goes back to WWII on german planes. Nitrous Oxide is not flammable. NO2 makes it possible to burn more fuel that atmospheric air, that is why there is a nos line and another fuel line. some fuel injection systems "sense" the lean condition and compensate quickly, or use the cold from the spray to have the mass air compensate. it is hard on the bottom end, and frequent use requires frequent oil changes.
I've seen the 5.0 liter guys out at the track running juice on motors with over 100,000 miles & no mods, and not having problems. I've heard of other guys blow their engines within a week of getting it installed. Kind of a crapshoot really.
I know it was around before, but we started using it on our drag bikes in the mid 80's. It was a whole lot simpler then, plumb the nos into the carb with another fuel jet, so that when you hit the nos button, you started pumping more fuel in to compensate for the leaning out of the motor. In the early 90's, we went to micro switches and four and five stages of nitrous. That way you left the line on one stage, shifted into second and another stage came on, etc. If the motor is set up for nitrous, bigger bottom end, cam valves, etc. they will live quite a long time. If set up incorrectly, they will not live very long. You could probably put a 50hp or 75hp shot on a stock engine and use it wisely and make it live for a while.
I run NOS on a 6 cylinder Ford. I know kinda like polishing a turd, but anyway. NOS seperates into nitrogen and oxygen at high temperature, so when it gets into the combustion chamber it breaks down and supplies oxygen, enhancing the mixture and allowing you to burn more gas. The most important thing with NOS is the tune! A chassis dyno tune is really the only safe way to set up a nitrous system. If you go lean it will detonate. You can't run the juice for too long at one time or the heat created will melt standard cast pistons. This is where I have heard of most motor failure with NOS. Motors purpose built to run NOS, like mine, are built with forged pistons to help negate this. NOS is the cheapest way to make power, but it is really a quarter mile proposition. It is kinda neat to flip a switch and feel the power come on. Not like getting shoot in the ass like they show in the movies, but still pretty cool. CHAZ
When I built my "Radical Ragtop" 57 Chevy back in 78-9, NOS was just starting to become available to hot rodder on the street. I didn't use it, because I did not know anyone who did, and had no feedback on whether or not it was safe for the engine, safe for ME, or if it really worked as they said. So....it isn't traditional, unless your're building a post 1975 street machine.
Find someone with NOS on their car and beg for a ride. Fill a bottle for him and tell him you're not getting out until it's empty. NOS creates its own oxygen when ignited. That allows you to burn a bunch more fuel, thus more HP. It won't ignite on its own though. As long as your motor is in decent shape and you follow instructions, correct jetting, retarded timing, don't use it under 3000 rpm, you can have a lot of fun for a long time. I have a 150 shot on a '64 chevy II. It's mostly used for beer runs so it doesn't get a lot of miles on it, but I've been spraying it for two years. Still runs fine for a tired 327. It's fun stuff.
Tingler, don't laugh, I know a guy who used an old clutch off of an a/c unit and mounted it to a 471 blower on a sbc motor and it worked! I never believed that the clutch would hold up, but since then I have seen them used on hyd. units and air compressor units on trucks.
Haha. Since hearing about NOS I have wondered if a 50hp, 75hp, 150hp, etc. mean you are actually adding that much hp or is it just a sort of ballpark measurment.
Oh yeah! It is real. Like I said the a/c compressor clutch was hooked to the snout of the blower with an off/on switch inside the car. I know from experience that without the blower belt(on my car) the car runs but wants to stall at a light and does not run great on the road. I drove it approx. 60 miles one time, the belt actually burned up and broke(v-belt), and as long as I was running 60-70 mph, it acted normal. It was when I got in traffic that I had to keep revving the motor to keep it running. There is enough clearance in the rotors that you can keep the motor running without the blower spinning. Keep in mind my motor is stock, not a built blower motor. I am sure that if that were the case, it would be more difficult to keep it running without the blower turning.
It's not exact but it's pretty close. A 150 shot will produce instant tire smoke from a 30 mph roll, both to and from the beer store, and you don't need a lap top. Is tire smoke traditional?
To add to Dave's last post, if you have never experienced a nitrous car, do like someone in a previous post said, find someone who has it set up right on their car, buy them a refill and have them take you for a ride. If the car is set up right and hooks right, you will get one hell of a rush when they hit the bottle. I would say that the 50,75, and 150hp are ballpark, but it is worth it if you do it right(and don't mind buying new tires every once in a while)
Tire smoke is indeed traditional. So is beer. The laptop is not. Lap dances may or may not be traditional but I really don't give two farts if they're not. Beer and lap dances are the perfect combo platter.
Well worth the investment got it on 3 cars and only had one problem burnt a plug once due to intake manifold .
jesus, another german nazi invention added to an ubelievable list.... I did not know about the first NOS origin. thanks for sharing. so let's recap. Germany in WW2 invented............ *The first intercontinental ballistic missile, and thus the first man-made object that touched space since it flew 62 miles before coming down *the first all wing bomber (horton 229) which we (Northorp) copied by borrowing from the smithsonian to develop the B-2 *the first forward swept winged plane which was never duplicated until 1980's *first jet fighter (the ME 262) *the first assault rifle which Russia quickly copied to make the AK-47 *perfected and i believe created the cyanide pill *invented Methodone because Morphine stock piles were dwindling *invented power steering due to the need with large Tiger Tank *radar controlled flak guns before we even had computers *and now NOS for power boost, cool...
I remember some hippies in the parking lot at a Grateful Dead concert back in the 80's were selling balloons full of Nitrous Oxide... I had a 100-shot on my Tempest for a minute, it was loads of fun. Traditional, no. Fun, yes. It got me almost a half second at the strip, for about 350 dollars. You do have to have the engine tuned properly. If you run too lean and hit the switch, you will likely burn up pistons, blow the block, etc etc... like I said, fun stuff..... I got nervous and took it off after this kid that worked for me blew up his tuner car with a 75-shot... we pulled the motor apart, two pistons were completely shattered, amoung other things There is a guy here, runs a stock-bottom 500 cad mill in a old Chevy pu, claims to have over 400 runs with a 300-shot of NOS and says the bottom end of the motor has never been apart since it was put together at the factory.... he runs low 10's..... And yes, Mad Max is a great instuctional video......
Another important thing to remember is not to hit the button at low RPMs. The flow through the nitrous system is relatively constant, but the length of time the valves on the motor are open change with engine RPM. At low RPM, the engine gets a bigger dose of nitrous and fuel (more than the advertised HP gains) and can do real damage. If I remember correctly, NOS says only to use above 3,000 rpms
Hi, my name is Mike and I'm a nitrous junkie. I used a 180 shot in my El Camino and went from 12.70 to 11.08 and picked up 14 mph. More importantly, with slicks, it would pull both front tires off of the ground. Its amazing what it does to an engine.... turns a normally mildish SBC to a screaming raped ape. You can hear and feel the difference in the engine. On launch at the track, the front of my carpeted floor mat would end up on the passenger seat... it would curl up. It pulled real hard... you have to get a ride with someone who has it. A friend of mine has a hot BBC in his Chevelle that runs 10.70s on pump gas. He is spraying 175 through it now (also on pump gas, it CAN be done) and is shooting for 9.90s... problem is now the car looks like a dirt tracker on launch... As far as power ratings... a 150 HP shot should produce an extra 150 HP at the wheels on a chassis dyno. The down side of nitrous? If you don't have the tune right, it likes to punch holes in pistons which leads to expen$ive damage...
Honestly, it should only really be done at WOT. There is no reason to do it at any other throttle position...
Tingler, Putting Nitrous Oxide in your intake manifold is a total waste. Get a mask crack the valve and breath real deep.
Yeah, I ran a micro switch off my carb so the button on my shifter would only work at WOT. When street racing, I'd hit the NOS as soon as the rear tires stopped spinning, then they'd start spinning again. But depending on where the other guy was I was racing, I'd usually stay on the spray! Worked best if I hit the button when I shifted to 2ND when giving buddies joyrides. Had a NOS Cheater set at 175hp and ran my ign retatded @ 4* all the time. Always filling the bottle.....SuperShops loved me! hahahahaha!!!
Yep. Get ahold of the non-denatured stuff and to hell with wasting it in an engine. Best high ever !!
Thread the cartridge into the whipped cream maker.. Put the nozzle in your mouth.. Squeeze the handle and inhale...
you guys really do know you can't inhale racing nitrous right? good. The most important thing is dont let it run lean, make sure you put a wet system in it so it will spray fuel and nitrous, and if your going to run a lot of juice read up on pistons and rings. It is a really easy way to make big power as long as its tuned correctly.
Can I just point out, pretty please, and only cause it drives me insane.... NOS is a brand name, not a gas used to increase horsepower. That'd be nitrous oxide, nitrous, gas, spray, or what have you. Anything but NOS. I swear I'm not trying to be an ass, it's just back when I was drag racing, all the kids that had seen the movies did that, and it drove me nuts. Now that I got that off my chest, yeah, used to play with it often. I ran a port fogged setup on a 2.4 Chrysler turbo motor, after dyno tuning hitting the little button netted an extra 255 WHP.
if you keep to 150 or less you can run on a stock motor. I am been looking at them for my wagon (for the HAMB drags) but decided I really needed a better fuel system (larger then stock stuff that came ona 53) and more carb (more then a 600cfm) before going that route. Timing and jets are something you want set up to run on nitrous. A bottle warmer and low fuel pressure shut off switch is a good thing. A good set up (with options) will run you $600 or better Maybe a two stage system will be in my future.. a little off the line and a bigger dose when you get rolling..
The Jalopy Journal
