Hey I have an 88 Firebird with a 355 HSR with AFR 195s....Eagle Fordged crankshaft, Eagle 6" fordged H beams, and JE fordged flattop pistons.

Was just wondering how much nitrous I could use safely with this setup assuming I have all the safety acceroires and everything is tuned right. I was thinking to go with a wet shot..Also should I go dual stage??
Any suggestions would be helpful..Thanks

 

With pump fuel, your good pistons and decent crank and rods won't make a lot of difference. No parts will stand up to very much heavy detonation, which is what will happen with pump gas and more than an ~150hp nitrous shot. Of course, part of the answer depends on what you mean by "stand up to". Once? A few times? For how long? IOW, it's not just how much, it's how long as well. Again, with pump gas an a small block, I'd limit it to ~150hp. IF you can use high octane race fuel, a 250 shot is certianlywithin the realm of the possible. Maybe a bit more, again depending on the issue of "for how long". Of course, an adequate fuel system, cold plugs, retarded timing, proper ring gaps, etc. all become more and more important as the nitrous dose increases.

Rich

 

Was the engine assembled knowing that it would be running nitrous? Are they "nitrous" pistons.... often modified for greater crown strength, upper oilers, dropped ring pack location, etc? Were the rings gapped for the extreme temperatures you get with nitrous?

 

Yeah, Fred's post reminded me of something I thought of after I posted. JE makes a number of different flat tops. Some are very light and DEFINITELY not suited for nitrous use. Ditto for the wrist pins, you want to avoid light weight pins with N2O. There are a lot of details that can make a difference.

Rich

 

The motor was built to be a stong N/A motor but with nitrous in mind for later....I am thinking about running a single stage NX kit with a 150 shot....the car is my daily driver so it will only see the spray at the track prob twice a month.

 

If it has the right JE piston (not the light weight model) I'd say "go for it"!

Rich

 

Sorry they are actually SRP pistons which i guess are the same as JE..I bought the whole rotating assembly from CNC-Motorsports.com and it just says fordged aluminum...how do i know if they are lightweight or not?

 

You should have gotten an invoice/reciept with the part numbers. Is the RA already installed? If not, there should be a number cast on the piston that you could call JE/SRP with to find out what you have.

Rich

 

I run a 200 shot through a single nozzle on Food City pump gas with zero detonation.