Horsepower rules the streets and many performance-orientated consumers invest thousands of dollars into their cars with hopes of entering that upper echelon of those with supreme horsepower. With the high costs of aftermarket products (e.g. turbo kits for the 350Z), taking two mortgages on the house doesn't sound as ludicrous as it might have been a few years back. But what upgrades are possible that don't put a heavy dent in your wallet? Hmm...Nitrous Oxide sure does sound good right about now.
What is nitrous oxide and what does it do? In terms of human consumption, we label the use of Nitrous Oxide for recreational use a bad idea. In automotive performance, we can't argue it's the most bang-for-the-buck product on the market when looking for horsepower. Indeed, nitrous oxide used in grandma's station wagon can transform her "hemorrhoid special" into a tarmac-scorching "Hell on wheels." Is nitrous the modern-day snake oil? We think not; but what's really in that bottle and how does it work? To fully understand the advantages of using nitrous oxide is to know the its chemical composition. A nitrous oxygen molecule is made up of two nitrogen atoms and one oxygen atom held together by a chemical bond. Taking two parts of molecular nitrogen and one part oxygen, the chemical bond is separated from heat upon entering the engine's combustion chamber, thus providing more oxygen to burn fuel efficiently. Nitrous oxide has this effect because it has a higher percentage of oxygen content than does the air in the atmosphere. Nitrous has 36 percent oxygen by weight while the atmosphere has 23 percent. Also note, nitrous oxide is 50 percent denser than air at the same pressure. Thus, a cubic foot of nitrous oxide contains 2.3 times as much oxygen as a cubic foot of air. Drawbacks of using nitrous are balancing the delivery of nitrous oxide and receiving additional fuel at the correct proportions. Feed nitrous to the engine without proper fuel and a lean air/nitrous condition will occur, causing detonation problems and engine failure. In adverse situations, if the proportions are such that too much fuel is delivered to the engine, the engine will bog down and minimal horsepower gains will be seen.
Sound intimidating? Fear not. Edelbrock and its R&D team have developed its own kit for the popular 350Z. Edelbrock has introduced a nitrous kit specific for the Nissan 350Z and its potential VQ35DE. Developing a dry nitrous system, this complete kit is offered with two stages of jets (60 hp and 90 hp) enabling the baseline 230whp VQ35DE engine to up the tempo to the tune of 352 whp of tire-smoking enjoyment with a flip of a switch. Keep in mind the 60 hp (34 jet) was tuned using standard 91 octane fuel. When using the 90hp (42 jet), Edelbrock highly recommends using race fuel or a fuel additive (octane booster) to minimize the chance of detonation. On the 125 hp (50 jet) Edelbrock recommends race gas and a change to a set of colder heat range plugs (non-platinum or Iridium) for this particular setup.
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With 7,000 miles on the odometer, this 350Z was deemed the perfect candidate to test the newly introduced Edelbrock Nitrous Oxide kit. |
With the vehicle strapped to the rollers, the engine was given a baseline run as it produced its largest gain of 231.7 corrected wheel horsepower at 6246 rpm and 222.4 corrected lb-ft of torque at 4787 rpm. |
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Out to prove the 350Z can produce competitive horsepower without the need for aftermarket components, this vehicle has only had the factory exhaust resonator removed to give it a deeper rumble at higher rpm. " Logging in horsepower figures is a SuperFlow AutoDYN SF1853 dyno. Edelbrock R&D can view multiple data logs as pulls are made with the main controller. " Engine temperatures and ignition timing is under constant supervision during every run using a MAC tools OBDII scan tool. For this particular test, the Z was run at temperatures of 185 degrees Fahrenheit. |
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The image at left shows the intake, which has been plumbed with the dry fogger nozzle from underneath. |
Using two open-end box wrenches, the main nozzle is removed and replaced with the 90-hp jet (42 jetting) for the next stage in our testing. |
Stainless-steel jets have an advantage over the standard brass jets that are sold on the market today. With a stainless jet, the chances of corrosion and distortion of the nozzle is significantly decreased. From left to right are the 60-hp, 90-hp, and 125-hp jets. Notice the tapering of the jets as the numbers increase. |
Before our initial pass, we loaded the car with some Cool Blue 100 octane to reduce the chances of detonation due to the engine's high 10.3:1 compression ratio. Keep in mind the vehicle's fuel computer remains stock. With the 90 hp (42 jets), we were finally able to crack 300 whp as peak horsepower showed 323.9 cwhp at 5706 rpm and 314.1 lb. ft of torque at 5260 rpm. Check out how straight the line displayed on the dyno pull is from start to finish. |
Utilizing the Nissan's factory TPS as a trigger switch when the vehicle is wide-open throttle, the unit automatically lets the nitrous know when to activate and deactivate. |
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Just because this is a dry manifold kit doesn't mean additional fuel isn't delivered to the engine. Within the passenger kick panel lays the fuel enrichment module sitting just behind the steel support beam. The seven-wire fuel enrichment system is hard wired into the two coolant sensors and two air temp sensors (two go into the ECU and two go into the engine), chassis grounding, 12-volt ignition source and trigger 12 volt (same wire going to the solenoids used as trigger). |
With multiple runs made on the same bottle, it was time to refill the unit before we made our final run of the day. |
Removing the bottle to refill is a snap, thanks to the engineers at Edelbrock, which have devised a quick-release bracket using rubber inserts to protect the bottle. |
Although the heater blanket is an optional unit that can be purchased, it is a necessity when looking to create an optimal pass with your nitrous kit. Edelbrock recommends heating the bottle to an optimal 950 degrees Fahrenheit as liquid is converted to inert gaseous form. |
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Neatly tucked away on the engine compartment firewall is the nitrous solenoids teed off with an optional purge valve kit. " With a tap of the button, the optional purge kit comes alive, spraying liberal amounts of nitrous through the main lines to minimize lag time when the nitrous is activated. |
The nitrous system is powered through a 12-volt source, through the factory battery terminal. |
With Nester Cabrera pulling the dyno runs and Dan Chestnut (head engineer for Edelbrock Nitrous Development) sitting with scan tool in hand, both men sat side by side closely monitoring the engine's vitals to ensure a clean run was made with the 125-hp (50 jet) setup. |
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With our baseline run complete, it was time to install the 60 hp (34 jets) to our test vehicle. |
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