Thread: nitrous oxide

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when buildin a spray dedicated engine, build a short block capable of toleratin the amount of power u expect to make when u engage the spray, IE: if u have a recip n short block assembly that will tolerate say 500bhp, u make that and then add even as much as 100bhp of spray, ur likely to need some oil dry n a straw basket in short order, especially if ur engagein at low rpm's, jus as u wouldn't use such a short block/ recip assembly in an engine with which u planned to make 700 bhp on the mtr, u shouldn't use it in one that will make more than 500 total bhp when u spray.
essentually the greatest application and benifit of spray is that u can build and exceedingly mild engine and spray out whatever u leave in the engine tween that and the most it could possibly make normally aspirated, such as would b what u want to have a street ride with fair to good MPG and great engine life as well as drivability.
Also, fuel requirements as far as octane level required do not change unless u increase the mechanical compression ratio and or the static cyl pressure during the compression stroke. the lower ur mechanical compression ratio the less octane u can use and still get optimum performance, with a low compression engine usein too hgh octane fuel actually robs power since the burn rate is far to slow, u'de have to advance ur timing into the stratosphere in order to produce the same amount of power as u would with lower octane fuel.
Most folk get the wrong idea about what ur doin when u advance or retard ur timing, when u advance ur timein ur actually lighting ur fire sooner in ur stroke which is why its expressed in degrees before top dead center, when u retard ur timing ur actually lightin the fire later in ur stroke or closer to top dead center. HGH octane fuels are dirtier( and before u ask why premium fuels cost more than do low octane fuels? precisely because they r dirtier n thus engender far greater tax burdens which the petro supplier passes on to YOU the consumer) and thus have slower burn rates, too slow to make effective power with retarded timin settings, since they take longer to burn they require that ya light em off sooner in relation to top dead center, lower octane fuels burn quicker thus u need to wait later to light them off, otherwise u lean out, as in ur left with MORE oxgen in the combustion cyl than u have accellerant to heat evenly and ya get hot points in the cyl which light off ur mixture before AND after the spark plug does, thus u have opposing flame fronts crashing together, resultin in that anoying rattlein sound of detonation, aka pre ignition. the reason it sounds as if its rattleing is because it is, ur actually rattlein the pistons n rods in the cyl. This is why diesel engines have such large heavy duty parts, so as to withstand this rattleing which results from lighting flame frontSSSS with other than a spark plug, they simply compress the mixture so much that it crates enuff heat to self ignite almost AT bottom dead center or just off of same and requires the dirtier diesel fuel in order to burn slow enuff NOT to lean out by TDC.
another area that is often in confusion is that the engine burns gas to make power, which is true and NOT true, what burnin the fuel does is expand the oxygen in ur mixture violently, IE: make it explode in a contained environment, the violent expansion of the oxygen in ur mixture is what drives ur pistons, not the burnin of the gas, which is why at peak thermal efficiency levels the engine exhausts everything originally in ur mixture EXCEPT the oxygen, this is why ox sensors r used in FI systems, if there is too much ox content in the exhaust that means the engine is lean, too little means it is too rich.
when buildin a hgh performance engine for any competetive mtr sport the guy who builds the strongest engine is the one who not only knows what works, where it works when and how it works, but also WHY it works... after all if u do not understand or know WHY something works, how can u hope to effectively make it work better ???
I began drag racin in my own rides that i wrenched at age 13 in the summer of 1963 and i have hot roded every domestic brand at one time or another since then, predominantly Buick, Olds and Pontiac witha great deal of Mopar experience as well as some mild forays with both Ford and AMC products. I find that in order to win more than u loose in drag racin, which is the best u can do in ANY racing( the only one who doesn't loose is the one who doesn't race, and their is a vast diff tween winning n racing, they r not always mutually inclusive and few racers want em to b....most want to win, but they don't want it to b a race thus they only wanna race some1 over whom they feel they have some insurmountable advantage and that is true even among the so called pro racers...) u need to know nearly as much about the potential of the brand u compete against as u do about those u compete WITH.
another thing, street racing is illegal and with good reason tho not the one most folk think, it isn't cause its any safer for the participants, only that it is safer for the spectators and even THAT hasn't always been so race tracks, witness Dale Earnhart, dead as hell in like as not the safest race car that could b built at one of the safest race tracks in the world. Racin anywhere any time entails the exact same amount of risk for the participants and their vehicles, the diff is u pay the track to insure that u take every precaustion to LIMIT same and eliminate same as much as possible for the spectators. Precautions u must need take and responsibility u must need assume for urself on the street, if ur unwilling or unable or unaware of how to do that, by all means, confine ur racing to the track cause if i see ya racin on the street, ima put the cops on ya and quick ain't fast enuff to describe how fast. so called PRO racers who RAIL against street racing r usually those who r SCARED to race, not the street racer, i have been to any number of tracks in my life and raced, i have yet to race at one it takes half as much nerve to race at as does the safest street spot i have yet to race at. Besides, it takes a lot more nerve to line up with someone whom u don't KNOW how quick they r or YOU are for that matter than at the track when u can sit back n let the clocks tell ya how quick ya both r, as well as insure that both HE or SHE AND you take the nessecarty precautions for safty sake, all things u have to figure for urself on the street.
Next, Drag racing started and yet has its roots ON THE STREET and if u were to somehow eliminate all street drag racing, its a lock that within a year there would b NO DRAG strip still open, or any after market supplier of drag race parts doin very well either. Think about it, sponsors AND track owners and officials make money off the street enthusiasts, not the pro's, them they spend money on, not make money on they are considered ADVERTISEMENT to sell their brand to folk who for the most part don't even GO to a drag strip, let alone race at one or on the street for that matter. GM and Mopar both build relatively light production rides that make over 600 BHP, do u actually believe they expect the buyer is only goin to use same only at a track, do u think insurers would get away with charger the kinds of premiums they do on such cars if the owners were expected to only use same on tyhe track, NO, in fact if u wreck ur ride on a race track u r NOT COVERED. and all that about safty for the patrticipants ?? once it gets past what YOU can take care of with a 1st aid kit. the track is only safer if its NEXT DOOR to a big hospital with a well equiped trauma center, how many races tracks ya know that are ???