Banks Power Water-Methanol Injection System
Injecting water and/or methanol into a diesel engine (gas, too) has been around for more than 75 years, but it didn't really have a good, practical application until WWII, when supercharged and turbocharged airplanes used the mix to boost horsepower by at least 50 percent.
Sometimes called "chemical intercooler", the incoming charge of water or a water-methanol mixture cools the air and (when methanol is used) supplies additional fuel. Forced-induction engines in particular benefit from a boost of water-methanol. And that's why turbocharged diesel engines respond so favorably to it.
Banks Power is always pushing the envelope in its testing, and lately water-methanol has been the object of much scrutiny. "It's a bit like crack," says Gale Banks, the iconic leader of Banks Power, located in Azusa, California. What he meant was that the effects were instantaneous, and the user, once exposed, wants more and more and more.
After lots of engineering and testing, the Banks crew has come out with complete water-methanol systems for specific vehicles, plus universal kits that can be adapted to work in a variety of circumstances. Some people really want the horsepower boost while others are excited about the fuel economy gains. Still others just want to reduce exhaust gas temperature when towing a load. Water-methanol injection can help out in a lot of areas.
The StraightShot and DoubleShot water-methanol injection systems from Banks Power can add up to 200 hp when used with additional tuning (such as the Banks AutoMind) and up to 175 hp just by itself. The Banks kit comes with a digital controller, plug-and-play harness, calibrated injector assemblies, low-restriction check valves, massive flow control solenoids, a heavy-duty pump, and more. There is complete user adjustability of two independent stages of injection based on boost, throttle position sensor, exhaust gas temperature (some trucks require an optional EGT sensor), or a combination of these.
There are two pumps available: The low-volume pump is sufficient to support up to 750 hp for gasoline applications and can add up to 90 flywheel hp in diesel. The high-volume pump can support up to 1,250 hp for gasoline applications and can add up to 175 flywheel hp in diesel.
We watched as the Banks crew installed a StraightShot kit on an '07 Dodge 6.7L. The rwhp peak improved from 284 in stock condition to 387 with a 50/50 mix of water and methanol. That was with the pump running at 100 percent duty cycle. This system is very configurable by the user.
