About Fuel

[sockjohn]

Gun powder shows promise.
You should be able to run it in the sparky and non sparkling classes.
 I will buy it if you want to try it.

Just emptied 100 lb drum  of 5010- {can't believe we shot up the whole drum} but how does one get the stuff into eng??  besides most smokeless powder burns to slow for any rpm potential & black powder will only develop 70000 lb pressure when packed solid- are you sure powder really shows promise??? If I can't make it work in eng can I keep unused portion to use in rifles??russ

Getting way off topic here, but the show Mythbusters did an attempt at black powder powered engines, all from drawings and no real historical examples IIRC.

Didn't work out real well, but it was interesting to see.

If you want to use black powder, make a rocket!

[russ jensen]

70+%. The more we used the, less RPM we turned, the bigger the gear, the taller the tire, the faster we went.

Good Luck

Back to previous thoughts I had- do you suppose blending a bottle of N w/ oxygen with the oxygen @ say 30 %  {and using like nitrous} would speed up burn to pick up rpm :?russ

[promachine]

Here is my hand.
Allways run 100-102%, I really think it makes h.p.
My engine makes 700 hp on alky and 1400 on 100%.
#811, The fastest legal unblown roadster in Elmo history says it all. Nitro good!

[russ jensen]

Here is my hand.
Allways run 100-102%, I really think it makes h.p.
My engine makes 700 hp on alky and 1400 on 100%.
#811, The fastest legal unblown roadster in Elmo history says it all. Nitro good!

True but like jimmy 6 is up against getting a tall enough gear- would adding a little O2 speed up the burn{idea from acetylene chart  of earlier post} to pick up some needed  revs- what say you??

[promachine]

Don`t need rev,s. The more you grunt it the more power you make.
You rev an engine to pump more air threw it.
We add timing to start the fire early for more complete burn.

[Harold Bettes]

Oh Yeah!

I wasn't gonna raise my hand and start some kind of urination match, but I will join Promachine and toss out that I have never run 100proof (couldn't get it to work right), but run many a pass on 98% Nitro and 2% Spectraphotometric Benzene. He said it best when he said "nitro good"!  I was always kinda partial to di-nitromethane base as nitroform becomes when exposed to UV.

As for the N2O part, also made many a pass on 360 to 450hp "shots". Dragstrip experiences, not on the salt, but experiences nevertheless.

Never have flown model airplanes, couldn't get 'em to haul my fat fanny!

Regards to All,
HB2
Been around the patch a few times.

[JackD]

One of the early pioneers in the use of Nitro was asked what % he used on his last run for a magazine interview.
He said "For that run we used about 130%."
When asked how that was possible he replied "Well we used all we had and had to borrow some from Cagle."

[ddahlgren]

Jimmy Six exactly.. Drag racing with a large hit of nitrous while interesting is a much smaller challenge than any sustained use. The only reason I have ever asked for a show of hands is in reading and contributing to message boards I have heard volumes of sage advice from those who have read a lot but never actually been there done it in their resume. I forget who wrote it but sorry rpm does make HP it is part of the definition. HP is how fast and often you make torque and there is no changing that. Torque X rpm / 5252...
Dave

[RichFox]

I once run a plate system, advertised at 125hp, under a dominator on my 460 Ford at Bonneville. I turned it on after the car settled down in high gear and left it on through the 4. Which was as far as I went. It seemed to pick up the speed from 188 to 197. Nothing exciting to report, except when the car starts slowing down it's to easy to put in bigger nozzles instead of looking for the reason it's slowing down. In my experience that resulted in a very easy to spot reason for slowing down.    RF

[Dynoroom]

The B/FL record was set using EFI on gasoline w/N2O. A couple other programs I've been around have used (& set records) nitrous with great sucsess if used in moderation, you do have to run twice. I've also had the oppertunity to run nitro on the dyno in recent years, kinda cool but I'll stick with parts washing fluid. Seems to work for me.   

[russ jensen]

I'll run this one more time- on the little screamers that turn the 20 or so grand & need the $100/gal fuel-- would it work to spike nitrous or plain N with  O2 @ higher  % than air { say 30 %} to speed up the burn - [if burn rates from previous posts are valid for other than acetylene]--{using cheaper fuels} so as to make the HP & torque @ high speed} so that the piston doesn't outrun  fire/ pressure?? any body have any thoughts on this??

[hotrod]

I would not encourage it, free oxygen in high concentrations does not play nice with oil vapor.
You could get spontaneous ignition of oil (and aluminum) under the right conditions.
Oxygen compressors have to be absolutely oil free to prevent compressor fires, and at high oxygen concentrations all sorts of things you don't want to burn -- do burn.

One of the advantages of N2O is it does not release oxygen for combustion until the fire is already burning in the cylinder and it is heated to its decomposition temperature. With O2 spiked Nitrous I suspect you could end up having some very nasty surprises.

Larry

[russ jensen]

free oxygen in high concentrations does not play nice with oil vapor.


Larry

All this is true -- however if  O2 is blended w/ N in a bottle it would not be any free'er than if mixed w/ n in air-- just a little heavier concentration than air-and if burn rate from acetylene {previous post} is valid -would seem to be a cheaper  way to run the screamers-russ

[Dean Los Angeles]

I don't see the point of adding more oxygen to nitrous. In the fuel class if you can run nitromethane and nitrous oxide and NOT destroy the motor it would surprise me.

On the other hand, oxygen in the gas class might just be the ticket. Any kind of quantity would cause detonation, but just a wee taste might do the trick. It's on my shopping list.

[jimmy six]

I'd like to make another comment. First and foremost I am not an expert. I ran nitro for the first time in 1998 and did it for 5 years. I ran nitrous back in the 80's. I'm a pretty fast learner when things do not work out as planned. We went for 50 to 70% pretty fast and I believe that was a good move. But the biggest thing I have learned is to start out with a richer mixture that you think is right or one of the manufacturers or your drag racing buddy thinks is right.

If they haven't been 5 miles with their foot in it they don't know. Temperatures go up and more fuel is consumed. And by fuel I mean anything that's hot enough: pistons, valves, chambers. etc. If you think a 65 bypass is right, start with a 45. The car will just be lazy or might even surprise you. Ease into it. If it costs you an $800 drum to do it you got off cheap. Nitrous is the same make that pill for the gasoline side just a little bigger than recommended for the first few passes. I hate to hear of anyone hurting an engine.

I don't know whether I'll ever go back to nitro again as I'm now going to run naturally aspirated gas which is the hardest at Bonneville. Running nitro has been the greatest experience I have so far ever had. There are many in our ranks who know and can help anyone run the "life is better thru chemicals" racing. John at Pro Machine is one of the best. It seems you need to break a few before you catch on. He and others can keep that to a minumum.

See you all in impounds and I love the smell of nitro in the morning............