I have been told that the reason NOS makes a car run faster is because it is about 40% oxygen vs. the 20% oxygen in the atmosphere. I understand that if I were to use pure oxygen I would get pre-detonation, which would be detrimental to performance.
Now, what if I have a diesel or turbo diesel engine? Could I then hook up a canister of pure oxygen (plain old O2) and use that? I figure the O2 would become compressed and not ignite until the diesel fuel is injected. This would prevent the pre-detonation and would provide the maximum amount of O2 for combustion.
The main question here is, if I use a diesel/turbo diesel with an O2 canister, could I get better performance than a standard 4 stroke gasoline engine with NOS?
You’ll need a lot (repeat lot) of oxygen. You’ll need to change the compression ratio (probably). And you may end up detonating the diesel in the engine. Probably blowout some valves.
I donno what exactly will happen : detonations are not an exact science. But don’t fool around with pure oxygen.
How about replacing the diesel with Nitro Gylcerine ? You won;t need the oxygen then
Nitrogenoxysulfide in engines :eek:
Oh, NOS is an acronym for “nitrous oxide system.”
We talked a bit about using oxygen in diesel engines in this thread: Oxygen tanks on cars. Premature ignition, and O[sub]2[/sub] leaking into the oilpan etc. would likely cause problems. The only way to really find out how much enrichment you could have before getting into trouble would be to build and test an enrichment system. It’d make an interesting hobby, but you might lose a few engines and garages in the process.
On another Message board this question came up…on diesels, similar performance gains can be realized by using Propane injection (you could also theoretically use hydrogen, methane, or any gaseous fuel…also tried were methanol and ethanol aerosols).
Also, if you run an engine too lean, you risk overheating and burning up the pistons. All this stuff is figured out by guys who have used the grenade method. Push the engine untill it blows then don`t do that again.
I’d always heard that the N[sub]2[/sub]O comes out the exhaust the same way it went it. That it doesn’t actually break down and combust, but that it was its being a lot denser than air that adds power.
Nitrous oxide is actually 2/3 oxygen by composition, and 69.5% oxygen by weight. Air is widely taken to be 21% oxygen by composition, though this varies with temperature and altitude. You’re just using nitrous oxide as an oxygen storage and delivery system, because what you really want is more oxygen to react with more fuel and generate more power. Propane for diesel engines may produce a power boost, but propane is a fuel and not an oxidizer. For whatever reason, it does increase the amount of fuel actually burned, but you still need more oxygen to burn that fuel. Propane in diesel engines is also a continuous secondary fuel source, consumed at about a quarter the rate diesel is. Nitrous is a short-term power boost, and the tank usually drains in less than a minute.
In general, you’re going to get better performance out of a gasoline engine and better fuel efficiency out of a diesel. The compression ratios used in diesel are much higher than those in gasoline, but they both need oxygen. More oxygen in the cylinder means that more fuel will burn, and you’ll get more power. The reason you don’t see pure oxygen systems is entirely based on safety and practicality (they’re neither safe nor practical, I mean).
A note on all of this: a lot of very bright people with more charts and tables than you can shake a stick at could tell you exactly how much hot gas at what temperature that any mixture of fuel and oxygen will give you, and how much power that’s all going to generate. That some amateur engine builders blow up engines to find these things out speaks more, I think, to a distaste for chemistry and a desire to continually re-invent the wheel than to some persistent mystery surrounding internal combustion engines.
What I meant was that a lot of people will bolt something on to their car that shouldn`t be bolted on. Typically an engine needs to modified properly to withstand the extra horsepower.
You can install an NOS system on any car by yourself, but should you? They make blowers for many apps. but can every engine they are desinged to bolt on to take the abuse? Hope that clears it up.
