I was talking to my grandfather about cars today, and he gave me an odd breakdown on how Nitrous Oxide (commonly called NOS, and I'll use that just to simplify my typins) works.

He said that when the NOS is shot through the engine, it seperates, or something like that.

That seperation allows the engine to burn at a higher octane.

So, in that sense, isn't putting NOS into our cars completely anit-performance?

I'm a newb at stuff like this, so I was just wondering. . . .

 

nitrous makes more oxygen availble in your motor. therefor you need more gas = more horsepower. you WILL need a higher octane to keep from detonating. but no, nitrous does not increase your octane. stuff...

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

got
--->
NOS?

hahahaha. too much watching the fast and the furious for me!!! i just love seeing the rotary spin though inside dom's 7. best part of the movie really...

 

newb, excuse me if I come off as ignorant

I got the basic principle. NO2 into intake air, heat breaks the oxygen off and makes it available, nitrogen cools the air and makes it denser---->more O2 per unit volume air------------>go really fast.

Exactly what happens when NOS causes "detonation"? Sure doesn't sound good. One of my old country buddies has NOS on his V-8, and loves it. But detonation? Yikes. Does it carbonize the engine?

I'm also wondering if there are any special modifications as to how NOS is hooked up to rotary?

 

Yeah except apparently is rotating the wrong way...

 

NOS is a brand of nitrous system. This isn't Fast and the Furious. Call it N2O instead.

N2O contains two parts nitrogen and one part oxygen. This means it contains about 33% oxygen which is more than normal air. When injected into an engine the nitrogen and oxygen molecules seperate which provides more available oxygen for the combustion process. When combined with the right amount of fuel it allows you to make more horsepower.

Because it is stored under pressure as a liquid and expands when released it has a secondary effect of cooling the intake charge. This make the charge denser and provides even more oxygen for combustion.

 

The only time it causes detonation is if you don't supply the engine with enough fuel to match. This makes the a/f ratio lean and can cause the engine to detonate. Detonation is basically uncontrolled combustion.

 

^ That was a good explanition of how N2O works. Just remember if you try to use it make sure you have a secondary fuel system just for the N20 don't try to tap into your carb or EFI supply.....if you go lean you WILL damage the engine.

 

I thought it was combustion ahead of time.

 

Thats pre-ignition.

 

Now wait a minute, excuse me if I'm being too academic, but isn't it NO2 and not N2O? It is called nitrous oxide and not dinitrous oxate, which is how the laws of naming chemicals would require if it was N2O. The basic chemical reaction is with the hydrocarbons in the gas and the NO2 ---->H2O + CO2 and probably a little HCNO3. So there's no way it's a 2:1 ratio of N : O. I'm pretty sure I'm right about this.

 

I actually got into an argument over this with my little brother, he swore up and down that the word most people use is NoS, I told him no that's a name brand commonly used by ricer...you know like "nawz".

 

It's N20. Nitrous oxide is the common name.

You're wrong about the proper name as well. The proper name for nitrous oxide is dinitrogen monoxide. When there's only one atom of the second element you need to add the prefix mono.

At least that's how I remember it. It's been a while since I was in school.

 

I was watching some show about nitrous and they were saying that it freezes some of the air being sucked into the engine and therefore makes it more dense allowing the engine to burn faster and yield more performance. But maybe i just heard wrong =)

 

Wow, I don't even remember making this thread O_O

 

that is correct.

 

ok. so now we know how nitrous works. How much can be safely used on a stockport engine? Also what kind of mods would a person be looking at for say a safe reliable 100 shot?
Not trying to jack the thread but i think its a related topic.

 

damn you for being right