Suzuki Quadracer HQ
Suzuki Quadracer HQ Discussion => Suzuki Quadracer HQ - General Discussion => Topic started by: 1989LT500Rzilla on February 11, 2013, 09:21:15 pm
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He made me excited!! Nothing like the sound and smell and watery eyes of nitro.
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west tx: you just made el diablo excited about running nitro! hahaha
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Here's a good article on the differences between gas, alcohol, and nitromethane:
http://www.smokemup.com/tech/fuels.php (http://www.smokemup.com/tech/fuels.php)
It's theoretically possible to gain 4-5x the power with no changes to your engine, although it will surely explode in a short time while making that 200-300HP.
Mixing methanol with nitromethane is a great way to dial in your power output so the engine can still hold together.
You can realize power gains with as little as 5% by WEIGHT, not volume. It's important that blended fuels are measured by WEIGHT.
A 15% mix is easily achieved if your engine is set up for alcohol, because as odd as it sounds, at that low blend ratio you actually need to lean the engine out because it'll be running rich!
At 33% nitro mix, stoichiometric ratio is exactly the same as alcohol and a lower ratio than 33% causes the engine to run rich, so what kind of benefits are we looking at?
It would be ridiculously easy to transition from alcohol to nitro after starting, and then to purge the nitro out of the engine after a run for safety reasons.
A small starter bottle of alcohol could be hooked up with a quick connect before and after a run, leaving the tank of nitro out of the mix.
That would purge all the nitro out of the engine so you'd be safe when shutting it down, and then purge with gasoline at the end of the day to prevent corrosion from the alcohol.
You'd have the option of running straight alky, or switching to nitro whenever you wanted to really, if you had two separate tanks that you could switch between.
Talk about a secret weapon, switch to the nitro just before a run, wait for the cackle, and haul balls!
Small 1 quart cans of nitro (you can also find them in 1gal cans) can be had in all sorts of mixes (with oil premixed at around a 10:1 ratio), that should theoretically work in an LT:
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1575_67_766/products_id/233401/n/PowerMaster-Nitro-Race-30-Car-Fuel-9-Castor-Synthetic-Blend-Six-Gallons (http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1575_67_766/products_id/233401/n/PowerMaster-Nitro-Race-30-Car-Fuel-9-Castor-Synthetic-Blend-Six-Gallons)
That equates to $17/gal, crazy expensive but not $30/gal insanity expensive.
I'm sure with a little researching on Google you can find nitro blends without premix, so you can run your own oil ratio with a compatible oil of your choice.
As with methanol, your ignition system needs to be up to the task.
Not only does methanol need more spark, it also needs to be retarded some too.
Nitromethane burns even slower, and requires an even hotter spark.
Probably need a specialty ignition that runs off a battery and can be adjusted for timing.
Past that, you definitely need a strong engine and be prepared for short engine life.
The problem with running nitro is that you can just about get all the power an LT engine can produce with porting, pipe, carb, etc. running alky.
With engine work and a good pipe, you can tune your usable powerband where you want it.
If you run an afternarket pipe and porting with nitro, you'll probably make way more power than the piston can handle for anything more than a few seconds at a time.
Have your engine ported to make power way down low and trail off at the top along with a low-mid range pipe and you might be able to shoot some serious juice in there without destructive power being produced up top.
You'd have ridiculous power down low and the loss of it from porting and pipe up top might be regained with nitro up to the high-end power limitations of the engine.
So there's the theoretical possibilities of nitro with an LT, it's all just speculation really, but it's definitely worth looking into a little further (past the usual "you're going to blow everything up and it won't work and you're dumb" kind of stuff).
The bad part of nitromethane is the handling and safety precautions of it, not to mention outrageous costs.
Nitromethane is a very peculiar fuel, and it can also be VERY dangerous if not properly handled.
You think backfiring on a 500 is bad...try having a backfire with enough power to blow the cylinder head off an engine.
And here's the worst part, it doesn't even have to be ignited to explode, pressure alone is enough to light it in large enough quantities.
Treat it like nitroglycerin and you'll probably be fine.
http://www.fuelinjectionenterprises.com/nitro_new.htm (http://www.fuelinjectionenterprises.com/nitro_new.htm)
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my gas powered r/c truck runs nitro!
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Nitromethane as in TOP FUEL? At a price of over $30 / gallon, I would just convert to alky. It's cheaper.
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stoich for gas: 14.7:1
stoich for methanol: 5.5:1
stoich for nitro: 2:1
unless you have something being able to meter fuel like that and supply the motor with that amount of fuel AND have the REST of the motor setup as needed. More than likely not a good idea. Think I have read anything like 20% or less ratio of nitro to fuel isn't going to show any power increase.
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Have to be careful running Nitro as some 2 cycle oils dont mix well with it.
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ohh ok , is there a substantial gain in power?
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they run it just fine.
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I would love to see a nitro set up , I would imagine getting it tuned up right would be an event , but I wonder if these motors could really handle it , Im not familiar if they make parts strong enough.
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(http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee8/west_texas_king/nitromethane.jpg)
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just curious has anyone ran nitro methane