Nitrous Systems - N2O - all we "Need 2 knOw" (awka NOS)

[Gordon]

Nitrous Oxide [n2o] - all we "Need 2 knOw"

Nitrous Oxide is becoming popular by the day and is the answer to everyone's need - POWER, SPEED, ACCELERATION! The world famous brand that gave this magical thing soo much hype is "NOS - Nitrous Oxide System"! They provided one of the most safest, easy-to-use and best systems. Lets see the system that has changed Mumbai cars in the last three years. Speed Run 2003 had a handful of cars [mostly Indian] using NOS. In two years, the number of cars using NOS has almost tripled, and was also being used in the Foreign class.

The NOS system can enable you to get almost 20-200 bhp gains. You can improve on your timings by 3-4 seconds. I've found some information on nitrous oxide from the NOS site itself.

Basic Knowledge

• How to Make Horsepower
  
  An engine operates by burning fuel, which then expands and pushes the pistons down. Want to make more horsepower? Burn more fuel so it will push the pistons down with more force. Sounds pretty simple. But, it's not quite so easy. While there are any number of factors that make increasing power a complex engineering problem, we will deal with three of the most basic ones here.
  

  1. First, all fuels require oxygen in order to burn. If you want to burn more fuel, you need to also put in more oxygen. Virtually all engine performance products increase power by increasing the flow of fuel and oxygen. Camshafts, larger carburetors or valves, porting, intake manifolds, exhaust headers, superchargers, turbochargers, and nitrous oxide are clear examples of how improved engine breathing (putting in more oxygen in order to burn more fuel) will give you an increase in horsepower. Nitrous oxide injection systems are probably the most efficient way to increase the flow of oxygen and fuel. That's the basic reason why nitrous systems produce such large horsepower increases.
     
     
  2. Another basic power factor is vaporization of the fuel. Gasoline, as with other racing fuels, will not burn in a liquid state. The gasoline must be turned into a vapor for it to burn. This process of turning gasoline into a vapor is simple evaporation. It is basically no different from setting a glass of water outside and waiting for it to dry up. In the engine, of course, evaporation happens very quickly. Engine heat and fuel atomization are the keys to accelerating the evaporation process enough to turn raw gasoline into a vapor at 8000 RPM. The process of atomization turns raw fuel flow into tiny droplets which then evaporate faster due to the larger amount of surface area presented for evaporation. The size of the fuel droplets is very important. Take a large droplet of gasoline, break it up into 10 smaller droplets, and you've increased the surface area for more efficient evaporation. The result is more fuel available to be burned and do work during combustion. A well-designed nitrous system will produce very small droplet sizes in the supplemental fuel that flows into the engine with nitrous. This is one of the reasons that NOS nitrous systems can make more horsepower than some other systems.
     
     
  3. The third basic power factor we will look at is air/fuel mixture density. Ever try to jog on top of a 10,000 foot pass in the Rockies? Leaves you gasping for breath, doesn't it? That's because the air is thinner, less dense, higher up in the atmosphere than it is at sea level. It is also why you would run slower on a track in Denver than you would near sea level in New Jersey. Density is affected by atmospheric pressure (the weight of the atmosphere above you), heat, and humidity. We can't change the pressure of the atmosphere; but we can regulate the heat of our intake charge to some extent. Cool cans and intercoolers make extra power by cooling the fuel and air/fuel mixture to make it denser. And, the denser the mixture is, the more the cylinder is packed with fuel and air to burn and make power. When nitrous oxide is injected, it turns from a liquid to a gas instantly and becomes very cold. This cold nitrous vapor drops the temperature of the whole intake charge in the manifold by as much as 65 degrees F. The denser mixture that results helps an engine produce even more extra horsepower with a nitrous system.

• What Nitrous Oxide Is and What Nitrous Oxide Isn't
  
  To your engine, nitrous oxide is a more convenient form of normal air. Since we are only interested in the oxygen the air contains, nitrous oxide provides a simple tool for manipulating how much oxygen will be present when you add additional fuel in an attempt to release more power. The power always comes from the fuel source. Nitrous oxide is not a fuel. Nitrous oxide is a convenient way to add the additional oxygen required to burn more fuel. If you add only nitrous oxide and do not add additional fuel, you would just speed up the rate at which your engine is burning the fuel that it normally uses.
  
  This, more often than not, leads to destructive detonation. The energy comes from the fuel, not the nitrous. Nitrous oxide simply allows you to burn a greater quantity of fuel in the same time period; thus, the overall effect is a tremendous increase in the total amount of energy, or power, released from the fuel and available for accelerating your vehicle.
  
  
  
  
  There is no voodoo involved in nitrous oxide. In effect, using nitrous is no different from using a bigger carburetor, a better manifold, a supercharger, or a turbocharger. Understand that the air you and your engine breathe is made up, at sea level, of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and just 1% other gases. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is made by simply taking the 2 major components of earth's atmosphere (in this case 2 molecules of nitrogen and 1 molecule of oxygen) and attaching them together with a chemical bond. When the nitrous oxide goes into your engine the heat of combustion breaks the chemical bond to provide your engine more oxygen with which to burn fuel. As you've read, all race engines operate under the same principles: more air (better breathing, supercharging, turbocharging, or nitrous) plus more fuel in a denser vapor equals more power.
  
  
• Spark Plugs and Nitrous Oxide: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why
  
  Over the years there seems to have been a great amount of technical material written about the simple operation of a spark plug and what they can do in relation to the way an engine runs. There are a few basic characteristics about spark plugs that you need to know to make an intelligent choice about the correct spark plug for your application.
  
  First, and most important; a spark plug must be of the correct design to operate within the environment of your engine, not the other way around. This means that the spark plug has virtually no influence on how the engine burns fuel or runs in general. The correct spark plug will simply survive the conditions present in your engine. A spark plug must maintain a certain temperature to keep itself clean. The wrong heat range can cause an overheated plug or a fouled plug. The heat range refers to the temperature of the ceramic material surrounding the center electrode.
  
  Lean air/fuel ratios are more difficult to light because there are less fuel molecules in the area of the plug gap when the plug is scheduled to fire; thus, projected nose plugs were designed for late-model lean-burn engines. Modern high-energy ignition also allowed larger plug gaps. All the while this was happening, something else happened. Something that no one seems to have really noticed as the real culprit when the issue of factory type plugs being used with nitrous comes up. We'd like to clue you in.
  
  Quite often, a factory type, wide-gap projected plug will produce a misfire condition after only a few seconds of nitrous use. The misfire is not due to the heat range. The misfire occurs because the ground strap of the spark plug becomes a glowing ember because it is too long to dissipate the extra heat produced by a nitrous-accelerated burn condition. The correct fix for this phenomenon is to replace the plugs with one that has a shorter ground strap. By doing this, you will shorten the path for the heat being absorbed by the ground strap. You can use the same heat range, you just have to find a non-projected nose plus with a shorter and preferably thicker ground strap.
  
  If you only change the heat range of the spark plug to a colder heat range, you may very well still have the misfire problem. Since the length of the ground strap is the cause of the misfire, a colder spark plug may have the same length of ground strap as the hotter plug you replaced it with.
  
  Spark plug gaps should generally be .030" to .035". Never try to gap a plug designed for an .060" gap down to .035". Find the correct non-projected nose plug designed for an .035" gap.
  

Nitrous Oxide systems are safe, but you need to select the right system for your engine. If you have a perfect match, you'll have perfect and superb results. Depending on the match, you can get anything between 40-60 bhp minimum. Lets now see the different types of Nitrous Oxide Installations/Systems.

Types of Nitrous Oxide Systems - An Overview Of Wet, Dry And Direct Port Systems

These are three basic types of nitrous systems: dry, wet, and direct port.

1. The most misunderstood is the "dry" type of system. A "dry" nitrous system simply means that the fuel required to make additional power with nitrous will be introduced through the fuel injectors (remember, fuel makes power, nitrous simply lets you burn more of it). This keeps the upper intake dry of fuel. We accomplish this by two methods. First, is to increase the pressure to the injectors by applying nitrous pressure from the solenoid assembly when the system is activated. This causes an increase in fuel flow just like turning up the pressure on your garden hose from 1/2 to full. The second way we can add the required fuel is to increase the time the fuel injector stays on. This is accomplished by changing what the computer sees, basically tricking the computer into adding the required fuel. In either case, once the fuel has been added, the nitrous can be introduced to burn the supplemental fuel and generate additional power.
   
   
   
   
   
2. The second type of nitrous kit is the "wet" style of kit. These kits include carburetor plate systems and add nitrous and fuel at the same time and place (normally 3-4" ahead of the throttle body for fuel injected applications or just under the carb as with plate systems). This type of system will make the upper intake wet with fuel. These systems are best used with intakes designed for wet flow and turbo/supercharged applications.
   
   
   
3. The last type of system is the direct port system. Just as it's name implies, it introduces the nitrous and fuel directly into each intake port on an engine. These systems will normally add the nitrous and fuel together through a fogger nozzle or a NOSzleTM. The fogger nozzle mixes and meters the nitrous and fuel delivered to each cylinder. This is the most powerful and one of the most accurate type of systems. This is due to the placement of the nozzle in each runner, as well as the ability to use more and higher capacity solenoid valves. A direct port system will have a distribution block and solenoid assembly which delivers the nitrous and fuel to the nozzles by way of connecting tubes. Because each cylinder has a specific nozzle and jetting (both nitrous and fuel), it is possible to control the nitrous/fuel ratio for one cylinder without changing that of the other cylinders. These systems are also one of the more complicated systems when installation is considered, as the intake must be drilled, tapped, and the "plumbing" made to clear any existing obstructions. Because of this and the high output of these systems, they are most often used on racing vehicles built for the strain of such high horsepower levels.
   
   
   

For a FAQ of "Holley | NOS", you can click here > http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/TechSer.../NOSTech5.html or view their Tech section

Have any information on NOS? Have any questions on NOS?
Share it here!!!

[jesal]

good post i guess for people who want nos

[v1p3r]

brilliant dude! it cleared up a lot of questions.

viper

[Gordon]

Spark Plugs and Nitrous Oxide: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why

Could the tech guys please explain this section to me?!?

[iceman91]

its just giving you a brief idea fo spark plugs job and which is better at what conditions of enigne...i.e. rich or lean.
not to delve too much into it will give you a headache..

[Vulken Auto]

Can we get little deeper!!!

Which cars require which NOS

Also guys who have NOS , please comment on

Increase in BHPS, ANY BLOW UPS, AND INCREASE IN SPEEDS ON DIFFERENT CARS

[Gordon]

icaeman91,

All I understood was that a lean air/fuel mixture helps in less consumption of fuel. With small plug gap, the molecules in the gap are very less, so it was difficult to light. Hence, larger plug gaps were made.

Is this information right?

Moreover, I didn't understand the following. Please explain in complete detail:

Modern high-energy ignition also allowed larger plug gaps. All the while this was happening, something else happened. Something that no one seems to have really noticed as the real culprit when tahe issue of factory type plugs being used with nitrous comes up. We'd like to clue you in.

Quite often, a factory type, wide-gap projected plug will produce a misfire condition after only a few seconds of nitrous use. The misfire is not due to the heat range. The misfire occurs because the ground strap of the spark plug becomes a glowing ember because it is too long to dissipate the extra heat produced by a nitrous-accelerated burn condition. The correct fix for this phenomenon is to replace the plugs with one that has a shorter ground strap. By doing this, you will shorten the path for the heat being absorbed by the ground strap. You can use the same heat range, you just have to find a non-projected nose plus with a shorter and preferably thicker ground strap.

If you only change the heat range of the spark plug to a colder heat range, you may very well still have the misfire problem. Since the length of the ground strap is the cause of the misfire, a colder spark plug may have the same length of ground strap as the hotter plug you replaced it with.

I'd also like to know what is:

• modern high-energy ignition
• projected nose plug
• ground strap

[iceman91]

modern high energy ignition is nothin but the new ignition systems in our cars as compared to those which came quite a few years ago!
also it is often practised that 2 separate sets of plugs are used, one when using nitrous and one when not using nitrous,i.e. daily use.
for more details and diag on spar plugs visit this link:

http://www.ngk.com/sparkplug411.asp

[Psycho]

This link will give you all the info you need on Spark Plugs


http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinf...000&country=US


In addition to that let me try and explain the other points you have raised:

1) modern high-energy ignition: High energy coils being used on cars for a higher voltage and a shorter pulse, this allows for a larger gap between the points to aid ignition.

2) As for projected nose plugs: They are the standard plugs that look somehat like this:

===
^ ||
---------
| |

This is where the center point is raised from the body of the plug.

3) The top arch which acts as the second point is known as the ground strap.

In NOS / Forced Induction engines the temprature of the ground strap is about 70 to 100 degrees hotter than in normally aspirated engines. Hence this leads to the ground strap to start glowing(red hot) when it does it can cause premature ignition within the cylinder leading to misfiring, this can be reduced by using plugs that have a shorter ground strap

the image below illustrates the same:



Do also realise that spark plugs also dissapate heat from the cylinder to the engines head(like a metal spoon kept in boiling milk).

[Technocrat]

This ia really informative thread, thanks all for sharing. Keep pouring more

[Speedster]

Hey Gordon and all,
That Information was just Amazing . I am sure that has cleared many doubts from the minds of the members. Also does anyone know if there are any NOS kits made for bikes in Mumabi like how KS Motorsport makes for cars. If Yes how much do they cost?

[iceman91]

bike kits avble.should be around 40k. popularly known as "sneaky bitz"
same as a car kit only thing is the bottle is much smaller and the piping is much shorter.

[Gordon]

All I understood was that a lean air/fuel mixture helps in less consumption of fuel. With small plug gap, the molecules in the gap are very less, so it was difficult to light. Hence, larger plug gaps were made.

is this information right??

3) The top arch which acts as the second point is known as the ground strap.

So between the electrode and ground strap, the spark or arc is created. And in this area there should be just enough air/fuel mixture so that it can be ignited perfectly. Is this right?

Another question, what is fouling??

[Psycho]

Originally Posted by Speedster

"like how KS Motorsport makes for cars."

KS Motorsports only installs the kits they do not make them.

Originally Posted by Gordon

"So between the electrode and ground strap, the spark or arc is created. And in this area there should be just enough air/fuel mixture so that it can be ignited perfectly. Is this right?"

Please note that the fuel is atomised at the carb or the injectors before it enters the cylinder. A larger spark would mean a faster ignition of the fuel as more of the air fuel mixture is in contact with the spark.

Originally Posted by Gordon

what is fouling??

Fouling is when a particle / sediment covers the points or shorts the points not letting a spark being created.

[Speedster]

Thanks Iceman and Psycho,
So where can I find these (sneaky bitz)kits. Are they customised to your bike or standard kits. I have a CBR400 Aero. And how much would Nos (N2O)cost me for a bike or for a car.