Ok, so I no longer think I'm going to be looking at blowers on my 10.5-1 496. I don't want to replace the pistons and change my cam etc. and have to worry about running race gas all the time.

Isky solid roller 256/260, .680/.680, 110 lsa
Brodix Race Rite rect port heads
Team G intake
1000 HP carb
Eagle forged crank and rods
2" primary headers to 3" exhaust.

What do you guys think a nitrous set-up would be liike on this combo? I've looked at them and they seem like a great way to make extra power per dollar (nitrous-$500, blower-$2500). What would you all recommend for my engine? Is it easy to install? Any major concerns/headaches when using it? Would I still have to make any major changes to my motor to run it? Sorry for all the questions, but I am new to nitrous and really don't know that much about it. Thanks.

Patrick

Nitrous works great as well.
there when you need it.
Can put a strain on the motor just like anything else...
I know a guy with a complete set up *over $1800 invested and would sell for less than 1/2. Port injection, extra jets.... lines everything.
He did just the opposite and went to a blower!!!

Patrick, the best thing to do in terns of choosing a Nitrous kit is...

Choose:
- a reputable company
- an adjustable kit

Stay away from:
- extra gadgets
- BIG, High HP Kits

Like anything else N2O has a learning curve...It's better to start small and work your way up. An Edelbrock Performer/Performer RPM Kit or NX Hitman are good starts. They have everything you nee to get going and are adjustable usually from 50-200hp.

Like the previous post said, buy a good kit, keep it simple to start (single stage,small jets ect.) Also, I purchased a book on nitrous called "How to install and use NITROUS OXIDE". This will help you to understand nitrous theory and the correct use of it.
When I purchased my vehicle it was already set up for nitrous and I knew absolutely nothing about it. All the stories you hear about it melting pistons and so on. Well, make sure you follow the kit manufactures recommendations, especially on safety switches like wide open throttle and fuel psi an you have nothing to worry about.
In my opinion, for the street bruiser and weekend warrior at the track, nitrous is the only way to go. Much cleaner cheaper set up and just as good hp. For the guy who has lots of coins and is going for national titles, well turbo or blower may be the right application.

YES nitrous would be great excellent combo, also im guessing you have forged pistons.....but anyways be extremely attentative to the set up make sure all the wiring is done nice and neat and follow the instructions if your new at it. it is an excellent way to add big power with a push of a button, and you dont need to deal with a blower.

The book mention should be your 1st step.That's what I did before I installed my 1st kit.You can get this book at JEG'S and it's very good.Keep it simple like single stage,different fuel system.Good kit would be nx which I like the best and start out with a 125 hp hit...Read the book and don't allow other guy's at the track to tell you BS as how much nitrous to use and so on.I spent a whole winter reading this book and learned a lot.It tell's you and show's you how to set-up a fuel system,how to wire up your nitrous system and about eveything you need to know.

Yeah I do have forged SRP pistons. Stupid question, but when do you actually APPLY the nitrous? IE at idle, a certain rpm like 2000 or so? And is it a continuous spray or do you have to aplly several "sprays" evry few second? See I told you all I don't know s**t about nitrous:clonk: Thanks.

You could have a button or a full throttle switch, or a timer, or progressive, but, being as you are new I would install a button so you can activate it down track so you get used to it. normally you activate it ONLY under full throttle. DO NOT activate the system at idle, EVER. Some people "purge" through the engine to clear the lines or check for proper activation at an elevated RPM, about 3000-4000. I have an NOS kit and use Nitrous Supply for tech (Mike Flynn), the Edlebrock and NX kits are top notch IMO.

To be perfectly honest with you....I'd lose "the button" and stick with a WOT microswitch.

Use a good 50-200hp kit and start out running your car on motor only, once your comfortable and have a baseline you can turn on the N2O and start with the 50hp setting and repeat. Follow manufacturers instructions and retard timing at the appropriate hp levels. Always use premium fuel in the car when racing it with the N2O (a little race gas mixed in never hurt).

Also, while I'm an avid reader, even I don't have the time or patience for those long winded how-to books and I certainly don't have all winter to read one. Thumb through, hit the high points, start small, follow the manufacturers instructions and you'll be fine.

At hp levels of 125 or less N20 is almost foolproof....Anything over that requires certain things be in order before you go there.
Example: 150 hp is the most you should spray using a dual plane intake.

Ask questions, and judge the responses by the persons giving the advice. While it is true that a guy with an 8 sec. BBC that has 2 stages of N2O probably has forgotten more than you'll ever know about N2O, it is equally true that the part he's forgotten is how to spray a mild street car.... Ask questions of those running similiar set-ups to yours and you'll be fine...JJim

Ya bb489, you are green when it comes to nitrous! :D But, I was the EXACT same way when I purchased my car and it had a 275 hp Big Shot kit already installed on it. I didnt spray it for over a year after I purchased it cause I knew nothing about it. After I bought that book and understood the theory behind it, I then checked out my car to see if it was set up correctly, which it was. I then got the balls to "hit the button". When I did, it worked flawless and was awesome!

So, basically what I'm saying is buy that book! It will answer all your questions and then some!

My set up was a basic NOS Big Shot plate kit with a dedicated fuel supply (its own fuel pump and 1 gal fuel cell). I had a wide open throttle switch, a fuel Psi switch and steering wheel mounted button all hooked in series. The reason for the steering wheel button was so I could actvate when ever I wanted. Very basic and it was safe. I also had a purge kit on it.
Good Luck!! You will be hooked!

Make Sure Your Ignition System Is Up To The Task Of Firing With The Extra Cylinder Pressure And You Have Good Head Gaskets. I Run The Edelbrock Performer Rpm Kit. It Has Stainless Jets Opposed To Brass Some Other Brands Use. It Is Adjustable From 100-250 H.p. And Is A Plate System.everything Is Included In Their Kit Also. Hope This Helps You.

You could have a button or a full throttle switch, or a timer, or progressive, but, being as you are new I would install a button so you can activate it down track so you get used to it. normally you activate it ONLY under full throttle. DO NOT activate the system at idle, EVER. Some people "purge" through the engine to clear the lines or check for proper activation at an elevated RPM, about 3000-4000. I have an NOS kit and use Nitrous Supply for tech (Mike Flynn), the Edlebrock and NX kits are top notch IMO.

Mike Flynn is a good friend of mine, very knowledgable guy and Nitrous Supply is the company I do all my nitrous business with. You are asking and getting some good questions and answers. After you are done here I would call Nitrous Supply, talk to Mike, order your kit and go have fun.

You set up will work very well with nitrous. I am running 300 hp through a Fogger with a very similar 454+.030.

Nitrous Supply 714 373 1986

Yeah I do have forged SRP pistons. Stupid question, but when do you actually APPLY the nitrous? IE at idle, a certain rpm like 2000 or so? And is it a continuous spray or do you have to aplly several "sprays" evry few second? See I told you all I don't know s**t about nitrous:clonk: Thanks. The low compression SRP pistons are high silicone and aren't extremely strong. They are better than cast pistons but not really up to the task of big nitrous hits. If you stay under 200 H.P. you'll likely not have any problems.

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet....but one thing is for sure. N20 is very very addictive. Once you've made an N20 pass it's hard to run just motor.
While this fine, I've found that when the novelty of the N2o wears off, your left with an engine combo that feels slow.
Also, when the level of N20 your at starts getting old, you start increasing the size of shot(kinda sounds like a junkie...huh?) then you can end up OD'ing and toasting a few pistons or worse.
This was my experience anyways. Ofcourse on this date Dec. 7th 1994 I took my last drink...so I am predisposed<sp> to addictive behavior.

;) Ofcourse on this date Dec. 7th 1994 I took my last drink...so I am predisposed<sp> to addictive behavior.

Happy Anniversary and Congrats ;)

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet....but one thing is for sure. N20 is very very addictive. Once you've made an N20 pass it's hard to run just motor.
While this fine, I've found that when the novelty of the N2o wears off, your left with an engine combo that feels slow.
Also, when the level of N20 your at starts getting old, you start increasing the size of shot(kinda sounds like a junkie...huh?) then you can end up OD'ing and toasting a few pistons or worse.
This was my experience anyways. Ofcourse on this date Dec. 7th 1994 I took my last drink...so I am predisposed<sp> to addictive behavior.

My car has run 5.85 on the motor and 5.25 on a 300 shot, you are right the 5.85 feels pretty slow compared to the 5.25.

Most well built big blocks can handle a PROPERLY TUNED 300 shot no problem. The key to running hits that big is learning how to read a nitrous plug and taking small steps up the nitrous ladder. I started off at a 150 shot and over about 75 runs worked my way up to the current tune.

Go over to gofastzone.com and look for the a document they call nitrous 101, it is very informative for the new nitrous user, definitely worth the read.

I still say you should buy the book and read it..I don't hear you responding about getting this book? Get it at jeg's for $30.00.

I didn't order the book yet because I'm still not sure if I want to do it yet. I thank everyone for the responses and keep them coming please. I actually believe I saw that book once at a book store locally here, but I could be mistaken. I might drop by today to see if it is there. I did read some info in one of my high performance BBC books and it said that in a street car that one should limit the nitrous shot to 200 hp or less and then they wouldn't really have any big problems?

How much nitrous you can run depends on a lot of vaiables, that being said a well built big block can handle 300 no problem.

I have L-88 rods with JE nitrous pistons, O-ringed block, Eagle crank, nothing special. I spray the heck out of mine. I think the article on gofastzone is better than that book Driver is talking about. I have read both.

Thanks, I'll check that out too.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned this yet.

There are three things that, (I believe) that are esential that do not come in the kit. Everyone I have talked to agrees.

1. Tank pressure gauge.
2. Bottle heater.
3. Fuel pressure regulator.

N2o works best at 950 psi. The colder it gets outside, the lower the tank pressure. Low pressure is not a friend of N2o. Should be are close to 950 psi as possible. Too much pressure is bad too, purge it. Too much fuel and you create a rich situation, not enough and you are looking for trouble. A very well known drag racer in my area clued me in.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned this yet.

There are three things that, (I believe) that are esential that do not come in the kit. Everyone I have talked to agrees.

1. Tank pressure gauge.
2. Bottle heater.
3. Fuel pressure regulator.

N2o works best at 950 psi. The colder it gets outside, the lower the tank pressure. Low pressure is not a friend of N2o. Should be are close to 950 psi as possible. Too much pressure is bad too, purge it. Too much fuel and you create a rich situation, not enough and you are looking for trouble. A very well known drag racer in my area clued me in.

All are good suggestions...I think they did'nt come up because this began as a how-to, entry level discussion. Now that it has progressed to this point the 3 items you mentioned are correct.

As far as the bottle pressure, I made 4 passes a couple of weeks ago with temps in the high 60's and I tried 800, 900, 1050 and saw no differance. The most low pressure will do is cause the engine to run rich. In my case, it ran the exact same ET's....

As far as the bottle pressure, I made 4 passes a couple of weeks ago with temps in the high 60's and I tried 800, 900, 1050 and saw no differance. The most low pressure will do is cause the engine to run rich. In my case, it ran the exact same ET's....


Cool. I guess that blows my previous post out of the water. Glad it ran good for you. We did you run at? No Problem? Where are you from?

We rented State Capitol a couple sundays ago.

Mind you, this was'nt much of a scientific test as it was me borrowing my buddies heater cause it was cool that day.

Also, I did'nt take any timing out of it...that was by accident at first. After that I just left it as the car ran flawlessly. I have a 1 gal. fuel cell with C-12 and a separate fuel system for the N2O. (pump gas in the gas tank)

Check us out at the link in my signature...

Also....Too rich can be just as bad or worse as too lean. Lean you will start burning plugs off, then burning holes in pistons, however rich will lift the ring lands on the pistons, either way, time for new pistons. Bottle pressure and fuel pressure = very important.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned this yet.

There are three things that, (I believe) that are esential that do not come in the kit. Everyone I have talked to agrees.

1. Tank pressure gauge.
2. Bottle heater.
3. Fuel pressure regulator.

N2o works best at 950 psi. The colder it gets outside, the lower the tank pressure. Low pressure is not a friend of N2o. Should be are close to 950 psi as possible. Too much pressure is bad too, purge it. Too much fuel and you create a rich situation, not enough and you are looking for trouble. A very well known drag racer in my area clued me in.

There really is no magic psi to run the bottle at. I run 900...most guys agree that lower than 1000 is better. The issue is pressure drop from the time you launch until you finish the pass. When I launch at 900 psi I go across the finish line at 880. I burn 2 lbs. of nitrous in 5.2 seconds. If you use the higher psi tunes the pressure drop is more because you have to heat the bottle so much to get the psi up. I used to run 1000 psi tunes and I would loose 50 psi. in an 1/8 mile pass. When you loose psi from the base tune, the N/F ratio is richer and on a well tuned fast car you can see the difference in e.t.

I am not discounting Jungle Jimmie, but I doubt he flowed his fuel pressure every pass or did all the other little things that you must do to really get good data. I would also bet he was running a relatively small shot. Did he change the bottle every pass or two......how fast of a car?.......how much nitrous was used in each pass? Was the bottle weighed?..... He is right the low pressure stuff can make it go rich......but as long as it is going through the phase change (750 psi or above if I remember correctly)..it will still work.

I am not discounting Jungle Jimmie, but I doubt he flowed his fuel pressure every pass or did all the other little things that you must do to really get good data. I would also bet he was running a relatively small shot. Did he change the bottle every pass or two......how fast of a car?.......how much nitrous was used in each pass? Was the bottle weighed?..... He is right the low pressure stuff can make it go rich......but as long as it is going through the phase change (750 psi or above if I remember correctly)..it will still work.

Like I said earlier..."Mind you, this was'nt much of a scientific test"

I run a 150hp shot using the same bottle and did'nt weigh it or flow the fuel everytime. My point was that no matter what the actual pressure that day, it did'nt matter. Granted, this was on my pump gas street car and I was just looking to make a few 10 sec passes. I always run it a little fat because it's safer...

When we get serious on the Nova, it'll have a nitrous 496 with a fogger and I will be doing all the things necessary to optimize my N2O use at my disposal.

Jimmie, I am not trying to give you a hard time. I read your post and then it was a while before I responded.....I had forgotten what you said about it not being a scientific test.

Running it fat is not safer...it is just running it fat. I do not understand why guys run nitrous systems fat, do they run their carbs rich also?? No because it fouls plugs and robs power....same thing with nitrous fat.

You are lucky you did not hurt something by not taking timing out, again not giving you a hard time but you usually can not hear a nitrous motor killing its self. I would guess the C-12 saved you.....I would not do it again though. The only way to know for sure is to do a plug read.

I know that it seems like I preach in regards to nitrous stuff. I have just gotten tired of guys running the stuff wrong and then blaming nitrous when they hurt something, good luck with the 496.

No offense taken...when I say a little fat, I mean a "little".

Somewhere I did mentioned that I used C-12 specifically because I was spraying N2O. At this hp level it did'nt seem to care one way or another if I moved the timing, which I did once...I took out 4 degrees and it slowed, noticably

Heck, this motor might want more timing on motor only...in which case, it was already retarded when I made those N2O passes..Make sense?

This is a "street" car that I race occasionally, If I was really serious I'd already have built the 496 and put it into this car.

The Nova will happen one day....

You do not need to flow the fuel system every time. When you go to the track yes check it and that is it. You must take timing out 2 degrees per 50 hp if your a little aggressive then take only 1.5 out. If you run the system fat you will burn it up. What bottle pressure are you running? I have extensive experience with this stuff if you need help let me know. I have sprayed 4 kits on my motors and went 60 passes and never hurt anything and run low
4.40's in the 1/8th in outlaw 10.5 and have tried everthing under the clear blue sky. Dont try to re-invent the wheel with NOS you will loose in the end.

Just my 2 cents

Sean

You do not need to flow the fuel system every time. When you go to the track yes check it and that is it. You must take timing out 2 degrees per 50 hp if your a little aggressive then take only 1.5 out. If you run the system fat you will burn it up. What bottle pressure are you running? I have extensive experience with this stuff if you need help let me know. I have sprayed 4 kits on my motors and went 60 passes and never hurt anything and run low
4.40's in the 1/8th in outlaw 10.5 and have tried everthing under the clear blue sky. Dont try to re-invent the wheel with NOS you will loose in the end.

Just my 2 cents

Sean

Was this for my benefit? :confused: I know you Houston Boys got it going on when it comes to N2O but I'm far from alone here in South Louisiana.
We also have a couple cars running low 4 sec. 1/8 mi (with 3 kits) in our camp as well... I'm just having fun with my old car;)

If it was'nt meant for me....nevermind what I said earlier :thumbsup:

Jimmie, nothing directed at you. Bottle pressure is very important you want it entering the motor in a liquid state period. The higher the pressure it will hit harder but is not as consistant. Sean

Yeah I do have forged SRP pistons. Stupid question, but when do you actually APPLY the nitrous? IE at idle, a certain rpm like 2000 or so? And is it a continuous spray or do you have to aplly several "sprays" evry few second? See I told you all I don't know s**t about nitrous:clonk: Thanks.

Not at idle or you will have a bomb in your lap.Rule of thumb says not below 3000 rpm.A hit off the starting line will pick you up more than the same shot at anywhere else if the tires will handle it.Also didn't know till yesterday,but a progressive system works the solenoid more in an afternoon than a single shot will all year.
Buy the book.Sorry,but thats all today.