zanemoseley

I hadn't been considering nitrous and was thinking of getting a SC'er in a couple years but now the new NOS kit has me thinking, why not nitrous? I mean a good SC'er costs like $5000 plus $1000 minimum to install however a good NOS kit can be bought and installed for about $1500 maybe a bit more. The NOS will give you about 100hp while the SC'er will push you probably a bit more like what 125 or more depending on the kit? The thing is that in daily driving you don't need 400hp all the time, if you do a CAI, tune, exhaust and UDP's you should be pushing 300rwhp all the time which is more than enough driving to work. Then when you wanna have some fun just flip a switch and voila 100 extra horses. Is there something bad about NOS I'm not seeing? Under WOT is 100hp of nitrous more detrimental to the engine than 100hp of boost? Plus you get the added benefit of not having the 100hp all the time which would increase engine lift I would think. So is this a quick way of saving $4500 while still getting a good precentage of the horses.

chevykiller

Well you have already pointed out in your post all the advantages to NOS - on demand power and cost. Here are the cons to consider....

1. You need a custom tune for your NOS cause the a/f goes all over the place so that means you really can't just 'hit the switch' whenever you want to use it. Realistically, when you decide you wan't to get froggy, you'll have to 1st pull the car over and switch over to your nitrous tune. Granted, this only takes about 2 minutes, but won't work very well if someone pulls up next to you and you decide you want to race on the fly. You can have a 50/50 tune that is not optimal for your NOS but is useable and then you can use it on the fly but I garuntee you won't get the same hp to the wheels as you're gonna get with a dedicated nitrous tune.

2. Refilling your bottle can become a pain in the butt. After your squeeze all your juice, you're going to have to disconnect the bottle and take it in to get refilled. If you don't have a local refilling station near by, this can be a problem. I always suggest going with a 2 bottle set-up to cut your refill times in 1/2.

3. It is very easy to become a 'nitrous junkie' - heck, it's like herioin - once you feel that instant power, you're going to want to hit it all the time and you will for the first couple months after instal. Even s/c don't compare to that on demand power rush because you are in total control of it and feel it even more because of it.

Personally, I think a nitrous set-up is the best bet for stock to minor modded stangs for the money. [sm=alcoholic.gif]

dyeguy

I have had both nitrous and a Procharger on my 05 Mustang (at different times) so I can speak with a little experience on the differences. I had a Zex kit on mine and with the 100HP shot or less you don't need a custom tune other than retarding the timing a couple degrees which can be done easily with a handheld tuner. I went through a set of plugs very quickly however because at the time I had mine on they hadn't come out with any colder plugs that fit yet. The nitrous was an awesome kick in the pants kind of feeling when it came on. Getting the bottles refilled stunk though. There are a number of performance shops here in the Phoenix area that refill nitrous but it seemed like half the time I would leave the bottles to get filled I would come back to pick them up and they wouldn't be filled because they either got too busy or ran out of nitrous. This really stinks when you're planning on goin to the track that night. Also, I found that if you told someone you had nitrous on your car they give you a dirty look like you're cheating or something. Kind of like when you find out your favorite baseball player is on steroids I guess.

With the Procharger you get more of a gradual buildup of power but more HP overall. (So much that I blew the clutch out the first time at the track). The car is a monster in 3rd and 4th gear.

Overall I'd say they're both equally fun to drive but with the nitrous you always feel like you have to ration how often you use it and it doesn't seem like as much a permanent part of your car. I'm proud when someone asks me what I have on the car and I tell them it's got a supercharger on it. I have a "supercharged" emblem on the side of my car. I never would have put a "nitrous" emblem on it. Gives you a lot more pride of ownership which is hard to put a price tag on.

ford4v429

I dont have either, but really want a roots style blower-

forget hp numbers, think everyday torque, stoplight to stoplight, getting shoved in the seat like a bigblock without having to make noisy revs to call attention from police...I think either could be ok for racing, but on the street, a positive displacement blower would be way more fun at part throttle where 99.9% of our driving is anyways. To me a centrifugal blower like a paxton is still geared towards higher rpm, where a positive displacement is always there. theres some charts over a whipple showing stock 4.6 making over 500ft-lb off idle at 10 psi. wouldnt recommend going that high on stock motor, but 5-6 psi would likely gain 30% torque, and that is a bunch. 150 hp might not sound impressive, but at 2000 rpm I'd sure enjoy it

grasshopper

I never liked nitrous for street cars. Drag racing, I see no reason not to use it unless it violates class rules.

I would do a turbo setup before nitrous since it's there all the time, but you can still drive it off-boost to save fuel and not wake up the dragon. Cost should nestle in somwehere between the SC and N20.

omer333

Another problem with nitrous is you can wear an engine down really quick, possibly even blow up the engine.

JD1969

Not if done correctly. Nitrous will not wear any more than any other type of forced induction. In fact because you are only using it from time to time, it could be argued that it is less stressfull on the engine.

dyeguy

Which turbo is less than a supercharger?