a day. I was trying everything that I could to keep expenses down. The vapor injecter was a total waste of money, it actually made the car get slightly worse gas mileage. Take my advice, save your money.

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Yeah, I've worked on one of those, actually - in my case, it was a turboprop (Metro/SA-227) aircraft and the AWI system was used for short-field takeoff performance. Did nothing for fuel efficiency of the aircraft, though. However, considering we're not even talking the same basic technology (turbine vs IC engine), that's not very helpful, really.

Good luck with this, Gary - I know I'll be interested in what you come up with. Certainly worth experimenting with!

Personally, I ran out and bought a second magnetic fuel line electron randomizer the other day. Just one of them wasn't working all that well and when I called the money-back-guarantee line, they told me they supposedly work better in pairs....and at $89 each, what a steal!  

My Dad was a spitfire and hurican mechanic during WW2 same engine,
a rolls royce merlin a v12 ,the only device they used in a emergency situation was the throttle,there was a thin breakable wire across the throttle bridge,you had to push the throttle past the wire,breaking it in the process,this would put you you a few thousand rpm above the red line,but would as a rule get you away if you had run out of ammo or the bad guy had you in his sights.
If and when you got back to base the the engine had to be pulled for an overhaul,and you (the pilot) had to go face the commanding officer and tell him why you had to burn up one of his majesty's  engine's
I aske my 93 year old Dad about the water thing (today) he said he had heard of it but it was never used on spits, and that from the horses mouth so to speak.

The only thing I've ever heard against using these kinds of gadgets (never heard any un-biased pluses by the way) was a simple one. Water doesn't burn so at best it would slow down combustion which could be a good thing. However, water also doesn't compress, ie get smaller in volume. Get too much water in your ignition chamber when the cyl. comes up, what happens to the water which doesn't burn and doesn't compress. All that pressure has to go somewhere. Blown gasket could be about the best of many outcomes.

Jack

Wow!  Didn't expect so much response on this topic.  This is really cool.  Thanks for all your input.  

I wouldn't expect such a simple thing to turn out to be the answer to all.  What I was really looking for in this "vaporizor" was to cool the engine a little (it gets 100+ here), and maybe give  a little HP.  Not really interested in the MPG at this point.  The Honda Shadow is running to lean, PO put on after market exhausts and didn't rejet.  Running hot from being lean, not to mention 100+ weather right now.  I have a dyna rejet kit on order, but in the mean time...

I built one out of a used gatorade bottle and parts from Orchard, maybe $5 total.  Hooked it up to the PCV line on my Honda Shadow.  Mounted the bottle between the handlebars and windshield where I could adjust the flow.  I saw some bubbles at first but then they quit.  I didn't seal the holes in the lid with plumber's goop, so that may be the problem.  The test run did not show any improvement at all...and no bubbles.

I'm going to fix the leaks on the vaporizor and try again.  I'll let you know if I see any improvement.  Don't worry, I will be rejetting the bike.  But would be interesting test to see if the thing does anything.  One guy put this and the "HHO generator" on his BMW motorcycle.  He didn't see any improvement, but he didn't do very good tests by his own admission.