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- Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech
- Path: sparky!uunet!news.larc.nasa.gov!news
- From: kkm@cyclone.larc.nasa.gov (Kenna Macauley)
- Subject: Poor Man's Supercharger
- Message-ID: <BuF7uA.A35@news.larc.nasa.gov>
- Sender: news@news.larc.nasa.gov (USENET Network News)
- Reply-To: kkm@cyclone.larc.nasa.gov (Kenna Macauley)
- Organization: NASA LaRC
- Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 15:46:57 GMT
- Lines: 46
-
- I've noticed a lot of talk going on about Supercharging. Don't forget the
- supercharger in a bottle, Nitrous Oxide. These commercially produced systems
- can be bought to fit to just about anything with an engine in it. There are a
- lot of bad facts floating around about these systems most of which are not
- true. Here's what it can do for you.
-
- 1. Give you anywhere from a 50 to 300 HP plus at the touch of a buttom.
-
- 2. Strictly on demand when you need it.
-
- 3. Most well designed kits are bolt on and take no more than hand tools
- and an afternoon to install.
-
- 4. Very simple systems, can be removed if you decide to sell the vehicle.
-
- The Nitrous Oxide is merely used as an oxidizer it does the same thing a
- supercharger does, it increases the amount of oxygen present in the
- combustion chamber, when added with the right amount of fuel it esentially
- makes for a much more potent intake charge, hence the increase in horsepower.
- (also when the nitrous is injected by the spray bar it has a tremendous
- cooling effect on the intake charge which increases fuel/air density which
- further helps engine output). The amount of HP increase you get denpends on
- the size of the orifices in the spray bars. One manufacturer even has a
- system that you can change the amount of HP increase you get by changing
- restrictors in the fittings on the spraybar plate underneath the carb. They
- have been stories circulated that it will burn up an engine. This is true if
- you decided to experiment on your own and didn't compensate the increased
- amount of oxidizer with an increase in the amount of fuel. These two must be
- balanced or you'll get an overly lean mixture which will burn your engine up
- in very short order. Commercially produced systems of which there are many
- are engineered and tested to perform properlly on whatever application they
- are designed to work on. The usual system consists of a carb separator plate
- with two spraybars, one for gas, one for NOS, a couple of electric solenoids
- to control the flow and a bottle for the Nitrous Oxide plus all the hardware
- and switches need to install it. I've had two cars that it was installed in
- and have never had any problem with it. I can drive around all day with the
- engine returning the normal good gas milage and all but when i need the extra
- power its there. These system can be put on completely stock engines but you
- won't be able to get high HP increases you have to stick to the lower ranges.
- One extra note it's a good idea if you decide to purchase one of the units
- that you also buy some of the optional filters (Some system do come with
- them) These need to be installed in the fuel and NOS lines before the
- solenoids to keep out trash. Very important since a solenoid sticking open it
- not good for obvious reasons.
-
- kkm@cyclone.larc.nasa.gov
-