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How Much Nitrous Can a Stock Engine Take? - Engine Masters Ep. 13 - YouTube
Channel: MotorTrend Channel
[1]
- Bye bye, little buddy.
[2]
(rock music)
[13]
(gears clicking)
[18]
(motor whirring)
[22]
(dramatic music)
[30]
How much nitrous oxide
[31]
can a bone stock short block take?
[35]
That's what we're going to find out
[37]
on this episode of Engine Masters,
[39]
presented by AMSOI
[40]
and supported by Mr.
Gasket and Earl's Plumbing.
[44]
Here's the thing.
[45]
Nitrous does not blow up engines.
[47]
People blow up engines.
[49]
And we're going to show
you how to not be that guy.
[52]
We're going to take
steps along the way here
[54]
as we make more and
more nitrous oxide power
[56]
to show you how you can tune
[58]
to actually prevent an explosion.
[60]
But let's be honest,
[61]
there's no entertaining in not exploding
[63]
and there's no chance
that that sucker lives.
[66]
This is a stock Chevy small block.
[68]
It's a 305, so it's no loss.
[70]
No crying, dry your tears.
[72]
'Cause that sucker is going to go.
[74]
With it's cast cranks, stock rods,
[76]
stock bolts, cast pistons.
[78]
It's junk.
[79]
But we have hopped it up a little bit.
[80]
It's got a Comp XE268
hydraulic flat tappet cam.
[83]
That is an Engine Quest Vortec head.
[86]
It has aluminum roller
rockers also from Comp.
[89]
Big hankin' single plane intake manifold.
[91]
Big hankin' 850 double pumper
[94]
and of course, the precious.
[96]
The two stage NOS Cheater,
[100]
capable of 500 horsepower.
[102]
But is that motor capable of a 500 shot?
[104]
No.
[106]
But we're going to find
out how much it will take.
[108]
First, we're going to run into the Dyno
[110]
and baseline this thing.
[111]
And find out how much power
[113]
this pooch makes naturally aspirated.
[115]
AMSOIL knew that we were
going to splatter the guts
[117]
of this thing all over
the Dyno cell walls.
[120]
And they said, "You know
what, when that happens
[122]
"it's not going to be the oil's fault."
[124]
Because, bam.
[126]
DOMINATOR racing oil.
[128]
They've recommended this
every time that we've gone
[130]
with a super charge or
a nitrous application.
[132]
Because it has a really
tough film strength,
[134]
so the oil doesn't squirt out from between
[138]
the bearing and the rod
under that heavy pressure.
[140]
But what's interesting is
that they went this time
[143]
with the SAE 60 weight oil
for the 305's final meal.
[148]
This is the equivalent
[149]
of going to the chair for an engine.
[152]
Yeah.
[159]
(dramatic music)
[168]
(engine revving
[182]
I feel really guilty now.
[184]
- [Voiceover] Yeah.
[185]
- I feel like we're
about to shoot a puppy.
[188]
That thing runs pretty good.
(laughter)
[189]
What did this thing make?
[191]
358 horsepower and 323
pound feet of torque.
[194]
And look at the torque curve.
[196]
- No, it's good.
[197]
It really is good.
[199]
If this thing were in a guy's Camaro
[200]
with a 150 shot on it,
which we know we can do.
[202]
This would be good.
[205]
- Ready?
[206]
- [Voiceover] Yup, ready.
[208]
- Okay, nitrous time.
[209]
With N O S nitrous.
[210]
You can't say nos.
[212]
You can't say noz.
[213]
It's clown shoes, just don't do it.
[215]
Here's how nitrous oxide works.
[217]
Stored here in this bottle, it's liquid.
[219]
You inject it into the
engine, it's a vapor.
[221]
And you've got all these little molecules
[223]
that have one atom of
oxygen and two of nitrogen.
[227]
And because you've got oxygen in there
[229]
and you're injecting it into the engine,
[231]
you're bringing more air into the engine.
[232]
Which means that you can burn more fuel.
[234]
When you burn more fuel and more air
[237]
all smashed into the combustion chamber,
[238]
you make a bigger
explosion and more power.
[240]
Here's how you do that.
[242]
You inject the nitrous and
the supplemental gasoline
[246]
into your engine with some
kind of a plates system.
[249]
This happens to be a plate
[251]
that goes underneath a Holley carburetor.
[253]
It is an NOS Cheater two stage set up
[256]
capable of 500 horsepower
[259]
of additional nitrous into your engine.
[261]
As I said, nitrous doesn't blow up motors.
[264]
People do.
[266]
So people can take steps
[267]
to make sure that doesn't happen.
[269]
And here's what we're going to do.
[271]
You must control detonation
[273]
when you're on nitrous oxide.
[274]
The first thing that we're
going to do with that
[276]
is run Rocket brand 118 octane gas.
[279]
That will just control that detonation,
[281]
help the thing survive
a little bit longer.
[283]
Next thing you have to do with nitrous.
[286]
Because that explosion happens
[288]
so much faster than it
does naturally aspirated,
[290]
you have to retard the ignition timing.
[292]
Otherwise, the cylinder pressure
[294]
is fighting the piston coming up.
[296]
And that is just disastrous.
[298]
What we're going to do to prevent that
[299]
is use an MSD power grid ignition system,
[303]
which is pretty advanced.
[304]
MSD also makes a bunch
of other lower end boxes
[306]
that are designed to
retard ignition timing
[309]
right when you hit your
nitrous oxide button.
[312]
So you always want to do that.
[313]
Spark plugs.
[315]
When you're running nitrous,
[317]
you need to run a colder spark plug range.
[319]
Now remember, that doesn't mean
[320]
anything about the power
of the spark itself.
[323]
Instead, it is the temperature
[325]
of the center electrode there,
[326]
because of the length of the path
[328]
to the cooling passage.
[330]
So that is a very cold
spark plug right there.
[331]
Also in your tune up, you really need to
[334]
pay attention to your air fuel ration.
[336]
You could hurt your engine
whether it's too lean,
[339]
meaning not enough gas,
or if it's too rich.
[342]
A lot of people say fat and happy.
[343]
That is not necessarily true.
[345]
You go too rich, you can
hurt your engine on nitrous.
[349]
I highly recommend you get
an oxygen sensor like this
[352]
and a reader to power it,
[354]
and either a data logger or a gauge
[356]
or something so that you know that you're
[358]
in a range of, say, 12 and a half to one,
[360]
that wide open throttle on your nitrous.
[362]
Remember.
[363]
The air fuel ratio that makes
[364]
the most power naturally
aspirated on your engine
[366]
is the same air fuel ratio
[368]
that will make the most
power on the nitrous.
[371]
Now, that's all a bunch of tuning steps
[374]
that you can largely take care of
[376]
with this chingadera right here.
[378]
This is a nitrous controller.
[380]
It happens to be an NOS launcher.
[382]
This is a really advanced controller
[385]
that can do a lot of things.
[386]
It can shut off your nitrous
[388]
if you're too rich or too lean.
[389]
It can read our nitrous bottle pressure.
[391]
It can activate your nitrous
[393]
in a whole bunch of different ways.
[394]
Throttle switch, whatever
you want it to do.
[396]
But most importantly,
[397]
it can control the behavior
[399]
of how you're applying
the nitrous to the engine.
[401]
Because you'll hurt an engine
[403]
if you just hit it with
the nitrous really hard.
[405]
What you'd rather do, instead of hitting
[408]
it like this, is give it a nice push.
[410]
Put the nitrous into the
engine in a delay over time.
[413]
And that's what this can do.
[415]
We can ramp the nitrous from
[417]
say, 50%, to 100% power delivery
[420]
over a period of time that we select.
[423]
You'll see that as we move on today.
[424]
Now, the last thing that
we didn't control at all
[427]
in this test is the fact that you want
[429]
your engine to have good internal parts.
[431]
Forged pistons, rods, crank.
[434]
Our 305 has none of that.
[436]
Here's what the problem with that is.
[437]
Not only can the pistons be fragile
[439]
and just fail under the power,
[441]
but a big deal is piston ring end gap.
[444]
Of course, the piston ring goes in here.
[446]
Seals the piston to the cylinder.
[448]
Now the end gap right there, of course,
[450]
gets much smaller when you put
this thing inside the engine.
[454]
The problem is, if you are gapped
[456]
for just a regular street engine,
[458]
when the ring heats up under nitrous,
[460]
that gap can close up.
[462]
When it does, it breaks the piston.
[464]
That's probably what we're
going to see here today.
[466]
And it could lead to catastrophic failure.
[469]
The smart thing to do is to take
[471]
any engine apart that
you're going to run with a
[473]
power adder and just file
those rings further open.
[475]
Did we do that?
[476]
No.
[477]
But I bet you this thing will
live through the 150 shot
[480]
of nitrous that we're going
to start with right now.
[482]
We're going to spray it?
[483]
- [Voiceover] Yep.
[484]
- Yeah.
[485]
- Got all the wiring
tidied up and everything.
[487]
(chuckles)
[487]
- [Voiceover] Sweet.
[489]
- Okay, we have this
thing set up right now
[490]
just on one stage, it's 150 horsepower.
[493]
We already have it jetted.
[495]
We've already verified when it's running
[497]
naturally aspirated that the MSD
[499]
is pulling the timing out like we want to.
[502]
It's got 35 degrees
total naturally aspirated
[504]
and as soon as we hit the nitrous,
[506]
it drops to 29 for the
150 horsepower level.
[508]
This is the handheld controller
for the NOS launcher.
[511]
You can go through the menu
here and do all the settings.
[515]
I'm not going to ramp the nitorus in
[518]
on the 150 horsepower set up.
[521]
We're just going to hit the button, boom.
[522]
150 horsepower, later on
[524]
you'll see it's tuning more with this.
[525]
So the last thing we have to do
[527]
is hook up the hose to the nitrous bottle.
[529]
We are monitoring pressure
very carefully here.
[532]
You want, like, 950
pounds of bottle pressure,
[535]
and we need that to be
stable through all our tests.
[538]
Just because that's a way
to maintain a consistency
[541]
and to make sure that you're
[543]
delivering enough nitrous to the engine.
[545]
If the pressure is down, it'll go lean.
[546]
What we've got here is a hot water bath
[548]
for the nitrous bottle.
[550]
We'll throw it in right here.
[552]
And the perfect temperature
for it is 92 degrees.
[555]
Look at that.
[557]
As if by magic, it is at 93, 92.
[561]
So that bottle is set.
[564]
Going to hook up a line directly
to the nitrous solenoids.
[567]
And bam.
[568]
Got it fired up, bottle's open.
[570]
150 horsepower ready to go.
[572]
Are you going to purge it?
[573]
(speaking indistinctly)
[574]
Is this going to blip it?
[577]
(motor whirring)
[583]
(engine revving)
[593]
Our 350 horsepower 305
[594]
is making 537 horsepower, no.
[598]
- 557.
[599]
- 557 horsepower.
(chuckles)
[600]
(laughter)
[602]
200.
[603]
That happens a lot, actually.
[605]
We notice that...
[606]
The factory jetting
ends up delivering more.
[608]
Ho are we looking on air fuel ration?
[610]
- Well, I have to tell you.
[611]
Part of that is because
when the system is optimized
[613]
and you've looked at everything
[615]
as far as air fuel ratio and timing.
[617]
And it's all doing...
[619]
What it's supposed to do.
[621]
It's not unusual to make a little
[622]
more power than they're actually rated.
[623]
- So what's our call right now?
[624]
- I'm already impressed.
[626]
I say we just put it to bed.
[627]
- I know it's pretty happy.
[628]
- Put a blanket over it and say we--
[629]
- [Voiceover] That was good.
[631]
- So, this is a good setup.
[633]
Right?
[634]
- It is.
[634]
- Yeah.
[635]
Let's step it up.
[636]
- What would be better?
[637]
More power.
[638]
- Yeah.
[639]
- [Voiceover] Using your wrench.
[641]
- Just leading the pressure
(air hissing)
[642]
out of the line so it
doesn't seep into the engine.
[644]
Always a good precaution.
[645]
What we're doing here
[647]
is changing the jets
in the nitrous system.
[649]
- [Voiceover] There's your jet.
[651]
- And these are very much
[653]
like jets in a carburetor.
[655]
They're just a metered orifice.
[656]
This thing has a whole in it.
[658]
It is a fixed size.
[659]
This one, I believe, we just ran
[661]
was 63 on the nitrous, 59 on the fuel.
[664]
- You never want to put more nitrous in it
[666]
without getting the right
amount of extra fuel in.
[669]
Or you might just burn
the whole thing down.
[671]
- Now that we're stepping
up the power levels,
[673]
I don't want to smack the motor as hard.
[675]
So instead of going
all the nitrous all in,
[678]
I am going to ramp it
up so that when Steve
[681]
hits the button, it gives
us 50% of the nitrous hit.
[685]
And then goes up to 100% over one second.
[690]
Now we've got it jetted to 250.
[691]
I think we're finally going to
see that 305 crest 600, right?
[695]
- [Voiceover] That's the idea.
[697]
- Unless you pulled out too much tining.
[699]
- [Voiceover] Wow.
[700]
- [Voiceover] That would be awesome.
[701]
- [Voiceover] Just trying
to be conservative.
[702]
- Yeah.
[703]
(dramatic music)
[711]
(engine starting)
[718]
(engine revving)
[727]
(yelling)
[728]
Two horsepower per cubic inch.
[730]
- Whoa.
[731]
That is awesome.
[732]
- That is awesome.
[733]
We've just made 620
horsepower with a 305 Chevy.
[738]
Exactly two horsepower per cube.
[741]
- [Voiceover] Wow.
[742]
- That's hilarious.
[743]
I've gone through the
emotional roller coaster.
[746]
- Really?
[746]
- Because at first I was
like, this is a junk 305.
[748]
We're going to scatter
it against the floor
[750]
in Steve's Dyno cell.
(chuckling)
[751]
And then I was like, I love that
[753]
warm and cuddly 305
that's making good power.
[756]
And now, I want it to make 700 and live.
[759]
I don't want to blow it up anymore.
[761]
- Well, you figure if
anything pays you back
[764]
that high of a dividend,
then it deserves to go back.
[766]
- You can't put it down.
[767]
It's no longer like Old Yeller.
[769]
- [Voiceover] No.
[770]
- Yeah, it's not.
(laughter)
[773]
So next step, two systems, 150 each.
[776]
And I'm going to go into the control room
[777]
and we're going to ramp both
of them from 50% to 100%.
[780]
- [Voiceover] Right.
[781]
- [Voiceover] That's the thing,
I'll get the bottle ready.
[786]
(suspenseful music)
[812]
(engine starting)
[818]
(engine revving)
[824]
(groaning)
[826]
(engine sputtering)
[827]
- [Voiceover] Wow.
[828]
- There we go.
[830]
I'm going to call that
head gasket, how about you?
[832]
- No, it slipped out the...
[833]
That was blow by.
[835]
- I let off the butt.
[836]
- I didn't like that,
something went wrong.
[839]
Lot of smoke out the valve covers.
[841]
Okay, I think we owe it to the 305
[844]
to tear the heads off
and see what went wrong.
[846]
I want to see how hurt it is.
[848]
- It's not catastrophic, though.
[849]
It's still in one piece for the most part.
[851]
- Yeah, rods aren't hanging
out of the bottom of it.
[853]
- That's positive.
[855]
(laughter)
[858]
- Okay, and...
[860]
This one's hurt bad.
[861]
- [Voiceover] What do you see?
[863]
- Piston on it.
[864]
This is out of the number two cylinder.
[866]
And look how it's got silver all over it.
[868]
In fact, it's filled up the crevice there
[871]
between the porcelain and the metal here.
[874]
That is aluminum off the piston.
[876]
And there's some oil in there too.
[877]
This is the number four cylinder,
[879]
and you can see that it's
got some of that also.
[881]
And it was a little wet
when we first pulled it out.
[884]
So our guess is that it
just killed a head gasket
[886]
between the number two and four cylinders.
[888]
But what we really want to do
[890]
is putt it apart and find
out how dead that piston is.
[893]
- When you melt your piston
[894]
and completely fill up your spark plug,
[896]
that's usually not good.
[897]
- [Voiceover] Right.
[898]
(light music)
[900]
- What are those little
chunky metallic bits?
[902]
(laughter)
[903]
- [Voiceover] That's piston.
[904]
- [Voiceover] Yeah.
[905]
- [Voiceover] Piston sand.
[906]
(drill whirring)
[907]
- We gather here,
[909]
not to mourn the death of the 305.
[911]
But to celebrate the nitrous
horsepower in the 305.
[914]
- That's right.
[915]
This is not a funeral, this
is a celebration of life.
[917]
- That's right.
[920]
(groaning)
[922]
- Yep, it pinched a ring.
[923]
What you can see here really clearly
[924]
is just classic nitrous failure
[927]
with an engine that is not nitrous ready.
[929]
Right here, the whole top
of this piston is missing.
[932]
Just fractured, and it's beat up here
[936]
from the pieces flying into the
chamber and getting smashed.
[938]
What happens is that the piston ring,
[941]
which I can see the
end gap is right there.
[943]
It butts together and
then lifts like this.
[947]
Because it's a circle,
it's got nowhere to go.
[949]
It's got to expand somewhere.
[951]
It cracks the piston,
[952]
and then the piston just destroys itself.
[954]
We are lucky that the
piston didn't shatter.
[956]
And then the connecting rod swings around,
[959]
just saws the block in half and you end up
[960]
throwing away everything
underneath the carburetor.
[962]
This thing's actually saveable.
[964]
The cylinder wall's not even that bad.
[965]
Poor baby.
[967]
(soft music)
[975]
We made two horsepower per cubic inch
[976]
out of a 305 Chevy.
[977]
- And then we blew it up.
[978]
- You know, this was the completely
[981]
textbook, predictable result
of what we were doing here.
[984]
But I think the real lesson is if you want
[986]
to do this, take the engine apart.
[989]
File that ring end gap wide open.
[991]
Just let it be junk.
[993]
And then you can spray
a lot more than we did,
[995]
because the failure was
nothing more than that.
[998]
- You're changing your tune, now.
[999]
It was a blown head
gasket in the Dyno cell.
[1001]
- [Voiceover] It did blow the head gasket.
[1003]
- [Voiceover] Yeah.
[1004]
- [Voiceover] After that happened.
[1005]
(laughter)
[1005]
- I guess you're right.
[1006]
So we were both right on that.
[1007]
But it did pretty well,
I'm proud of the 305.
[1010]
- You know, can you really
call us engine masters
[1012]
when this happens?
[1014]
You can't, and that's
a wrap until next time
[1016]
on Engine Masters, presented by AMSOIL
[1019]
and supported by Mr.
Gasket and Earl's plumbing.
[1022]
(gentle music)
[1026]
You got to make sure not to touch
[1028]
the nitrous when it's coming out.
[1030]
It will literally burn you.
[1032]
- [Voiceover] Wow.
[1033]
That was dangerous for our burner.
[1035]
- I know.
[1036]
You know what this 305 is like right now?
[1038]
- [Voiceover] What's that?
[1039]
- It's like a puppy on your farm.
[1041]
- Oh no.
[1042]
- Yeah, it's a nice,
cute little warm puppy.
[1045]
You like with it and it's a good doggie.
[1046]
But you know it's not going to last long.
[1049]
(laughter)
[1050]
- What are you saying?
[1054]
Now I'm a puppy killer?
[1055]
- It's true.
[1056]
Well, we kind of know what went wrong.
[1058]
But now we've got to tear it apart
[1059]
and actually see what
the level of death is.
[1062]
'Cause death on an engine is not
[1064]
really a black and white situation.
[1066]
- Unlike a puppy, which
is either alive or dead.
[1068]
(laughter)
[1069]
- [Voiceover] Here we go with the puppy.
[1070]
- More definitive...
[1070]
When you're talking puppies.
[1072]
305s, there's more gray area.
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