Nitrous is a cheap way to make a lot of power. Nitrous comes in kits and can increase your power anywhere from 50 hp to 400 hp. The nitrous is limited by the engine’s ability to handle the power. A 200 horsepower engine is not meant to handle 400 hp of nitrous. An engine built correctly can handle massive amounts of nitrous. On a standard engine the ignition will need to be retarded. The fuel will also have to be increased either by the fuel map or a fuel nozzle. Nitrous was first used in aircraft to help the plane gain alot of altitude very quickly. Soon after people realized the potential and set up systems on cars. Unfortunately at this time there were not many good ways to control fueling verses nos being sprayed. Many people blew up there engines because of having a lack of understanding of nitrous. Today kits have come a long ways and have the setup down to a science. Nitrous can be very reliable as long as it’s not used excessively per engine setup.
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Naturally aspirated engines are simply engines that are not assisted with a turbo or supercharger. Most people that want their car to go faster will chose this way. Large power increases in automotive engines are not hard to get. Four stroke performance can be greatly improved over the mild factory setup. Four stroke tuning can greatly improve the power over stock conditions. The factory tuning is very mild because they need to pass emissions tests from the factory. Many people buy aftermarket computer chips with modified performance maps. This can improve many cars by 5 to 20 horsepower dependant on the vehicle. Aftermarket chips are also an easy install and can be purchased reasonably. As with all engines, moving air into the engine is the way to make power. Another easy bolt on performance modification is to install a high flowing air filter. Large gains can also be made with improved flow through aftermarket carbs or larger diameter throttle bodies. The import tuners usually purchase high performance intake tubes which try to draw in cool air. These kits usually give moderate performance gains. Most of the domestic car tuners do the same and tend to spend money on the actual intake manifold instead. Depending on the vehicle it came off the performance gains can be much larger some up to 40 horsepower on V-8 models.
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What happens when an engine gets flooded? Generally this happens to carbureted cars but could happen to fuel injected cars if there is a problem with it. Every engine needs a specific amount of air and fuel to work correctly. If there is too little fuel the engine is lean if the engine has too much fuel it is rich. Flooding can occur when the ignition system is weak and does not start the engine quickly. If the carburetor (gas petal) is pumped too much before starting the engine can become excessively rich to the point where it can’t ignite the fuel. As you continue to rotate the engine, more fuel is added to the already excessive amount of fuel. There are a few methods to start the vehicle first, just let the vehicle sit, the fuel will evaporate out after 20 or 30 minutes. Remove the spark plug which may be fouled out with black carbon any ways. Slightly fouled plugs can be wiped off, severe cases can be burned off with a propane torch. Severe fouled plugs will need to be replaced, make sure the plug is original and hot enough heat range. After the spark plug is out stick it back in the spark plug wire, lay it on a metal part on the engine, spin the engine and verify the plug is firing. This also helps to get air in the engine and excessive fuel out. The third option is to hold the throttle wide open. In a carbureted vehicle, the air moving through the carb won’t suck fuel when held WOT if the engine is not running. In fuel injected vehicles the ecm, ecu, computer won’t send any fuel through the injectors if the gas petal is held wide open. If the ignition is o.k. and the vehicle floods continuously, then the carburetor idle circuit may be too rich.
Do you live in an area where you car has to meet inspection requirements? Normally your vehicle will also have to pass emissions requirements also. This article will help explain what emissions are and how to fix a possible problem your vehicle may have. The emissions test is normally done with a probe placed into the exhaust tailpipe. The emission sampler will sniff or sample the contents of the exhaust coming out of the tailpipe. Every road going vehicle produced, has certain clean requirements that it is required to reach. This requirement is specified by EPA to limit the amount of pollutants exiting the vehicle. Most samplers are five gas analyzers simply meaning they “see” or measure five types of gases. The five gases that will be measured are HC, NOX, O2, CO, and CO2. We will start with HC or hydrocarbons. HC’s are simply another term for unburned fuel that makes it through the engine and out the exhaust. HC’s cause smog and and are not good to breath. NOX means oxides of Nitrogen. NOX is a by product of highly heated and compressed air that has nitrogen in it.
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Testing trouble codes is easy. This is a basic how to, on checking trouble codes. All codes supplied here are for pre OBD-2 cars (1996), newer cars can be checked at autozone for free! First turn key forward but don’t start. If you know where the diagnostic plug is, you can use a paperclip to check the codes by jumping the top right (usually) two wires in the plug. GM-bottom of dash. Turn your ignition key forward, codes will flash on the check/ service engine soon light. The code will come up three times then alternate to the next error code, don’t worry about the first code 12. The car ignition is off = 12. A code of 13 will look like this 0 = flashes 0_000, 0_000, 0_000 (larger pause) then will alternate to the next code. Dodge, turn the ignition switch on and off twice, then turn forward (do not start engine) and keep it there. Check engine light will also be used for Dodge vehicles. Dodge codes work same as GM. Ford-under hood and find diagnostic plug labeled EEC Test. Use a jumper wire to connect the single external plug to jump to the main 6 prong plug. Look at the plug with the row of four at the bottom, next look at the next row of two on top.
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Setting the timing on a vehicle is a simple task. First you must know what the manufacturer’s spec is for the stock timing. This information is usually under the vehicle’s hood. Many vehicles have their ignition timing set somewhere between 6 and 12 degrees advanced. Advanced ignition means that the spark that occurs in the cylinder happens earlier before the piston reaches top dead center. After you know what the timing spec needs to be you will need a timing light. Connect the timing light up to the battery or power source that it uses first. Next connect the clamp over the number one spark plug wire, which obviously runs to the #1 cylinder. This should also be marked on your distributor. If your distributor has a vacuum line running to it, remove the vacuum line and plug it so that it doesn’t suck in air. If this line is not plugged, the timing reading can be incorrect as the timing may be advanced slightly. The next thing you will need to do will be to locate the timing mark usually high-lighted yellow on the end of the engine or dampener.
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The idle air control is used to adjust idle speed on electronic fuel injected cars. Back before electronic fuel injection was used, carburetors would use a screw to adjust the throttle plates. The more the throttle plates were open the more air and the higher the idle would go. Fuel injected cars use a throttle body to control the air coming into the engine. The idle air control allows air to enter the engine instead of holding the plates open.
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