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Understanding Nitrous
Nitrous is short for Nitrous-oxide. Chemical writing for nitrous is N2o. It is 2 nitrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom for the molecule. Contrary to be common "Import tuners" nitrous is non-flammable. So unlike Fast and the Furious your car won't burst into flames, but if the bottom ruptures it will rip your car apart. Nitrous under pressure is a liquid, at atmospheric pressures its a evaporates and expands cooling down the intake charge. Cooler intake temperatures means within a given area there is much more oxygen molecules. More oxygen plus more fuel equals more power.
Wet Or Dry Shots:
There are two ways to juice. Dry or wet. They are exactly how they imply. Dry shot is when you add just nitrous to the intake. I am not familiar with this all I know is you better have a great tune because dry shots can go to hell pretty quick. The second type is wet. Wet means you are injecting nitrous and extra fuel into the intake. This shot is much more forgiving then a dry shot and beginners should start out on a wet shot.
Systems to Spray Nitrous:
There 3 main forms for shooting wet nitrous. They are:
There are also other things such as spray bars. I am not going to talk about those systems.
Direct Port Injection:
Direct Port Injection is recommended for high horsepower hits. They give the best distribution of fuel and nitrous into the combustion chambers. Basically you drill and tap a hole into each runner and screw in a nozzle. So your injector is spray fuel into the runner and when you activate the nitrous fuel and nitrous is injected into each individual runner. On our engines (LTx/LSx) you will have a total of 8 nozzles.
Plate Injection:
Plate Injection usually only will hit up to 150, some plates can hit more. Plates give the second best atomization of nitrous/fuel/air. It is a plate that is bolted to the throttle body port on the intake manifold and the throttle body bolts over top of it. Nitrous and fuel are plumbed to the plate. When you hit the nitrous, it and fuel are injected and combines with the incoming air which then in turn goes into the runners injected with the normal amount of fuel from your injectors then enters the combustion chamber. These are bolt on kits and are easy to set up.
Fogger Injection:
Fogger Injection uses nozzles to 'fog' the nitrous and fuel into the intake system. Usually they are tapped in somewhere after the air filter and before the throttle body. Fogger injection is universal and any car can use it.
Solenoids:
Solenoids are basically a on/off switch or a valve. You need at least 2 plus a purge solenoid. One will control fuel and the other will control nitrous. The solenoids are normally closed (off). When you activate the nitrous a 12v current is set to the solenoid which tells it to open (on) and the nitrous and fuel can flow through the solenoids into whatever form of injection you have. Soon as the 12v current is cut off the solenoids close stopping the flow of nitrous and fuel. A purge solenoid is to purge the system of nitrous and air that was left in the system from the last shot.
Progressive Controllers:
A progressive controller is a device that has a mini computer inside it. What it does it pulse the 12v signal to the solenoids to make them pulse open/close. By doing this it limits the amount of nitrous and fuel that is allowed to be shot into the system. Uses for these systems are to soften the hit made by the nitrous. If you spin your tires from the hole you can install one of these to control the flow until you get further down the track then allow the full hit of nitrous.
Tuning for Nitrous:
A general rule for nitrous is pull 2* of timing for every 50hp you shoot. So if you wish to shoot a 150 shot a good place is to pull 6* of timing from your N/A tune. Once you do this you can fine tune the system. I prefer to tune for nitrous using spark plugs. Swap in new plugs, try not to idle on the new plugs. Make a run and pull the plugs. Check for the timing mark on the plugs. See if the plugs are burning lean or rich. Adjust your fuel with the fuel jets. Now that you have your fuel dialed in. Change the plugs again and run again. If you don't see heat on the electrode, then add some more timing. If its gone into the radius bend you have to much timing.
Feel free to criticize me haha I am not a nitrous guru, we don't have a sticky on it so I figured I would write one up.
Nitrous is short for Nitrous-oxide. Chemical writing for nitrous is N2o. It is 2 nitrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom for the molecule. Contrary to be common "Import tuners" nitrous is non-flammable. So unlike Fast and the Furious your car won't burst into flames, but if the bottom ruptures it will rip your car apart. Nitrous under pressure is a liquid, at atmospheric pressures its a evaporates and expands cooling down the intake charge. Cooler intake temperatures means within a given area there is much more oxygen molecules. More oxygen plus more fuel equals more power.
Wet Or Dry Shots:
There are two ways to juice. Dry or wet. They are exactly how they imply. Dry shot is when you add just nitrous to the intake. I am not familiar with this all I know is you better have a great tune because dry shots can go to hell pretty quick. The second type is wet. Wet means you are injecting nitrous and extra fuel into the intake. This shot is much more forgiving then a dry shot and beginners should start out on a wet shot.
Systems to Spray Nitrous:
There 3 main forms for shooting wet nitrous. They are:
- Direct Port Injection
- Plate Injection
- Fogger Injection
There are also other things such as spray bars. I am not going to talk about those systems.
Direct Port Injection:
Direct Port Injection is recommended for high horsepower hits. They give the best distribution of fuel and nitrous into the combustion chambers. Basically you drill and tap a hole into each runner and screw in a nozzle. So your injector is spray fuel into the runner and when you activate the nitrous fuel and nitrous is injected into each individual runner. On our engines (LTx/LSx) you will have a total of 8 nozzles.
Plate Injection:
Plate Injection usually only will hit up to 150, some plates can hit more. Plates give the second best atomization of nitrous/fuel/air. It is a plate that is bolted to the throttle body port on the intake manifold and the throttle body bolts over top of it. Nitrous and fuel are plumbed to the plate. When you hit the nitrous, it and fuel are injected and combines with the incoming air which then in turn goes into the runners injected with the normal amount of fuel from your injectors then enters the combustion chamber. These are bolt on kits and are easy to set up.
Fogger Injection:
Fogger Injection uses nozzles to 'fog' the nitrous and fuel into the intake system. Usually they are tapped in somewhere after the air filter and before the throttle body. Fogger injection is universal and any car can use it.
Solenoids:
Solenoids are basically a on/off switch or a valve. You need at least 2 plus a purge solenoid. One will control fuel and the other will control nitrous. The solenoids are normally closed (off). When you activate the nitrous a 12v current is set to the solenoid which tells it to open (on) and the nitrous and fuel can flow through the solenoids into whatever form of injection you have. Soon as the 12v current is cut off the solenoids close stopping the flow of nitrous and fuel. A purge solenoid is to purge the system of nitrous and air that was left in the system from the last shot.
Progressive Controllers:
A progressive controller is a device that has a mini computer inside it. What it does it pulse the 12v signal to the solenoids to make them pulse open/close. By doing this it limits the amount of nitrous and fuel that is allowed to be shot into the system. Uses for these systems are to soften the hit made by the nitrous. If you spin your tires from the hole you can install one of these to control the flow until you get further down the track then allow the full hit of nitrous.
Tuning for Nitrous:
A general rule for nitrous is pull 2* of timing for every 50hp you shoot. So if you wish to shoot a 150 shot a good place is to pull 6* of timing from your N/A tune. Once you do this you can fine tune the system. I prefer to tune for nitrous using spark plugs. Swap in new plugs, try not to idle on the new plugs. Make a run and pull the plugs. Check for the timing mark on the plugs. See if the plugs are burning lean or rich. Adjust your fuel with the fuel jets. Now that you have your fuel dialed in. Change the plugs again and run again. If you don't see heat on the electrode, then add some more timing. If its gone into the radius bend you have to much timing.
Feel free to criticize me haha I am not a nitrous guru, we don't have a sticky on it so I figured I would write one up.