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By Brian Wagner May 10, 2018Making mountains of power with the assistance of nitrous oxide has been in the toolbox of drag racers for decades, but many still don’t understand how certain aspects of it work. How much nitrous and flowing fuel pressure is something that many racers may not pay enough attention to because they don’t fully comprehend what role it plays in how the power-adder functions. Steve Johnson from Induction Solutions shared with us the basics of how these two items work in a nitrous system, and how to make them work for better for you.Nitrous oxide depends on pressure for it to be tuned properly as it enters the engine. You must have pressure that remains consistent to get the best results, and any changes in the pressure can have a significant effect on how much power the engine makes. If you aren’t monitoring and controlling the nitrous pressure accurately, performance at the track will be different on each pass, tuning will be difficult, and parts damage can occur.

Going into more detail, Johnson explains what you need to consider when it comes to nitrous pressure.“There are a few things to know and consider when you’re looking at nitrous pressure in the system. The higher the starting pressure, the faster and further it will fall during a run. The higher amount of pressure you’re running, the harder the system will hit when it comes on. As the nitrous pressure goes up the harder it can be for your progressive controller to keep it in check. When you have a higher amount of nitrous pressure, the harder it is on the plunger in the nitrous solenoid you’re using. Finally, the higher the pressure is, the less nitrous density you have in the bottle.”Flowing fuel pressure is the other side of the nitrous coin that can be misunderstood by nitrous users and lead to issues. By not having a correct flowing fuel pressure, trying to obtain a good tune up becomes impossible and will lead to frustration when it comes to performance at the track. “Flowing the fuel pressure is another key to a proper tune-up and is also a tuning method, as well. You have to flow fuel through the regulator to properly set it. You can’t properly set a dead-headed regulator — that’s important to remember when working with flowing fuel pressure. Fuel pressure changes are a method to leaning or richening your tune as needed based on plug reading and the incrementals on your time slip,” Johnson explains.Understanding that nitrous and flowing fuel pressure need to be monitored is one thing, according to Johnson, you have to have the right tools in place to get the job done.“Two key items to properly using and tuning a nitrous system are a fuel flow tool as well as a good accurate nitrous pressure gauge in the car. The flow tool is used to flow fuel through the regulator to accurately set fuel pressure and to change it. When it comes to nitrous pressure, we recommend a four-inch nitrous pressure gauge in the car. This way regardless of what nitrous bottle is put in the car, it is always set to the same gauge.”

Joined: May 2005

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