I'm not usually in this forum, but someone asked me yesterday what is nitrous and how does it work? all i could really say was that i had heard that it lowers the amount of friction in teh block making the pistons go faster and make more power. frictionless pistons = faster reving = go fast juice...

but i'd like to know technically what is does, so i can answer that question the next time..
thanx

 

To my knowledge it just supplies more oxygen. More oxygen equal more fuel. This adds up to a bigger bang. Of course with the side effect of stressing the engine more as well as emptying your wallet a bit whenever you have to fill up.

 

Uh...no.

Try this...
http://www.nitrousinfo.com/nos_faq.html

 

Q: How does nitrous work?
A: Nitrous oxide is made up of 2 parts nitrogen and one part oxygen (36% oxygen by weight). During the combustion process in an engine, at about 572 degrees F., nitrous breaks down and releases oxygen. This extra oxygen creates additional power by allowing more fuel to be burned. Nitrogen acts to buffer, or dampen the increased cylinder pressures helping to control the combustion process. Nitrous also has a tremendous "intercooling" effect by reducing intake charge temperatures by 60 to 75 degrees F.

this is just quicker

 

Hehe...frictionless pistions=no need for motor oil...the quick and dirty explanation is this..

Nitrous is like a turbo but different.

Rather than forcing air into the motor, it makes the air so cold that more if packed into the cylinders.

Extra fuel is added by and number of means, as with a turbo, to compensate for the additional air.


[Modified by mplex2000, 7:46 PM 7/12/2002]

 

How Nitrous works..

You push a button on your steering wheel and it throws your head back in the seat yo!

Sorry couldnt help it.

 

Only if the button says GO BABY GO.

 

the short explanation says making the air cold is only an added feature but not the main driving force of nitrous. This is: "nitrous breaks down and releases oxygen. This extra oxygen creates additional power by allowing more fuel to be burned. "

 

Naaaaaws....

 

Nitrous oxide does not burn, it is an oxidizer. It provides more oxygen, so more fuel can be burned, and the result is more power. The atoms in a nitrous oxide molecule are bonded together. The oxygen is not free, but fortunately the bond breaks down as temperature rises. At 565° F, the bond is broken and the oxygen is then free. Combustion temperatures are much more than 565°, so it's not a problem. By adding nitrous oxide to an engine, the total amount of oxygen is increased and other gasses that do not support combustion (mostly nitrogen) are decreased. This speeds the burn rate and requires less timing advance for peak output. It is hard from many people to grasp gaining power with less timing, but it's a fact. Peak cylinder pressure must occur at approximately 20°ATDC to make peak power. If you speed the burn rate, peak cylinder pressure will occur too soon. It is easy to run too much ignition advance with nitrous, but too much will not only hurt power, it can quickly bring a nitrous engine into detonation and destroy it.

Plate Systems..
The most common systems are the spray bar type. A plate gets sandwiched between the carb and manifold. There are two spray bars in each plate, the upper one is nitrous oxide and the lower one is fuel. The nitrous sprays over the fuel to give a better nitrous fuel mixture. Plates are easy to install and provide good performance, but they are not the best. The nitrous must travel through the entire intake manifold. The longer it takes to get to the cylinders, the more it expands. The more room that nitrous occupies, the less of the normally aspirated mixture the engine will get. So the engine will make more power if the point of injection is as close to the cylinders as possible. Another problem with spray bars is when using larger kits; the motor will hesitate slightly when the nitrous is activated. When the nitrous first travels down the spray bar, it hits the dead end of the bar and sends a pulse backwards, which impedes flow. Once the system is running there are no problems, but that slight hesitation could cause tire spin. This reversion is mostly a problem on larger kits, around 300 hp or so.

Nozzle Systems
Also known as foggers (started by NOS Systems), the nozzle nitrous systems can produce much more power without any reversion problems. With this type of system, you must drill and tap each intake runner near the cylinder head and run at least 1 nozzle for each cylinder (many multiple stage systems will run more than 1 nozzle per cylinder). There is much more plumbing in a nozzle system, but they give better mixture (or fog), because the nitrous and fuel mix before they are injected. The high pressure nitrous breaks the fuel into a very fine mist. The point of injection can be very close to the cylinder for minimal expansion. In many cases, depending on how the nozzles are situated and aimed, the normally aspirated airflow will increase. So there are many advantages to the nozzle systems.

my .02cents

 

Heh I've run 100-150 HP plate shots on every V8 I've ever owned. No problems, ever! my .02

 

In short...Nitrous has its own oxygen supply, more oxygen and more fuel equals more power.

 

nitrous burns bigger than air. nuff said