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Street Class Unlimited Class
DOHC SOHC Ion Updated 1/05 For the most recent list of the fastest five cars click here. |
Nitrous BasicsBy: JBFamiliarize yourself with nitrous Nitrous is a very potent power producer and if utilized correctly it will make your investment very worthwhile but if abused it can send a piston right through your hood. Defiantly read as much as possible and know the dangers before you begin. Read until your head hurts and comb car related bulletin boards for useful information. The Saturn boards will be particularly helpful. The book How to install and use nitrous oxide by Joe Pettitt and B. J. Killeen is a great source of proven knowledge that will help you with the nitrous install as well as its use. The best thing you can do is become an expert by the time you install your system. Know how everything works, how it all acts, and everything that could go wrong. Consider your engine's condition This is very important when you are dealing with nitrous. It would be very bad for your throttle position sensor, or any other sensor for that matter, to malfunction while spraying nitrous. If your car isn't running right or seems to have a problem don't spray nitrous through it. One of the key elements to your success with nitrous is your engine's condition. If your engine is in good condition then you'll have no problems but if it's in poor condition you'll be buying a new engine. Use colder plugs Colder spark plugs will help reduce the chances of detonation within the engine while spraying nitrous. If you want to be safe. Run a one step colder spark plug. If you want to be even safer. Run two-step colder plugs. I've run a 50 shot of nitrous on Bosh Platinum +4's before. Not a smart idea, I got lucky nothing went drastically wrong and all the electrodes on the end of the plugs were still attached. Take my advice, don't do it. The plug numbers for NGK brand spark plugs are: BKR6E-11 (one step colder) and BKR7E-11 (two steps colder) Periodically check the spark plugs You've got your system going and it ran great the first time you sprayed so, everything is perfect right? Wrong. I've ridden with people that had good runs with nitrous, smooth power, no backfires everything seemed find. But when we pulled the spark plugs out they were WHITE. As rich as our Saturn cars tend to run it's pretty easy to lean them out. Even on a 50 shot of nitrous. Use high-octane gas and octane booster EVERY time Since we are primarily concerned with engine safety make sure that every time you think you'll be spraying fill up with 93 or higher octane and then add the octane booster. Filling up with 12 gallons of premium and a 3-dollar bottle of octane booster is cheap compared to the cost of a new engine. Invest in an air fuel gauge An air fuel gauge will tell you what is going on inside your engine and it will help you diagnose where damage may have occurred if something goes wrong. If you don't buy an a/f gauge it's kind of like running out onto an 8-lane freeway blind. You may last a little while, but stay out there for too long and your bound to get hit. Use a bottle pressure gauge This way you won't have too high of a pressure in your bottle and not know it. Turn off the bottle heater when you are done Thermostats have been known to stick on nitrous bottle heaters. If the bottle pressure rises too high the safety release valve will open and spew all of your precious nitrous into the atmosphere. Worst-case scenario is that your release valve doesn't open and the pressure continues to build until your bottle blows up. Use an inline nitrous filter It may seem trivial but it could save you some serious headaches in the end. Make sure your fogger nozzle flows properly You can check the nitrous fogger by blowing air through it. On a wet kit the fogger nozzle will have a fuel line side and a nitrous line side. You should be able to pass equal amounts of air through each side with equal amounts of force. Blow through each side separately for a comparison. If you do find that one side is clogged you can try cleaning the nozzle with carburetor cleaner or gas but you'll probably be better off just buying a new one. Checking the fogger nozzle is especially important if you purchased your kit used. Invest in air flow upgrades It's possible to run nitrous on a 100% stock motor. However, your setup will be more efficient and safer if you can get more air through the engine using aftermarket parts like cold air intakes and a free-flowing exhaust. Ask questions There are people with a lot of knowledge on the Saturn message boards and they are always willing to help. Don't risk your engine to an "I don't know situation." Nitrous is never perfectly safe If it were absolutely safe it would be available as an option from the factory. No matter what nitrous shot you're using there is always the possibility of something going wrong. Never use more nitrous then your engine can handle A 50hp shot has been proven time and time again on stock engines. You may get away with a larger shot for a while but once you've crossed the 50hp mark it is no longer a matter of WILL something go wrong, it's a matter of WHEN it will go wrong. Only after you increase your engine's tolerances should you go up in power. Don't use nitrous below 2500 rpm's You could run nitrous at 500 rpm's but the velocity of the air going into your intake isn't going to be enough to properly mix the nitrous and fuel, which increases your chances of running the engine lean. Bottom line: don't do it. Never hit the rev limiter while spraying nitrous If you try to drive past your rev/speed limiter while spraying nitrous the pcm will cut the amount of fuel enough to make your engine run lean, this will cause damage to the engine's internals (i.e. holes in the pistons). Take it easy on the nitrous I know nitrous is very fun to use when everything is working well but, keep in mind your adding more horsepower then your engine was designed to handle. And every time you spray you up your chances of something going wrong. If you have any comments or questions I'll be happy to address them on any of the Saturn boards, look for JB, or email me at: joshuab@dnet.net. |
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