I have a 92' automatic LT1 126,000 miles that I race every so often at the drag strip.
Currently I run around a 9.3 at 86mph in the 1/8th.
My only mods that I know of are flowmasters, and a K&N air filter.
I want to know how I can run N2O safely (I really don't want to be the kid blowing up thier car on the track).

If anyone could give me a list of modifications I would need to make that would be awesome.
I am also wanting to convert the car to run on E85 fuel...I f anyone has done this I would love to see the list of parts installed.
I would like to spend around $2000 for all of this, while getting around 400hp

 

Nevermind me, I was being too elaborate with my searches. "running Nitrous" simply got me my answer.

 

You may have already got an answer from google, but the bottom line is there is _nothing_ you can do to be entirely safe with anything related to engines. Even stock engines can fail, and adding power only makes things worse.

That being said there are some things to consider which will _reduce_ the chances of "blowing up [your engine]". "Blowing up" is usually caused by one of three things:

1. Failures due to the mechanical forces of the added power. The only solution to this is to stick within the generally accepted "safe" power levels for your setup and make sure the juice doesn't start at too low an engine speed such that the torque goes through the roof. Remember power=torque*engine speed so adding a 100 shot when the NA engine is only making 50 HP will result in _triple_ the torque. A progressive controller or a controller with a window system can help with the too-much-too-soon problem.

2. Mechanical failure due to detonation. This is probably the bulk of failures from nitrous. E85 is a great help here, but other easier (and less effective) solutions include retarding the timing and running rather rich.

3. Mechanical failure due to lean mixture. This may also cause detonation. Lean combustion is fast and hot, and things will melt if you get lean. This one can be prevented by using use a controller that can monitor a WB02 sensor and cutoff the juice if the mix goes lean. This is probably the single best thing you can do, but also probably expensive. Other solutions generally try to prevent specific failures from causing lean conditions (ex: dual solenoids, fuel pressure switches etc.) but ultimately you can protect yourself from all that with a WBO2 sensor.

Hope that gives you some food for thought.

One more thing to consider is your safety. I would recommend a blow down tube vented to the outside. Some might also recommend a scatter shield, though I haven't heard of issues with Corvette automatics blowing up -- at least not at these power levels.

 

I ran nitrous hits, at the 100 HP shot level, on my stock bottom end 93 without incident. This was on an NX 'wet' system I installed in 2003.

'Wet' means it sprays raw fuel and nitrous into your intake instead of older 'Dry' systems which rely on a booster pump to try and boost the pressure acting on your stock fuel injectors to supply the extra fuel.

Most of the detonations you hear about is when something went wrong (ex. pressure-induced injector lockup) on a 'dry' system. Or, someone turned up the juice too much on any system 'wet or dry'.

About the wideband, its nice to have, but its going to be tricky to keep an eye on it every time you hit the juice. Although, I guess you can datalog with it some 3rd gear pulls on the highway and make sure your setup is running an appropriate AFR across the whole RPM range. I didnt run one on nitrous (I verified AFR on the dyno with their wideband).

Safety mods include an MSD window switch - you dont want to engage nitrous when you are at too high of an RPM, or too low of an RPM (unless you are in 1st gear, have slicks, and are starting a drag race). This single device saved my engine at the starting line one time when I was not able to get traction. I didnt realize I was spinning (duh) and kept the gas pedal floored until I hit the fuel cutoff. Thank God the window switch shut off the nitrous before I reached the fuel cutoff or it would have leaned out!
Its my recommendation you set your window switch to shut off nitrous about 300 RPM before where your rev limiter cuts off fuel. You do not want to still be spraying nitrous after your rev limiter has cut off your fuel !!!

Theres also a fuel pressure safety switch. This is an interlock that prevents the system from spraying in the event there is a problem with the fuel system (ie. fuel pump or dirty fuel filter).

I also ran two lights(one for fuel, one for nitrous), in through my vents, showing me the status of my solenoids. When the solenoids 'opened' these lights would both light up together.

To be extra safe, I also ran a walbro GS 340 255 l/hr intank fuel pump with hotwire mod (Racetronix kit). The hotwire mod is a heavy gauge wire that runs off the alternator to ensure max voltage to the fuel pump. This is likely un-necssary at the 100 shot level, but necessary at any level beyond that. Ive read about some guys who ran 100 shots on LT-1's fine for years, and then detonated their motor the first time they stepped up to a 150 shot. A couple of these guys confirmed they were running stock fuel pumps. Its my opinion the stock fuel pump could not keep up.

I found NX's recommendations of jets (different sizes to achieve HP level) to be too conservative on the fuel solenoid nozzle. I ran one size smaller, than recommended, on the dyno and still saw a safe 11.8:1 AFR along with a 30 rwhp and 50 rwTQ increase.

Finally, I cant not stress this enough. Change your fuel filter with any blower or nitrous setup. Dont want a dirty fuel filter to restrict fuel when you need it.

I made 445 rwHP and 525 (!!) rwTQ with the 100 shot. Other mods include: ported lt1 heads, hotcam kit, LT headers.

I ran a best of 11.6 @ 122. My trap speed indicates I could have launched the car better and achieved a faster time.

I sent you a pm. I will actually be selling my kit soon for about 1/2 of what I paid for it (back in 03). if you have any interest.

 

Running E85 is going to require a complete retune of the car via engine management. Also, the fuel system is going to need about 35% more capacity in terms of pump, injector size, etc. Simply stated, its not worth it for an application such as yours, whereas you really can't take advantage of the octane of E85 with a stock motor to justify the lower fuel mileage and cost to implement its use.

Those who have never run E85 will say you need to change seals, do all this and that. I've tuned and ran several cars on E85 on factory components, aside from injectors and larger fuel pump of course. Even after 3 years, there were no signs of any kind of issue. I even opened the tank to look for signs of any side effect and there was none. Ethanol has been in fuel since the 80's and fuel systems are formulated to handle it. People generally confuse the corrosive nature of methanol with the nearly non corrosive nature of Ethanol. Truly you need to worry about Ethanols water absorbtion more than its nearly non existent carrosive properties.

 

I've got a stock motor other than exhaust headers on my L98 and i'm doing a 120 wet nitrous shot. I also added a blanket heater to the bottle to keep the pressure consistant (around 950 psi). I've seen no detonation, but I blew the **** out of the crappy 700r4 transmission. It simply cant take the instant torque and my drag radials and only lasted about 3 passes at 120 hp. I did do about 50 passes with just a 50 shot of nitrous but it honestly wasn't enough to keep me happy.

I ended up putting a TH350 transmission in it to take the torque, with a 3000 stall.

 

You don't need to watch anything. The nitrous controller watches it and will stop the juice if things go lean. That's why it is such a benefit.

Yes, you will need all that. As to whether it is worth it, I guess that depends on how much power you want!

 

I had my 700R4 rebuilt with Suburban parts (supposedly stronger parts). It has been taking my abuse nicely for the last 9 years. I run a 100 shot with drag radials on a moderalty built 400sbc.

 

i think the op was saying use e85 from a seperate fuel tank and pump for the fuel enrichment when hes on the spray.ive heard of guys using meth that way.

 

No, I was thinking converting the vehicle to use E85. Injecting a bit of E85 doesn't really buy you much when you are running natural aspiration.

That being said, converting a vehicle is relatively easy. Injectors, a pump and some PCM work. None of that is really tough. It might even be possible to use a fuel pressure regulator to adjust the mixture to the point a retune would not be required.

 

A 100 shot of NOS is nothing. You can run full timing, and pump gas. A 100 shot on a stock bottom end with even close tuning will last a long time. I run a 200 shot with a forged bottom end, good tuning, and have probably run 100 bottles thru the last 2 engines in my car, and haven't hurt anything. So a 100 shot is really nothing

The problem is it is you will want more when you get used to it!