Trust me. I have my reasons for being skeptical about this little Protege. For one, he wasn't originally looking for a little boost. He was talking much bigger. He neglected to mention it was just a 50 shot. Still, there are some issues.

The fuel system is still stock. Most of it is still running off of the original components. The only thing changed is the fuel pump which was replaced with OEM parts. Injectors, rail, etc. is still as it came from the factory.

Air filter is still still standard OEM replacement. It may even be the original one. It is quite dirty and has to be restrictive.

All internals are stock except some piston rings and a head gasket, which are OEM replaced and were only done because they were blown and were needed to drive. Spark plugs are still stock.

I'll not go into the exhaust.

My argument is not so much that this car will never handle the nitrous. My argument to him is that if he is really serious about builiding his car like he talks to us about building it, there are a few more important things that need to be addressed first. I can respect your job experience and completely believe you have installed that many nitrous systems before. I also agree that done properly it can be the cheapest 50 horses you can add (that being said, the fact it is a dry system can be some loss by itself, not to mention that the 50 hp rating is crank horsepower, and it is running though a slushbox, etc.). But you would also have to agree with me that every application is different, and some cars might need a little beefing up to fully take advantage of the 50 shot. I don't think he'll blow a hole in his block. He might blow a valve out of its seat if he hits it before full thottle ( or even at full throttle).

Before any rants are made, no I haven't built a "race car" yet. Have I helped? Yes. But I am a broke college kid and can't afford my own. I do know just a little though, thats how I keep my Explorer running. But this is all just my opinion, backed by just a little bit of fact.

Later...

EDIT: Almost forgot, I never said the nitrous would cause the car to loose power...

 

I'll try to explain as simply as possible.

The first thing I mentioned to your brother (in PM) is that he needs to make sure that his vehicle is current on all of its required maintaince. That includes, fluids, filters, blets, hoses. I also recommended upgrading to full synthetic fluids to handle the extra strain on the engine and drivetrain. This SHOULD be common sense for anyone modifying their vehicle. Sadly, it's often overlooked.

Stock fuel system is more than adequate for a 50hp shot. A ZEX dry kit is designed for STOCK cars. You should really read their info on their website. It goes into great detail about why ZEX is THE choice for daily driven street cars.

Stock internals and stock valvetrain won't be affected on such a small boost. The only upgrade I hiighly recommend would be to get new spark plugs that are one heat range colder. These cost about $.99 a piece and can be swapped out in under 20 minutes. This is great insurance for anyone running N20 at any time. Also a fresh fuel filter is a MUST but I've mentioned that in my required maintaince point.

A ZEX dry kit jetted for 50hp will probably make about 40whp. For reference, my SHO was jetted for a 75hp shot and it put almost 100hp at the wheels. I believe this had a lot to do with my particular fuel tuning but a dry kit is not as weak as most people think. A wet kit makes more power, but doesn't have the fail-safes of the ZEX kit. there is a specific reason I recommend the ZEX kit for street driven daily drivers. For full out racing applications I prefer the NX direct injection system for complete atomization of the combustible charge. Non-better.

p.s. His car with a 50hp ZEX kit and his required maintaince done will flat out roast your explorer. No shame though he has a power to weight advantage over you.

 

I completely agree with all that you say. You have made my point more than ever. My brother is slighly stubborn, and will start going after a new mod as soon as anyone mentions it might be a good choice. When you mentioned a nitrous oxide system, his eyes lit up. The first thing he would think in all his excitement about the idea of getting a kit would be "yeah they said to get all that stuff, but it still works I don't need it, I'll just get the kit." I have lived with him too long and know him too well. While you might have told him all that in PM, once again I know how he thinks and it would be "well i'll get that stuff when it breaks." While not the worst thing in the world, it would sure save him a lot of trouble. Which was what I was trying to stress. Continually driving it into his head on here seemed to be the only answer, seeing as he will only listen to those on this forum. No problem with that, it is just when he runs around saying he and his dad are going to start looking for nitrous kits is when I look outside and think "yeah about that, don't you think..." The ZEX kit is the best thing for his application. Honestly, it was the first brand that popped in my head when he mentioned a dry kit. To finish this post, we were thinking *basically* the same thing, we just said it a little differently. Make sure the thing is up to par with the essentials, then throw the juice to it. The same stuff I preached before, his stubborness just hearing "no", "blow up", etc. Instead of listening to the actual explaination. I thank you for taking the time to go back and forth with this. I just had to get on here and see exactly what he was saying I was yelling about. He made it sound like is was jealous because he is working on his car. I would expect that his car would fly by me like I am standing still when it is done. I would hope so at least, since I all have that didn't come with it is a K&N filter and some Autolite Platinum plugs (which i think ended up being equivalent to stock anyway). Plus, like you said , he would have a drastic weight advantage to me, regardless of what power I turned over stock.

Once again let me say that I thank you for your advice and all. I am glad to see he found some people that actually knew what they were talking about, instead of stumbling over the other random ricer sites I have seen before.

The fact that you have a SHO scares me in a way. I have seen what one can do (nothing specific except some tire smoke and blurry scenery) and am curious what all you have done besides the 75hp shot.

 

I'm only here to help. Nitrous is my passion.

My SHO was a 1990 model with a highflow Y-pipe with no cats, full walker exhaust (dynomax), rod shifter upgrade, stage 2 driveshaft shop axles, Centerforce Stage 2 dual friction clutch, 11lb flywheel (stock is 13lb), 15 drag radials and a ZEX 75shot.

On street tires it would run a 13.4s in the qurater. Good enough to best most stock camaro's and cobra's. With the drag radials it dropped to a 13.1s....I tried so hard for 12s but it wasn't happening with a full interior.

The motor had 126K miles on it when the tranny gave out for the last time. The differential pin backed out and caused the tranny to grenade. It had nothing to do with racing or nitrous...just an unfortunate side-effect of a crappy install.

I live about 2 hours south of you and I invited you and your brother to come to my place one weekend and I'd go over his car with him and help him out. Same goes for you. I was a ford man long before I got into imports. I have a friend with a supercharged ranger you might like to see also.

 

lets see now about a turbo what could i do about one of those or what would i have to do..........just trying to find some more options to see which i want...

 

how much money you got to spend, i have a 92 dx and well i got an engine swap. dont get me wrong you can do a little here and there to beef up that sohc engine, ive done it but moved on the best thing to do which is an engine swap or new car. only so much can be done

 

yeah, for what you'd spend on a decent turbo kit and engine management you could buy a used P5 with a mtx....lot more mods.

 

Also I have put way too much stuff on it too sell it already I have or i should say my father has put alot of money into my car such as the muffler and system and waht not b/c the system subs were from my bro he was nice enough to let me have them and plus alll the other stereo stuff that is listed wasnt cheap either so i am going to keep it for now I am just oging to build this one for a while....

 

My brothers friend said i would have to extend the front end of my car to make room for the turbo...

 

I fit one on my DOHC ..... hell, they came with them from the factory, overseas.......