I was cleaning up my basement yesterday, and found a long forgotten 9356 Edelbrock Vara-Jection Electronic Water Injection System, still in the box, I purchased in 1995. It had my receipt and , get this, a warrantee on it's parts, including the electronics,- for the lifetime -of the owner , and if any should fail , from 'natural causes', so to speak, the company will replace the part. What's interesting is there is no mention of any usual option such as 'or your money refunded', or 'a product of equal value'. This kit is long out of production, so maybe Eddy stashed a stock of components on a back shelf ?! I opened the box and was impressed by the quality and thoughtful engineering of this kit, and the extensive instructions, tips, and guidelines that came with it. I know there are water injection kits on the market now, but I don't understand why these are not in more demand. It allows you to run on pump gas with 11-1 compression iron heads ,and you only refill the bottle after a tank full of gas. If you want to have more fun, you can use mix of 50/50 water/alcohol, for example. Why did I bring up Edsel ? Edsel Ford and Vic Edelbrock both shared the pain of putting their name on a product they were proud to present to a public seemingly nonplussed by their effort. Personally, I thought the '58 Edsel beat out the clunky looking Ford of that year, and have no regard for the journalistic hacks who made sport of it's demise. The reason it did'nt sell, i.m.o., is because the nation was in a recession (all auto sales were down), and because it had to share, and compete with, similar FOMOCO models in the Mercury and Ford divisions. So, does anyone have personal experience with the Vara-Jection kit ? How well did it work, and how long did you use it ?
Edelbrock's Edsel ?
- Thread starter Neill
- Start date
Never even heard of an edelbrock water injection kit... I know according to like Sno performance and what's that other company Devil's Own or something like that... That water injection will work fine on a naturally aspirated engine, but it's really most beneficial to turbo and supercharger guys, that's what it was originally developed for, ultra high performance turbo and supercharger aircraft engines in WWII.
Got any pictures of the kit, or how it works? I assume it's like a nitrous plate that fits underneath your carburetor?
Got any pictures of the kit, or how it works? I assume it's like a nitrous plate that fits underneath your carburetor?
I'm unable to post pictures , but if you check e bay current, or past listings (I think that's possible ), under 9356 Vara-Jection, or similar, something should come up, with pictures of all the parts. Don't include Edelbrock in the description or you'll just see pages of manifolds and carburetors. The water or mix is delivered via a hose to a supplied nozzle mounted on the top of the carb to spray over the primaries
Here is a link to one sold in August.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-...0001&campid=5335822911&icep_item=254638462662
And another newer kit.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-...0001&campid=5335822911&icep_item=383650874132
Looks like complete kits sell for around $75 to $125
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-...0001&campid=5335822911&icep_item=254638462662
And another newer kit.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-...0001&campid=5335822911&icep_item=383650874132
Looks like complete kits sell for around $75 to $125
Thanks, I read the review on the first posting, someone remarking they had used one for years, and liked it so much they were buying a spare one off e bay. Sounds like a great idea, at these prices, a no brainer.
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For some reason I don't like the idea of spraying water through the carburetor. I'm sure it can work but it seems like bad idea to me carburetors really don't like water or methanol it's highly corrosive to brass and aluminum. Wonder if that's why it never caught on?
I know there are still plenty of people who don't understand how water injection works and think it's snake oil BS, so I imagine 25 years ago or more there were even more skeptics.
I know there are still plenty of people who don't understand how water injection works and think it's snake oil BS, so I imagine 25 years ago or more there were even more skeptics.
All kidding aside it does actually clean carbon and gunk off of your valves, chambers, and pistons.
The main benefits are if you spray 50/50 distilled water and pure methanol, the methanol in the spray is additional fuel that's like 110 octane. And the conversion of water into steam carries a ton of heat out of the combustion chamber, let's you run more compression, more timing, more boost. There are a TON of Grand National guys running as fast with water methanol injection on 93 octane gas, as guys who run just race gas, with no problems. Going from like pump gas safe boost level of like 16-17 psi, up to over 25 psi with water injection. I'm going to put a water methanol kit on mine eventually.
