I have a 92 firebird with a 3.1 (96,000mi. and runs sound) and I am thinking about putting nos on it. Any thoughts on how to, will the 3.1 handle it, how much of a hp kit. Keep in mind that this is my everyday car and I don't want to trash the engine, just looking for the exta hp from time to time without swaping engines.

 

Do a 75hp wet shot

 

So its possible to control the hp shot??

what speed should one be at to use that shot?? i would assume for auto's it would be hwy gear like 4th,on a 700r4!

this is intresting to me as well i have a 91 r/s 3.1 camero and ide like to have that lil kit in there as well

 

how about swapping to a 3.4?

 

You just gave me an idea! When I finish getting the rest of the money for my v8 swap I should put on a 150 shot and blow my 3.1 up

 

And I can run a 75hp shot without toasting my engine?

 

every time you spray, you put 7,000 miles of wear on the engine, and if the engine don't have that much wear left, of weak parts, engine is gonna go boom. i suggest one of doward's turbo kits if you want some extra hp.... besides you will get more horsies from his kit than you can get with nitrous on our little puny engines

 

Say what?

All tests I have seen, indicate there is no additional wear over not using nitrous.

 

I belive they claim a safe shot is 25-50% of your engines power. So a 3.1 is 140hp, a 70 shot is "about max". It also requires a bit of tuning the engine as well.

I say safely a 50 shot at first, then "maybe" up it to more later if its not enough, engine is ok with it, and you've learned how to use/control it.

you can control the shot by the size of the nozzle on the end of the line, and I "think" the bottle pressure as well.

You should only use it when at peak power, hitting it to low will damage the engine. Read up, and read up ALOT before you play. You either use it right, or your blowing it up.

 

yeah

It doesn't matter what gear your in as long as the engine is above 3,000rpm and at wide open throttle. I used nitrous a few times, only in 2nd and 3rd gear. There's no sense in using the bottle in first if you are already spinning like crazy. They say to limit the engine to about 10 seconds of spray, I think because of the heat generated. After 10 seconds you might get hot spots in the CC and risk predetonation?

If your fuel system is capable of supplying enough fuel I think you could safely run a 100hp shot. You don't want to go lean, ever. You don't want to have predetonation so ignition upgrades would be a good idea along with running premium gas and an octane booster, retard the timing. etc.

7,000 miles.. that's b.s. Although, any time you race you accelerate engine wear, bigger cam, turbo, heads, intake, nitrous, they all do the same thing by allowing more oxygen and fuel into the engine. That puts stress on bearings, rods, bolts.. Nitrous causes an almost instant jump of power so it could be argued that it puts more stress on engine parts compared to a bigger cam or a turbo which causes a more gradual rise in the power curve. That would be a good reason to get a progressive rate controller for nitrous use, I really don't think that instant "shock" to the rotating assembly is what causes most nitrous engines to blow up though. It's more likely that the engine went lean because the fuel system couldn't supply the extra fuel for the added N20. Or the engine didn't have enough timing taken out, maybe a bad wire or too much plug gap it didn't ignite all the mixture, the nitrous can't be blamed for improper tuning.

edit- Dale has the idea, I think 50-75hp would be a good starting place, any kit you buy will have directions, suggestions for proper tuning. Bottle pressure makes a difference too, many racers use a bottle heater and pressure guage to keep consistant pressure in their systems. By keeping the pressure the same in the nitrous bottle you will have the same N20/fuel ratio each time you use the bottle. Once you get familiar with tuning you can generally add a bit more N20 or take away a bit of fuel to make more power, you have to be careful when you start doing that though!

 

another good thing about dowards turbo kit... you don't need to buy a new bottle/refill.

 

Anyone got a link for the turbo kit?

 

If anyone remember that dude with the 100hp 5.0 kit on his hi mile 2.8 and well over a year of constant use............................ his only problem was how addctive it was.