Gary's SQUEEZED Z-28 Homepage!
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GENERAL INFORMATION
Why Nitrous Oxide? Nitrous Oxide is arguably one of the cheapest horsepower adders for the money! It's instant horsepower when you want it (assuming your bottle is filled).
How does Nitrous Oxide Work? Nitrous Oxide releases oxygen during the combustion process due to the high temperatures. This extra oxygen allows more fuel to be burned, thus giving you more power! It's here that nitrous can be dangerous. If you experience a lean condition while on the "squeeze" detonation can occur and may damage engine components! It's desireable to retard your timing while spraying nitrous to help prevent detonation from occuring. NOS recommends 1 to 1 1/2 degrees per 50 hp (and this is what I use). There are several products out there to help you do this. I use the Jacobs Nitrous Mastermind.
Is Nitrous Oxide safe for my engine? This is a tough question to answer. There are certain risks that you take when running any kind of major power adders (i.e. nitrous oxide, superchargers etc). The secret is to take as many steps possible to safely run these products. Another important thing to remember is not to get greedy! Don't try to "squeeze" more horsepower than your engine can take (i.e. don't add a 250 hp nitrous kit to a stock Chevy LT1). See my nitrous installation for the safety features that I've incorporated into my system.
MY NITROUS SYSTEM, DETAILS & INSTALLATION
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My Nitrous Oxide system is an NOS 5176 kit. It's a "dry manifold" system. With this system the nitrous is introduced just prior to the throttle body & the extra fuel is delivered by the stock injectors. The 5176 kit comes with two nitrous solenoids as a safety measure in case one fails. When the nitrous flows a nitrous regulator automatically bumps up the fuel pressure from around 40 psi to around 80 psi. This particular system uses and "in-line" fuel pump in addition to the stock fuel pump to aid in the extra fuel delivery. Nitrous is designed to work only at wide open throttle (WOT) unless a progressive controller is used. I use the Jacobs Nitrous Mastermind - more on that later. A microswitch is installed on the stock throttle linkage so that it is activated at WOT. I've heard horror stories of these switches failing so I chose to use a magnetic reed switch instead (see picture below).
The Nitrous Mastermind incorporates several important features in one box. First there's the timing retard. This allows you to retard the timing (recommended 2 degrees for every 50 horsepower of N2O)with the turn of the dial from 0-15 degrees. The good thing about this feature is that the timing is only retarded when the nitrous is flowing, so as to not hurt performance when not on "the squeeze". Secondly there's the progressive controller. This allows the nitrous to be "feathered" in over an RPM band that you set in. I've got mine to start at 2500 RPM and to be spraying full at 4000 RPM. This feature has two uses. First it aids in traction, allowing you to introduce nitrous earlier. Secondly it eases stress on your engine. Rather than hitting the engine with the full 150 hp (in my case) it starts out lower and builds up over the RPM band that you've set in. The last dial on the Mastermind is the REV limiter. This REV limiter works slightly different than most, in that it chops the N2O just before hitting the limiter. This prevents a lean condition in the cylinder, where with other limiters the fuel would be chopped and the N2O would still be spraying. Then you get a Nitrous backfire, which could be trouble for your engine components. The Mastermind also has provisions for a low pressure safety switch, which is very important. Again this prevents a lean condition in the cylinder. When the Nitrous is activated, fuel pressure is bumped up. With this safety switch, if fuel pressure is lost the nitrous is shut off within thousandths of a second!
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