Aquamist HFS-4 WMI Kit

[mize13]

Alright, this isn't really a how-to thread, but more of a "Here is what I did and I have a lot pictures I took during the process" thread.

I bought the Aquamist HFS-4 kit back in September, and installed it over the course of about 1.5 months, taking my time, being anal about placement of things, and balancing school. Finally in, and @Justin@Freektune; is almost finished up dialing this thing in.

First off, this kit comes with a gauge to satisfy my inner ricer needs, so I grabbed the vent pod for the gen1, sanded it down with an orbital sander, and hit it with black paint.

@Travisms3; helped me tap the OEM Cold Pipe. Jeff at Howerton Engineering said I would only need one 0.9mm nozzle running 60/40 meth/water, so I plugged the second hole with a plug provided in the kit. I used some E6000 sealant on the threads just to be safe, despite Jeff assuring me it didn't need any because of the o-rings on both the nozzle and the plugs.

@Travisms3; and I spent a Saturday running most of the wires for this kit. We ran the power line, meth line, and Pump Relay and Level Sensor under the paneling along the driver side of the car. We drilled two extra holes in the firewall to get all the wires into the engine bay because I didn't feel comfortable running Power to the pump, a Meth line, 4 wire bundles from the controller, and the hood latch cable through one hole. Shit was tight. Bundled everything up, called it a day. The controller fits beautifully in that little cutout where the OBDII port is, so I drilled holes through the back to run the wires.

A few weeks later, we mounted the pump, relay, and grounded wire under the foam in the trunk. Also mounted the tank similar to how @skeurton; did. I did it exactly as how he showed it in his thread with strips of aluminum behind the panel.

The next week I put the Fast Acting Valve (FAV) securely on the pinch weld under the intake filter and ran the nylon line to it. Also tapped the ECU wires with provided Posi-Taps. I had my doubts, but those things aren't going anywhere. Actually, definitely use the posi-taps because the HFS-4 wires are so thin.

Ran pump power straight to the Battery, and used a 15 amp fuse. Wrapped everything up in plastic tubing, and used zip ties and electrical tape to make sure nothing moved.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with the kit. Fine tuning this thing is extremely easy. The trimmers on the board make adjusting when the kit starts injecting, the rate at which it linearly ramps spray, etc very straight forward. Setting the Failsafe window is a little tricky, but once you understand it, it's straighforward.

I set my lower injection limit to high, and when I was doing a 4th gear log, the kit thought I was experiencing a low flow condition and smoothly dropped boost.

Big thanks to @Travisms3; for helping out, @skeurton; for answering some questions, and Jeff at Howerton Engineering for answering all my question promptly.

[Tokay444]

How does the kit drop your boost when it thinks there's a low flow condition?

[Code Monkey]

I am still installing mine. Where does the brown boost control valve connect to?

[faeker]

I wanna say it relies on a solenoid to cut off boost. without looking it up again i can't say 100% but I believe it goes inline between the ebcs and the boost source. when there's low flow, the controller restricts boost via solenoid. please don't quote me on that but i believe that's the gist.

[mize13]

Yea @faeker; has it. You cut the pcm wire and relay it to the controller and it goes open circuit when the failsafes are triggered.

That diagram is for a gen1 and wasn't included in my kit. The pinout is the same between gens but wire colors are different.

[faeker]

Hm. Kind of want to say it's between the ebcs and wastegate actually. Either way, it's along those lines brock. I think snow has a proper write up of how it works with solenoids, but their website was down earlier today.

[Tokay444]

So you DON'T need a guardian angel.

[faeker]

I knew there was an angle. You came up in conversation today while I was at robs. All good things of course.

[mize13]

Originally Posted by Tokay444 So you DON'T need a guardian angel.

Nope!

I have a log that I will try and dig up to show it dropping boost. It wasn't abrupt like boost/fuel cut, it just felt like a gradual loss in power.

[Tokay444]

Originally Posted by faeker I knew there was an angle. You came up in conversation today while I was at robs. All good things of course.

Nah man. I'm just a whiny bitch that complains and shits up people's threads.

[mize13]

This looks like where I'll be ending up. Here is a before and after vdyno. They were taken on the same stretch of road, but the meth vdyno was about 10-12 degrees colder, so keep that in mind. Before was on 93 and no other mods changed besides the Aquamist HFS-4 kit.

I'm starting spray at about 27% IDC (THRES Trimmer turned to between 3.5 - 4 ticks from full counter-clockwise), and I increased the gain trimmer about 3 - 3.5 tick clockwise to increase the rate at which I linearly ramp spray. All other trimmers are set to 12 o'clock.

Spraying about 60/40 Meth/Water by Volume.

Thanks to @Justin@Freektune; for tuning me again

[rfinkle2]

I'm about to buy this kit as well.

Really can't be beat from controller to nozzles and everything in between.

[jack_hammer]

the HFS-4 really is the mother of all meth kits. it's just so dang expensive!

[mize13]

Originally Posted by jack_hammer the HFS-4 really is the mother of all meth kits. it's just so dang expensive!

Agreed that it's expensive.

But if you price out a Snow Kit, with all the safety features and flow gauge, the price approaches that of an HFS-4 kit.

[Tokay444]

In the world of car modding, is $1000 really that much?

[Lex]

Originally Posted by Tokay444 So you DON'T need a guardian angel.

Opening the BPV has a more immediate drop in power by comparison. On top of this the GA triggers on overboost conditions and uses another source rather than the wastegate to lower boost. A lot of the time lines pop off the wastegate actuator and solenoid due to their heat and location. Boost creep is also something the wastegate can't be used to address.

So you do get a lot of additional safety from the GA.

The Aquamist is a very nice kit indeed and this looks like a nice install. I have also been very pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Coolingmist CMGS with their failsafe.

[Justin@Freektune]

Originally Posted by mize13 This looks like where I'll be ending up. Here is a before and after vdyno. They were taken on the same stretch of road, but the meth vdyno was about 10-12 degrees colder, so keep that in mind. Before was on 93 and no other mods changed besides the Aquamist HFS-4 kit. I'm starting spray at about 27% IDC (THRES Trimmer turned to between 3.5 - 4 ticks from full counter-clockwise), and I increased the gain trimmer about 3 - 3.5 tick clockwise to increase the rate at which I linearly ramp spray. All other trimmers are set to 12 o'clock. Spraying about 60/40 Meth/Water by Volume. Thanks to @Justin@Freektune; for tuning me again

Awesome comparison between your 93 tune and meth tune. That kit was a pleasure to work with and sprays very consistent, which makes tuning it a breeze!

[Minipax]

The pod looks awesome, very clean.

[mize13]

I just realized that this kit has been giving me a p0245 cel (Turbocharger wastegate solenoid 'A' Low). This makes sense because the wastegate PCM wire is cut and spliced.

To avoid this CEL move the jumper on the controller from DR0 to DR1, as shown in the pic above. This should prevent the CEL from popping up whenever you turn the gauge off. I turned the kit on and off several times, and I drove around today turning the car on and off, code doesn't seem to be coming back.

Just a heads up as I didn't realize this until recently.

[mize13]

Updating this thread, @ms3blackmica; got me dialed in on a safe 93 tune on a gtx2867, vdyno attached.

Moving onto meth now. Will be running 0.9mm and 0.4mm nozzles in the OEM cold pipe.

[mize13]

Pics

[Dust]

Originally Posted by jack_hammer the HFS-4 really is the mother of all meth kits. it's just so dang expensive!

As only Snow and Aquamist currently support DI functionality, here are the two kits

Snow Performance Stage 3 Boost Cooler Water-Methanol Injection Kit

Aquamist HFS-4 Injection System | Howerton Engineering


$849 vs. $848 plus shipping. Snow gives you a $30 tank. Aquamist gives you threaded bungs with caps for nozzle installation. A wash price wise. But Pulse width modulated valve > progressive pump speed, and therefore HFS-4 > Snow.

[faeker]

pretty sure alkycontrol does as well

[jack_hammer]

Originally Posted by Dust As only Snow and Aquamist currently support DI functionality, here are the two kits Snow Performance Stage 3 Boost Cooler Water-Methanol Injection Kit Aquamist HFS-4 Injection System | Howerton Engineering $849 vs. $848 plus shipping. Snow gives you a $30 tank. Aquamist gives you threaded bungs with caps for nozzle installation. A wash price wise. But Pulse width modulated valve > progressive pump speed, and therefore HFS-4 > Snow.

oooh... so you're going to quote something posted a year ago, that was written BEFORE snow came out with their product, and use it to tell me i was wrong?

interesting...

[mize13]

Since this thread was bumped, I'll update it again.

Nishan finished tuning me for meth. Was not shooting for any records, just a power bump. I used a 0.4mm nozzle and 0.8mm nozzle in the cold pipe.

I attached a vdyno. While vdyno introduces inaccuracies, I have always logged on the exact same stretch of road in 4th gear. It's a good tool for seeing gains, and differences in torque and horsepower curves as a tune progresses.

First map, final meth map; 66.67% meth, 33.33% distilled water by volume. Spray started a little before 9psi. We never saw ANY knock on this map, I just asked Nishan to not go any further.

Second map, final 93 tune.

Third map, Nishan dialed back the final meth map so I could beat the utter living shit out of the car at the Dragon this past weekend. Still sprayed the same meth/water ratio, started spraying at same point, and ramped spray at the same rate.

[Dust]

Originally Posted by jack_hammer oooh... so you're going to quote something posted a year ago, that was written BEFORE snow came out with their product, and use it to tell me i was wrong? interesting...

Que?

Yep, you got me. I wasn't posting links to current comparable kits because I wanted the correct information to be available to people that might be looking through the thread, and to back up mize13's comment, and yes, I was ignoring the fact that even back on Feb. 23, 2014 the kits were different prices,
http://www.aquamist.co.uk/forum/compare-4.pdf

I was simply trying to prove an internet identity on MSF wrong.

[mize13]

Originally Posted by Dust http://www.aquamist.co.uk/forum/compare-4.pdf

@Travisms3;

What I say

[Travisms3]

Originally Posted by mize13 @Travisms3; What I say

It is the best kit out there, but the lines suck, and I got my stage 1 for free.

[jack_hammer]

Originally Posted by Dust Que? Yep, you got me. I wasn't posting links to current comparable kits because I wanted the correct information to be available to people that might be looking through the thread, and to back up mize13's comment, and yes, I was ignoring the fact that even back on Feb. 23, 2014 the kits were different prices, http://www.aquamist.co.uk/forum/compare-4.pdf I was simply trying to prove an internet identity on MSF wrong.

What are you going on about?

[Puddin15]

Did you route the water/meth line inside or outside of the car from the pump to the jet?

[mize13]

Originally Posted by Puddin15 Did you route the water/meth line inside or outside of the car from the pump to the jet?

Check picture in OP, ran everything inside under the plastic pieces by the doors. Just pull and they pop off.

The pump, as well as all electronics are supposed to be inside the cabin. The FAV goes in the engine bay as close as possible to injection site.

[Puddin15]

Thanks for the info. I saw you ran the wires inside the car in the photo but I couldn't tell if you did the same with the water/meth line. Now I know, thanks for the quick response!