nitrous post...

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hey guys, first off id like to say "yes i could do a search, but no i wont" haha.

i kinda want all the information in one post just becuase its not easy to go thread to thread on nitrous posts becuase people have different desires and so forth.

i just need basic nitrous schooling. nitrous 101 if you will.

which is safer? wet or dry? what is a safe shot to run? ive heard aslong as you dont exceed half your horsepower rating in the shot your ok. IE: 95 shot on a 200hp car.

how do the tunes work? do you need a tune?

spark plugs? i know colder is what you need, and also a closer gap. but what if your not running the nitrous? is everything still safe and good to go?

remote bottle openers...bottle warmers....do you really need these? activation variables ( WOT sensor, toggle switch, on off switch?) how do all of these interface with the nitrous itself?

between street and track runs is another tune used?

sorry if these seem like noob questions, funny thing is everyone i ask seems to not know. so i figure id start with the basics. basically in a nut shell "HOW DO YOU RUN NITROUS, AND HOW DO YOU RUN IT SAFLY"

also could anyone please post the nitrous kits that work with a v8 lincoln LS? nx express, NOS, zex...etc.

i am a pretty good learner, i just need some information thats worth learning off of. please help me, its much appreciated.
 
Nitrous Oxide 101---(short form)

First, a lot of this stuff is in my 'Land Speed LS' thread in the HP section. That said, I'll try to give you some answers. I first used 'spray' on a turbo'd Fox Mustang back about 1980. It was an NOS dual fogger setup.

I've also used Zex, and am at this time sponsored by NX. I have a complete Zex system for a V-8 for sale. It was spoken for, and I'll honor the deal, but I'm still waiting for a new hose before shipping and I saw a post the other day that the guy I dealt with was going to sell his car, so I may be looking for someone else. 'Wet' is the only way to go, if you're serious!

All that said, you need a 'bottle' full of N2O, a connection to a gasoline source, a way of introducing the mix into the engine and a way to control it. The usual kits of any brand are likely to give you everything to do so. It's not too swift to drive around with the system open and armed, so it's a good idea to have a bottle opener so you can be quickly ready. You'll find that a bottle heater is worthwhile because it'll make it easy to keep the bottle pressure up.

As to HP gains, everyone around here seems to be in agreement that 100 is quite safe. There are a number of posts here by a guy that runs a 125 shot and I've run 150 while playing. It's my belief that you've max'ed out the fuel delivery system (pump) with 125, and need to augment to go above that. You'll see in my thread that I've set land speed records with my LS with both gasoline and methanol.
I went to a completely separate methanol delivery system to go with my spray package. The burning characteristics of methanol are such that I believe that it may be possible to use as much as a 200 shot while using it. Safety says that I'll probably not go more than 150 with my existing engine. (Once more, I'm building a new motor---see my thread.)

There are some gains to be found by tuning. ILLS, a member here can help with that. A very important part of the tuning will center on running higher line pressure in the trans and resetting shift points.

I've just touched lightly on some of your questions. If you'd like to explore further, you can PM me.
KenS from Ben's Place
 
thanks for the information, ill check out your post more indepth.

another thing that i forgot to ask is, are there any tests you can preform on your engine to make sure that its current state of condition will be able to take the 100 shot of nitrous? compression checks or anything like that? if theres a way to tell if your setting up for disaster or anything it would be nice to know. i dont want to use the nitrous and end up triggering a part thats on its way and cause it to break sooner than it should.
 
Holy cow! Going from no knowledge to knowing everything in one thread.....

Wet system is much easier to set up since you wont need to reflash every time you want to use it.

As far as tuning is concerned..... a good N/A tune will do the trick just fine for nitrous, you'll just want to be sure to retard the timing appropriately. The tuning you should be concerned with is the nitrous tuning. I know allot of people on here are running 100+ shots. I would still be safe and start with a SMALL shot like 50 or so and tune the jets with data logging. If for some reason your cars fuel system cant handle the ammount the rest are, then you can do some serious damage to your ride. I would pay the money to get it on a dyno for an hour or so and work your way up to the desired jet size. If you have a good tuner with you, you can have your car tuned for N/A and he can help with the Nitrous tuning. From what I've seen the fuel pupm is the first thing to limit how much juice you can use. The difference between track and street can be done all in one tune with the WOT tune. When you mash on the gas the tune will be diferent than when you drive normally. And the onlyreal difference will be in timing so if you leave it tuned for WOT with nitrous all the time, you'll just fell a little sluggish when you stomp on it and dont have the N20 on.

as far as name brands.... all of them have a V8 EFI universal Wet kit. The tuning of the jets is the important part.

A bottle heater is almost a must... since you'll blow through a ten pound bottle in anywhere from 5-10 passes at the drag strip. Bottle heaters are how you keep the pressure at a decent level.

A remote opener is only nice if you plan on using it on the streets. At the track, you will want to see the bottle pressure before running, and it is more than fine to go back to your bottle, open it and look at the pressure gauge on the bottle (most places charge you for it, but its much cheaper than a remote one)

Spark plugs are kinda tricky. Different places say different things. I would do your own research and come up with what you feel most comfy with. The rule of thumb I use is 1 step colder per 75 hp. There is no real down side to running a colder spark plug as far as your concerned. It just needs that extra power level every so often not to get fouled. For a 100 shot, run two steps colder and regap it a little bit. You dont have to regap it, but it doesnt hurt and it offers a little better protection to your car.
 
"which is safer? wet or dry? what is a safe shot to run? ive heard aslong as you dont exceed half your horsepower rating in the shot your ok. IE: 95 shot on a 200hp car."
both wet and dry are safe if done right. wet is the easier path since you inject nitrous and fuel into the intake together. The car maintains its own pre determined wide open throttle air fuel ratios and then you match your fuel jet to your nitrous jet. the car remains fully stock when nitrous is not in use- a major plus for a frequent or daily driver. you can stick with your stock injectors saving a lot of $$ since im not sure these injectors are capable of injecting another 100hp of gasoline (turbo and supercharger guys on here have to change injectos).
With a stock fuel pump, you're limited to 100hp. If you got a higher flow pump, your pretty much limited to 125 horse. At 50% gain, your pushing it, and it may be more than these powdered rods can handle- especially if you have a lot of milage on the clock. I plan on doing this eventually though. I will stop there though since the tranny and rearend begin to be potential weak points. Its probably also not a bad idea to get your tranny flushed and the bands adjusted etc. I think there's kits available for this now since this tranny is found in a mustang- there is at least 1 guy on here that did this to his LS.

"how do the tunes work? do you need a tune?"
you do not need a tune per say... it is possible that you will need to pull timing to prevent pinging while running N2O. The xcal comes in handy here as long as the end user adjustments are unlocked. for that adjustability alone, its worth getting it. the other bonuses is that you adjust shift points, firmness, etc so that you can safely get the most power down to the ground.

"spark plugs? i know colder is what you need, and also a closer gap. but what if your not running the nitrous? is everything still safe and good to go?"
you want to go at least one step, if not two steps colder on the plug but you may be hard pressed to find a 2 step colder plug for this car. i ended up getting 1 step colder NGK iridiums ($$$!!) and have had no issues. gap is very brand and car specific here. On my NGK's I shot for middle ground between nitrous and non-nitrous gapping and ended up at .039" and it runs great on and off the N2O.

"remote bottle openers...bottle warmers....do you really need these? activation variables ( WOT sensor, toggle switch, on off switch?) how do all of these interface with the nitrous itself?"
One of those items is a must have, i'll get to it in a moment.
a bottle opener is outrageously priced right now so I say hold off. if i can make it into the driver seat without cracking open the bottle, it justs lasts that much longer and keeps me out of trouble! :) You dont really need a bottle warmer in the summer but you should have a pressrue gage. your bottle should remain between 90 and 100 F for the right pressure (950-1000 psi). the amount of nitrous injected directly depends on this. if my bottle is lower pressure, i inject less nitrous while my fuel solenoid blindly dumps 100hp worth of gas in, causing rich (which is way better than being lean!) reducing power. If your bottle is cold, a simple warm bath in the sink or tub will heat the bottle AND the liquid inside, and stay warm for a long time with a cloth put over it.
A progressive controller is a MUST HAVE at least for this car or a daily driver in general. you can program when you want the shot to come on and off, and adjust the flow introduction. this saves your engine and tranny from sudden shock loads, and shifting with nitrous flowing (which would give unneeded torque load to the tranny). it hooks up directly to your throttle position sensor and fuel injector signal so you can have it turn on at X% throttle while the engine is safely up in speed, ramp up from x% nitrous/fuel flow to 100% in X seconds, and shut off at X rpm (right before a shift) and then repeat the process in the new gear. a must have in my (and many others') opinion!

"between street and track runs is another tune used?"
if your nitrous tune involved pulling timing, and you will never use nitrous on the street (let me know if you ever meet that person) then you would want to load back a tune that has more advanced timing. i was fortunate enough to have good gas and keep all of my timing and then some so i run my track tune all the time. i prefer manual shifting with the nitrous to prevent sloppy (normal person driving) shifts and over revving. keep your auto shifts smooth and bump your manual shift firmness. when picking shift points, be sure to remember that your RPM's climb a lot faster; shifts need to happen slightly earlier and firmer if you currently redline during shifting.
"also could anyone please post the nitrous kits that work with a v8 lincoln LS? nx express, NOS, zex...etc."
There is not kit specific to this car. Any universal 8 cylinder kit will work. i went with nitrous oxide systems brand. This was mainly because i wanted their mini-progressive controller to work with my specific solenoids in mind. Dont mix and match brands, and any brand will be okay, but i am really happy with the NOS brand.

hopes this helps. PM me with any other questions. ILLS has nitrous experience as well and if you want an good LS tune, he's your man.
 
Nobody has mentioned ball park price. For a proper setup and tune, and of course equipment to run a 100 wet shot, could a person expect what? About 1000?
 
pektel said:
Nobody has mentioned ball park price. For a proper setup and tune, and of course equipment to run a 100 wet shot, could a person expect what? About 1000?
Click to expand...

yeah, you should be able to do nitrous kit (<$400), progressive controller (<$300), xcal (<$400), odds and ends... $1000-$1200
 
If my potential buyer doesn't stay with the deal, (I've been waiting for a new hose before shipping, and no money has changed hands) I have a complete Zex wet kit, with about 20 pounds of N2O through it, with jets for 50-175 HP, and including a brand new NOS bottle heater. If I had the original packaging for the kit, you'd think it new. I want $400. You pay shipping. I should be able to do this within the next week.
KenS from Ben's Place
 
thanks guys, good reading.

"Holy cow! Going from no knowledge to knowing everything in one thread....."

that was kind of the goal, thats why i didnt want to search. i do want to run nitrous but only at the track, so the remote bottle opener would prolly be a bad thing for me. off the track i drive like a grandpa lol.

i plan on buying an Xcal with my stimulus check, so it will be soon. the progressive controller seems like a good buy, having the nitrous come on and off during shifts will prolly save the tranny. im kind of following and trying to (if you will) recreate "02LSE96LSC91SE84TC's" N/a performace times. 14.3-14.5 is decent enough for the street. then i want the nitrous to achieve 13's, deffinetly only a 100 shot.

this is a great post so far, ive really learned alot. nitrous isnt something you want to deal with unless you know what your doing.

ill probably be talking to ILLS soon with the xcal.

thanks guys, any more things to take into consideration just let me know.
 
ILLS is an SCT dealer though he doesnt do business on the site. he can help with that too.

just so you know 02LSE96LSC91SE84TC has a bunch of work done to his car to get it to where it is. You can run a nitrous kit without doing what he has done and it'd be faster and more cost effective. Then you can go through and do some stuff he has done. Honestly I would do the tune, plugs, and N20 first. Then I would start working on things like the 8.8" rear and custom driveshaft
 
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