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Meet the Legends of Hot Rodding at the Triple Crown of Rodding

August 27, 2025

Truck Triumphs at the Triple Crown of Rodding 2023

In the world of rodding and customization, there are certain moments that stand out as big achievements—proof of how dedicated, creative, and skilled the builders can be. The first Triple Crown of Rodding show in 2023 is one of those moments, a big success that everyone in the car world will remember. It was organized by industry juggernauts, Bobby Alloway and Gary Case, and it brought together some of the best builders in the business, like Roy Brizio, Art Morrison, Troy Trepanier, Chip Foose, and Alan Johnson just to name a few! Car fans from all over the country came to the Nashville Superspeedway to celebrate car craftsmanship and meet the people who made these amazing cars.

Right Rod

If you attend car events in California, such as NHRA’s California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, the West Coast Kustoms show in Paso Robles or the L.A. Roadster Show in Pomona, you will notice that rat rods are a growing segment of the hot rod hobby. Years ago, when they started becoming a common sight at many of the shows, the mechanical aspects of most of the cars were scary at best. You could see cars with no springs, some without floorboards, and many constructed with less-than-desirable stick welding. It is this type of construction that created the name “rat rod.” Fortunately, over the past few years there has been an attempt to upgrade the construction of rat rods, even though the enthusiasts want to use as many original parts as possible.

Instrumental Insurance

All of your hard work and efforts could go up in smoke before you have a chance to do anything about it. That is, unless you have a quality set of gauges to monitor initial and ongoing engine parameters. Gauges allow you to know exactly what is going on within your engine at a glance. Is the oil pressure too low? Is the engine running hot? Is the battery charging?

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SQUIRT GUN

WATER INJECTION FOR YOUR POWER-THIRSTY ENGINE

Author

Sean Greene

Photography by Nick Chin

You have to admit that the thought of injecting water into your engine sounds crazy. We all know that water doesn’t burn and it can’t be compressed. Those unfortunate souls who have tried to do this now have engines that are the equivalent of ship anchors. In this installation, we aren’t going to be injecting huge amounts of water into an engine, but rather a fine mist that’s proportionate to the fuel flow (10 percent to 20 percent), using a high-pressure pump. This will help lower the chances of detonation by reducing the intake charge temperature.

Why water? If you read HCI’s intercooler article in the April ’04 issue (“Chill Out,” p. 131), you know that water has a large capacity to retain heat. So when water is introduced into a hot environment, a percentage of heat is absorbed. This is effective when installed on an internal combustion engine, especially when it’s supercharged or turbocharged.

South Florida Performance (SFP) installed the Aquamist System 2s, which comes with a controller that is capable of adjusting the system at different rpms (2,000-9,000). It’s adjustable in 1,000rpm increments and has the option of 3D mapping when used with a MAP sensor. The owner of this ’03 Mitsubishi EVO VIII has intentions of pushing the envelope and eventually installing standalone engine management, so he wanted a system that would be fairly flexible.

The Aquamist system isn’t a power-adder like nitrous oxide, so if you are expecting to see a direct increase in power after installing this product you will be disappointed. However, your engine will be able to make more power because of it. Confused? Remember that water is being injected to help suppress the chances of detonation and with less detonation, you can turn the boost up higher or run more timing. Naturally, if you have access to good gas like 94 octane, you will be able to run more boost than someone will on 92 octane; but with the Aquamist you can squeeze out even more power.

It should be noted that the Aquamist system isn’t a substitute for an intercooler, but more like an add-on. Imagine combining this product with an intercooler and intercooler chiller such as the Nitrous Express N-tercooler. To increase the effectiveness of the Aquamist system, SFP opted to use a fifty-fifty mixture of methanol and water. Methanol has an octane rating of 113 that will increase the fuel quality and the cooling capacity of the water.

This product works on a wide variety of vehicles, both naturally aspirated and force-fed. The system will help reduce detonation; however, if your engine is detonating before you purchase this product, you should put your money into solving the problem first. The Aquamist will not make existing problems disappear.

The upper intercooler pipe must be removed in order to install the Aquamist nozzle.

This is achieved by loosening the hose clamps at the throttle body and intercooler.

With the pipe out of the way, a suitable location for the Aquamist pump and relay can be selected.

Here we can see the rather beefy pump, which will be mounted just below the air filter on the side of the chassis. Pilot holes are drilled first.

Pilot holes are drilled first.

The pump is bolted securely to the car.

Next is the water reservoir that must be modified in order to work with the Aquamist system. SFP changed the height of the system, as pouring the methanol/water mixture into the reservoir at its original location would increase the chances of spillage and damage to the finish of the vehicle. The high-pressure tubing is also installed while the reservoir is out of the vehicle.

The tubing is measured for length and cut accordingly.

With the car raised off the ground, the feed tube can be connected to the pump using the fittings provided.

The wiring to the pump is hooked up next. Since the vehicle is intended to be a show car, the wiring must be tidy. The best way to accomplish this is to measure out proper lengths needed and then group the wires together. The control unit for the Aquamist is concealed inside the passenger compartment, where basic connections such as ignition power and ground are made. Also, inputs for rpm and pressure are connected to sensors on the engine.

By covering the wires in split-loom tubing, they blend into the factory wiring.