Theres no reason out of all the go fast parts that nitrous oxide should be up at the top of the mystery list. Its been around forever and the well thought out quality kits avalible today have taken out all the guess work for using the stuff. But then why are people still melting their plugs, blowing head gaskets or worse? With my experiance with nitrous oxide Im trying to make people more aware of how dangerous nitrous oxide can be when improperly used, and how rewarding it can be when its done right.
1. Never heat your bottle with a torch Higher bottle pressure generally means you'll get a more potent shot of juice and the otimum operating bottle pressure for most systems is between 900-1050 psi, but it can fall to 600-700 in cool climates. One of the biggest mistakes is heating your bottle with a propane torch. The flame, more often than not is not equally distributed around the bottle. In time that flame will reduce the fatigue life of the aluminum bottle and deteriorate its ability to withstand extreme pressure. A catostrophic explosion could occure wich could result in injury or death to the user. To properly heat your bottle it is insisted that you use a bottle warmer or to use a hot water tank. This insures the bottle is heated evenly and safe.
2. When tuning, always start off with the manufacturers recomendations and never ignore the instruction manual Just because a nitrous kit says it can deliver up to 150hp doesnt mean the engine its being installed on can handle it. Get the kit installed and tuned specifically for your engine. Start with the smallest setting and read the plugs until you can achieve the most power or lowest e.t. while maintaining a good reading on the plugs.
3. Never leave your bottle open when the system is not in use After returning from a pass down the drag strip or that chance occurance with the local LS1 dick head, always make sure you turn the vavle off and purge any nitrous left in the lines. This will prevent pressure from building up against the solenoids so nitrous doesnt accedently leak past them and into the intake tract. If nitrous does leak into the engine when you start the car you could be starting a potential bomb.
Also there has been some misconseption about the way a bottle can be mounted in a car. You cant just mount it anyway you feel is most convenient. Each bottle has a siphon tube inside that routes from the bottom of the bottle to the valve for the nitrous line. The best reccomended way to mount a bottle is at a 30 to 45 degree angle with the bottom of it facing the rear portion of the car and the supply line facing toward the ground. This will insure the siphon tube is submerged in pure nitrous on launch. You can also mount the bottle straight up provided the supply line fitting is facing the rear of the vehicle.
4. Never assume your stock fuel system is adequate Nitrous engines need sufficient fuel to run well, so you'll want to pay close attention fo the capabilities of your fuel system. On EFI engines the OEM pump is only adequate when dealing with a small shot. Carbureted engines will requre a seperate fuel supply. To check to see if you are runing a sufficent amount of fuel, read your plugs.
5. Always use a purge valve A purge valve is a smaller solenoid that taps into the nitrous supply line from the bottle. Its job is to flush any air or moisture from the supply line so when the system is armed, only pure nitrous oxide will be injected into the engine. If you were to make a pass down the track with out purging the system first you could experience a sudden yet small stumble from a lack of a healthy nitrous supply.
6. Never use teflon tape to healp seal the nitrous fittings You are not dealing with a life or death situation when using teflon tape on your fittings but it can severely cause damage to your system and engine. Teflon tape does indeed do a great job of sealing the threads on pipe-thread fittings, but it can and usually does wind up working its way through the threads and into the solenoids. If this happens, you will risk the chance of a solenoid failing or the filter inside it becoming restricted, hurting the overall flow of nitrous and/or fuel entering the engine.
The problem or not is most people using too much teflon tape. Its not uncommon to come across a nozzle with a poor spray pattern and the problem comming from debris clogging the tip, usually teflon tape. It is recommended for the threads to be sealed with liquid teflon sealer or loctite sealer. A simple dab is all thats needed, any more and all your acomplishing is making a mess.
7. Never activate the nitrous system while the engine is off, or during part throttle acceleration Often it is asked "What will happen if they hit the button while the engine is not running or during part throttle?" Nitrous kits are only designed for WOT use. The main reason why you shouldnt use it during part throttle is due to the fact that during light cruising, the engine air speed is not enough. At low rpm the air velocity is not enough and a shot of nitrous would increase the cylinder pressure too much. The engine cant move the amount of air and a backfire will generally result.
The safest way to rid the engine of any unwanted nitrous is to unplug the coil pack and while holding the throttle wide open, crank the engine over for about 30 seconds. This will cause the nitrous to escape and not cause a backfire. For those with a distributor just unplug the one coil wire and crank away.
8. Aways make sure you have the proper nitrous handling permits In some states such as NJ, it is required you have a nitrous oxide permit to legally purchase, handle, and use nitrous oxide. More and more states are requiring these in order to use the power adder legaly.
If you drive a street car that is equipped wiht nitrous and get pulled over without having the correct nitrous permit, you risk the chance of getting a major fine and possibly seeing your ride getting towed away, headed for the impound yard.
9. Always keep tabs on your spark plugs All this talk about reading your spark plugs. So heres how to read them! Your spark plugs are the key to knowing whats going on inside your engine. Due to differences in the ports of the intake manifold it is important to read all of the plugs and base your jetting off the entire engine not just one plug. Use a magnifying glass to look for tiny silver or black specs deposited on the porcelain. They can indicate aliminum from a piston or head chamber on them. If you suspect aluminum, its a sure sign your engine has too much timing and maybe too much nitrous for the fuel jetting. On the ground strap, note the bluish tinted coloring that indicates heat. A little is good, if the whole strap is bluish or melted, back off on the timing or nitrous jetting.
If you are constantly burning spark plugs it may be necessary to change to a colder heat range plug. A colder plug can transfer more heat and will be less prone to meltdown. Usually on nitrous engines dropping down 2 heat ranges will due the trick.
It is also important to note different types of fuel will put different tracing on the plugs. Find a fuel that works for you and stick with it. Higher-octane fuel has a slower burn rate and may be all that is needed to reduce the temperature of the combustion chambers, but if the timing is advanced too much it can also spell disaster. A good rule of thumb is for every 50hp shot of nitrous, you should retard the timing approximately 2 1/2 degrees. You should always check with the manufacturer, because this figure may change depending on the kit being used.
Using nitrous with 87 oxtane pump gas is a sure no no. Low octane fuel will burn extremely fast and will not do a very good job of preventing detonation. 93 octane is the least reccomended. Of course, when stepping up to leaded race fuel, be sure you are not running catalytic converters. Leaded fuel will heat up and damage converters rather quickly.
10.Always use the proper blow off valve and tube A nitrous blow off valve is designed to relieve excess pressure should it exceed the bottles specifications. The tube is there to vent the nitrous outside the vehicle and away from the driver.
Most nitrous systems with a 10lb bottle operate best at 900-1050 psi. It is extremely easy to exceed that pressure, especially when filling a bottle after the user feels it is emply. It is not hard at all to fit 12lbs in a 10lb bottle. Most nitrous bov's are pressure rated to 3000psi, but they can and will give if the pressure comes close to that.
The bov and tube are also maintained by the NHRA. If the nitrous system on your car does not have the proper bov and tube, it will not pass tech at your track.
When storing your bottle do not be careless and leave it in direct sunlight or near any object that gives off heat. I once witnessed a racer place his bottle next to the exhaust of a generator. The heat raised the bottle pressure to the point where the bov released the pressure. The racer, panicking from the sudden burst of nitrous from his freshly filled bottle, went to grab the bottle and got severe burns on his hands from the temperature of the nitrous exiting. Nitrous is an extremely cold gas which will burn your skin just as easily as if it were scolding hot.
*h yeah, i almost forgot one of the most important mistakes. its not called NOS!*
Some of these things may seem like no brainers, but are often not followed and i personally have seen tons of damaged from idiots who just slapped a kit on with out reading the instructions or piecing a kit together from different parts. I have even seen solenoids get stuck open and the driver not able to stop the car and hurt people. With all that said please be safe and do it right the first time. Always check and double check, then have someone else check your work. The last thing i want is to see an SRT-4 the victim of nitrous misuse. Mods please make sticky if its not too much trouble.
Since you seem to be leaning to the "Safety" side of things.. You might want to add to NEVER run your Nitrous line INSIDE the car.. always route the line Outside the cabin.
also do not trust NOS's bottle heater to "automatically" shut off b/c its a piece and heated my bottle to over 1350 psi and i sure new it when i punched it and a big back fire blew my cold air intake apart at the air bypass valve (thingy) in my last car: but it was ok. Thats just me being stupid i quess
Just so people know. Nitrous voids your insurace. So if you wreck with it equipped on your car you are on your own. Atleast in california it completly voids all insurace coverage.
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Play it safe! Top 10 nitrous mistakes
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