On Tue, 3 Apr 2018 07:26:51 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Some of the boys down in Everglades are running nitrous systems on
their air boats. If they "hit the button" a lot it does scrub expected
hours off the engine but it will pop them off a hump they get stuck
on. With the price of nitrous, it is a pretty expensive hobby. That
stuff was 3 or 4 bucks a pound 20 years ago. (with an account.)



My wife's uncle (used to teach diesel mechanics in a Jr. College) has a
early 70's Monte Carlo that he has been "building up" over several
years. 350 ci small block puts out 560 HP as tested on the dynamometer
running gas. But, he also installed a nitrous oxide tank in the trunk
with lines, remotely actuated valves and a switch in the car.

He took me for a ride in the thing which was impressive just running on
gas and then hit the nitro switch. Holy Crap!


The physics of nitrous is pretty interesting. First it is injected as
a liquid so it has a significant cooling effect on the air coming in
and concentrates that charge. They are also introducing more fuel so
the charge starts off very rich as it goes over TDC and you have a
smoky fire going on in there. When the temperature gets up around 500f
(something like that) the nitrous comes apart releasing pure O2 into
that smoky fire, right in the power stroke where you want a big bang.
Some proponents even say this is not really that bad for the engine
but they don't seem to last as long. It may be because those guys are
really beating the hell out of them anyway.