I forgot about gears, a big bang for the buck is possible with a gear change...

 

Nitrous if improperly tuned will tear an engine up faster than you could imagine. however a properly tuned setup, with a properly built nitrous system, that takes safety into account will spray reliably. If you have the right setup with the proper safety switches a good nitrous system will be more reliably and more potent than supercharing or turbocharging(though turbos are a VERY close second in terms of power production and reliability, but expensive)

 

Proper nitrous system will be more expensive than HCI on a classic engine. Especially by the time you factor in the extra fuel lines and upgrades fuel pump(s). Also, nitrous isn't always there and must be refilled periodically and isn't technically legal for street use.

 

I agree with JMD. Nitrous will definitely reduce engine life. You can say you have self control,but when someone's spanking you on the street or on the racetrack,your going to push that botton.

 

Well, first of all, nitrous when set up properly is NOT going to reduce engine life, at least not any more than a h/c/i swap will. All you're doing is burning more air and fuel to make more combustion pressure, which is the same goal of a h/c/i. Improperly tuned or improperly used nitrous setups will damage an engine, but so will putting a monster h/c/i on a stock bottom end and trying to turn 7,500rpm with a cast crank. Boom.

As far as cost, a good basic nitrous system with safety will cost less than a good h/c/i(if you use new aftermarket aluminum heads anyway). You could build an entire system for around $1,000-1,500(a basic street setup with 1 stage anyway)and that's WITH a good seperate inline electric fuel pump for the nitrous system only, with a fuel pressure safety switch that kills the nitrous system if the fuel pump doesn't provide enough output. And a wet plate nitrous setup isn't that hard to install.

The big drawback to a nitrous system is that, yes, you do have to keep refilling the bottle periodicallyand it may not always be there. Plus you have bottle pressure to control which relates directly to the system output.As far as legality, it's technically not legal to USE on the street, but it is legal to transport, as long as you follow the DOT regs. So just don't use it on the street, or just don't SAY that you use it on the street [8D]

In the end nitrous is the cheaper route for initial install and will provide more power if setup right, but a h/c/i is a bit better setup all the way around(I think), even though it initially costs more the power is always there, and it's a lot harder to screw up the tune on an h/c/i to the point that you blow your engine up. My view is do a h/c/i and then put nitrous on it(if you want more power). Nitrous is safer, and easier on the engine that supercharging is, and far cheaper than turbocharging. But like any of the systems, has it's advantages and disadvantages.

Unfortunately nitrous has been misused by a great many people and that has led to nitrous getting a bad rap. People either run the system on a stock fuel pump and end up running the system too dry and blow something up, or you get ricers in stock Hondas which have OPEN DECK BLOCKS!!! spraying more nitrous than they should(open deck blocks have BAAADDDD head gasket sealing issues when combustion pressures start to come up) and blow head gaskets. I can't tell you how many Hondas I've seen that have blown something in their engine up because of nitrous misuse. Ricers have prolly done more to give nitrous a bad name than anything, though there are imports with nitrous that are doing it properly, and are very fast. In the end, a PROPERLY setup and PROPERLY used nitrous system can make excellent power that is VERY reliable. But, like all systems, have to be useds, that's right, properly. Any setup, even a stock one, can be destructive to an engine if misused.

 

I have a edelbrock 4b carb, and I dont know if a have stock manifolds or not, so pretty much all I have done is the strokerkit.

 

Not to be a tard or anything................what the he!! is R/C/I ?

 

Dunno, but HCI is Heads/Cam/Intake.

 

You're really choking that stroker on the stock heads and exhaust. At the very least, you should do an at-home port-match job on the exhaust ports in the heads. Aftermarket heads would be the better way to go. Headers would also be ideal.