Turbo, N02, or both?

[johnc]

A rebirth of the High Horsepower L6 discussion...

 

There are a few folks on this board who have built 450+ horsepower L6 engines. I and others are very interested in hearing the merits of turbo, N02, or both in these applications.

 

Technical discussion please. No morals, no judgements...

[SleeperZ]

I like turbos and intercoolers as a power adder just because they don't run out. Everyone has to top up with fuel, but that's it with a turbo motor. No nitrous refills, no water refills, no alcohol refills. Just seems like a technically elegant and simple solution to massive horsepower

[Guest Ian turbo240]

Nitrous is not a bad way to offset the lag-time of a large turbo on an engine. We all know that large turbos are the key to big HP #'s. However, many of us don't want to wait for 3500+ rpm for that power to come on. Using NO2 along with turbo boost can be dangerous to an engine. Disaster is only a millisecond away when giving it the "squeeze" under boost. However, a good aftermarket ems can also control no2 delivery, and that would be the best way to integrate the 2. Tuning will be the key to making it all work properly. Either power adder is trying to get more oxygen in the combustion chamber. If you have the proper amount of fuel to light it off, you'll make big hp.

 

Ian

[Lockjaw]

I prefer a turbo to NOS. With a turbo, you don't have to worry about NOS solenoids sticking, the bottle running low, filling the bottle, and having a projectile in the back of your car. NOS comes out at 900 psi, so imagine what would happen if you were involved in an accident, and the nozzle broke off.

 

Some contend that the big turbo's make power down low even though they are not making much in the way of boost. With aftermarket engine management, I believe you can tune the engine to be more responsive off boost, but how much so, I don't know.

 

My last hybrid was at full boost by 2800, and started making boost as low as 2000. That is nice for the street.

 

Oh and one more thing, turbo's can be untilized at part throttle, NOS can't.

[SHANE]

Both just remember nitrous will not hurt an engine, detonation will! with zero detonation turbo + nitrous will never harm an engine.

 

and when i say both i mean full time also. not just to spool the turbo but to spray the whole 1/4 mile

[240Z Turbo]

I ran a 100shot down the track 4 times with no problems. If you have a built motor then it should not be an issue. I don't need the NOS to make power, but hell I can add another 75hp@wheels with the touch of the buttom. I can pull Harleys on the street at 10psi and pulled a Katana quite easily with 18psi and no nitrous. As far as the lame argument of building power into the motor that is bunk. If you look at all the big boys running in the street class they all run large turbo's, alot of boost and atleast 100-150 shot of nitrous. Why would you not want to add an easy 100hp for track runs only? I never hook up the bottle on the street and have yet to need it. As far as sticky solenoids, keep them away from the heat and service them as necessary. I always test my solenoids before using them to make sure they work and have a shut off switch for emergency. If your solenoid gets stuck it is because the power is not cut off or you have something lodged in the solenoid. It would have to pass through the filter so I suspect there is more to the story when you hear of someone having a stuck solenoid destroying the motor. For tuning a simple rule is tune the car on pump gas and if you want to run the NOS on top keep the same program and just add race gas. The extra octane will keep you from detonating if the NOS is jetted properly. BTW, the jets for 100shot are .051"(NOS)-.032"(FUEL) with 39psi fuel baseline(0psi boost) and that gave me 11.7:1 AFR. A good starting point.

[Guest Zcarsmakemyheadhurt]

NOS IS THE BOMB! If you know what your doing and not go crazy, make sure your car runs right on the motor and the engine isn't already hurt with low compression or too much bearing clearence. I like the NOS because it lets me drive the car easy, no power shifting no hi RPM lunch's that break your driveline and the thing I like the most about spray, 1.6 60ft 11.49@ 119mph, stock turbo stock injectors stock fuel injection 185k on motor. Good luck.

 

Alex

[TimZ]

I think it comes down (as always) to what your intended use is. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using Nitrous for drag racing at the track. In fact, it makes perfect sense there.

 

On the street, legality issues aside, it might still be acceptable, but less so, as you might not always have it when you need it. Also, it's only useful for drag racing on the street.

 

If you autocross or roadrace, it is illegal in every class I know of (somebody correct me if I'm wrong), and is pretty much useless, anyway. In a roadrace, it won't last long enough, and in either case, it will make throttle modulation pretty difficult. Finesse is generally more important than sheer power for these choices.

[Lockjaw]

Most of the stuck solenoids I have heard about have frozen open since the stuff is so cold. I know two people who had it happen to them personally, and the damage is more disasterous on a turbo engine since you have more stuff in the intake tract to grenade.

 

It just comes with risks. As I also said, I will likely get it for my car, and use it sparingly as James does.