Nitrous on my 1990 988cc LS

[propus]

OK guys I haven't been here in over a year - even had to register again! I still have my 1990 Micra LS 988cc who now has 22k miles on the clock with FSH and new timing belt fitted when I bought her.

I'm looking at buying a new car, but will be keeping the Micra as I love it so much. I'm interested in turning it into a wee project by adding Nitrous as I've always wanted to has it fitted to a car. I figured the wee micra would be a great blast IF I could get it to work with Nitrous. I'd be looking at adding 25bhp and nothing more - don't wanna blow her up.

My question is can this be done to my car safely and what parts would I need? I'm a total newbie at this stuff and have tried looking around for info, but figured here would be the best place to find help.

I've been told by someone that it WILL blow the engine, see text below from said person:

mech pump no good sorry,its only good enough to fill your float at max pressure,you would need an high pressure electric pump and a regulator,you need a certain amount of pressured fuel to equal the amount of nos(through required jet[for horsepower])to get the formula right,get it wrong and you will get either detonation or hydraulic lock,either way the motor is edited,by the way my lads at work have reminded me of the k10 engine,its coming back to me,oil leaks from front and rear mains(breathing/lack of service)oil leaks from cam seal,contaminating cambelt = rotten belt= snapped =well you know what happens when the belt snaps,Nissan have a reputation of having the weakest gearbox out,they need tranny oil replaced every 30-36,000 miles,we all know that gets done,yeah right!your clutch WILL definately slip the moment you hit WOT with nos,no matter what gear your in,oh you MUST NOT have nitrous enter your plenum(I take it thats where you will be introducing the nitrous mix with your fuel) at low revs as you stated,low revs=low fuel,low fuel=too much oxygen=meltdown.There are loads more reasons why you shouldn't use nitrous on an old engine but I think the reasons I've talked about are enough to go on for now,good luck.

What do you guys think on this?

Cheers

 

[joesouthgate]

SammoHung has a blog on this:
NOSsan K10 Micra WON Litre Blog

 

[propus]

Is that a standard K10 988cc the same as mine? Looks like he's pretty much got it all working. Has anyone had any updates on it?

 

[SammoHung]

Hia Mate!

Excited about your project!!!

Yes, so far my 'engine' is standard 988cc...the only other related mod that I have is a 421 exhaust header (manifold). Mine is 1992 and I have 113,000 miles so far...

The nitrous has been up and running for a while now and it is really great stuff on the K10 since the car is so light weight to begin with...

Nitrous is FINE on ANY well maintained internal combustion engine (petrol or diesel) providing:

1. It is well researched, so that the operator/installer is clear about what the real risks are and what the myths are.
2. The parts that make up the system that is fitted are 'designed' from scratch for nitrous use (DON'T use cheap parts from industrial systems that simply have a 'NOS' label stuck on them)...EEEEEK! They will ultimately fail prematurely resulting in engine damage
3. Don’t be too greedy with the desired power increases.
4. Don't listen to anything that is stated on the likes of 'the fast and the furious' films

I have the micra blog here, but the detailed write up is on a separate nitrous forum here:
http://www.technical-forum.com/nitrous-advice-forum/nossan-k10-micra-won-litre-t2799.html

I think I should respond to the 'advice' you have received so far:
(im not trying to deliberately soot this guy down but its unfair for him to be so misleading)

mech pump no good sorry,its only good enough to fill your float at max pressure,

...There have been many performance upgrades done on this forum (non nitrous and nitrous mods) using the stock mechanical pump and so far, the mechanical pump has proved to provide for an extra 30bhp (80bhp in total)

you would need an high pressure electric pump and a regulator,you need a certain amount of pressured fuel to equal the amount of nos(through required jet[for horsepower])to get the formula right,

Typically in a nitrous system, a jet size is selected for the nitrous injection and another jet is selected for the fuel enrichment, the ratio of the fuel and nitrous jet sizes is chosen according to the minimum fuel pressure and maximum nitrous pressure. The overall jet sizes are chosen according to how much power increase is desired

get it wrong and you will get either detonation or hydraulic lock,either way the motor is edited,

With the jets selected as above the only thing that can happen with these, is that either the nitrous pressure drops or the fuel pressure rises...and this will NEVER cause detonation.......instead the mixture will go rich and you will not produce the maximum possible power…..at worst the engine will stutter in the same way as ‘flooding the engine’ if the throttle were pumped many times before starting.

There is one real risk though with ANY nitrous install on ANY engine on ANY car, and that is if a fault develops in the fuel system, for example you run out of petrol will activating the system, or your wiring to the fuel enrichment comes loose due to a poor install.....Having said that there are devices available that can safeguard against most of these types of unforseen problems.

Hydraulic lock is also IMPOSSIBLE with nitrous IMO as the liquid nitrous boils turns to gas as soon as it enters close to atmospheric pressures

by the way my lads at work have reminded me of the k10 engine,its coming back to me,oil leaks from front and rear mains(breathing/lack of service)oil leaks from cam seal,contaminating cambelt = rotten belt= snapped =well you know what happens when the belt snaps,

Well. This is an example of a poorly maintained engine I think….most people with half a brain wouldn’t let their micra (or any other car for that matter) get into such a grotty state of repair!...and if this is the case I wouldn’t recommend driving it as a snapped timing belt due to wear/oil contamination will MASH an engine …mods or no mods…doesn’t matter.

Nissan have a reputation of having the weakest gearbox out,they need tranny oil replaced every 30-36,000 miles,we all know that gets done,yeah right!

I agree that the gear boxes are prone to failure if abused (foul gear changes) but so far I don’t know of any that have failed due to too much torque alone….and this figure would certainly be higher than a modest +25bhp increase IMO

No, the transmission oil is to be level-checked annually, but there is no service interval to replace the transmission oil whatsoever…..never the less I gave mine a fresh change at 110,000miles just for my own happiness

your clutch WILL definately slip the moment you hit WOT with nos,no matter what gear your in,

the K10 does have a fairly small clutch and I do agree that there will be some slip in all gears. However, I have only noticed clutch slip in 4th gear at around 50mph with full nitrous power applied. Here I heard the rpm rise but with little vehicle speed increase.

oh you MUST NOT have nitrous enter your plenum(I take it thats where you will be introducing the nitrous mix with your fuel) at low revs as you stated,

This is only true if the LOAD on the vehicle is too high for the selected gear

For example from a rolling start in 1st gear, you can safely activate as low as 1000 rpm (just above idle) but if you tried this in 4th gear you would certainly break something since the load would be too great…another way of saying the same thing is that you can activate the nitrous system at any time when you would normally be able to freely accelerate without nitrous.

low revs=low fuel,low fuel=too much oxygen=meltdown.

Only if your fuel jet was not chosen from your minimum fuel pressure

There are loads more reasons why you shouldn't use nitrous on an old engine but I think the reasons I've talked about are enough to go on for now,good luck.

There are loads of reasons not to use Nitrous on a POORLY MANTINAED ENGINE...age is far from the main concern

 

[ollyc98]

Well that told him lol.

 

[SammoHung]

Just to be sure: I'm not trying to cause any conflict or dodgy feeling...(quite the opposite)..I am well happy to help out where ever I can and although I have a system up an running with no problems so far, I am FAR FROM being an expert....but i do have a good grasp of the fundamentals though.

...and remember everyone, that the quotes above are not propus' own oppinion....but are what he has been 'told' by somone else.

I am beeming that somone else is fancying a 'shot' (no pun intended..lol) at nitrous-ing up another MA10.

Propus, there are tonnes of WELL CLUED UP people on this forum with tonnes more experience & knowledge than my feeble brain can manage....so you're in good hands

 

[propus]

SammoHung, you are actually my Hero at the moment. I've been wanting to own a car with Nitrous fitted for years. I decided at the begining it would have to be a bog standard run of the mill car, not an already fast car. I did consider using my 1987 escort 1300cc which was in mint condition and low mileage until some woman rear ended me when sat at the lights. She hit me at a full on 40mph which twisted my whole car!

Anyway, I saw this Micra a year and a half ago when I was looking for a run about to get me back and forth to work. Bought it for a few hundred quid and at the time it had FSH, 15k miles on the clock and mint body. Now it has 22k on the clock, FSH inc new timing belt (just to be safe), not a spot of oil in the engine bay, and still great body work. Got a bubble of rust starting on the rear left arch and another just behind the front bumper on the drivers side, but hey its a 1990, 18 years old!

I would love to fit nitrous on 'the beast' as we call her due to the fact she just isn't, lol. I did read through your blog, but to be honest I'm a bit of a newbie with just how all this stuff works so it was some reading for me. I plan on doing this project at some point, but it wont be this year. I just don't have the spare cash or time at the moment.

Having seen your success has just confirmed to me that it can be done and does work well when not abused. I always have people saying it cant be done just because it's an old car and very small engine. God I've even seen an old moped fitted with nitro and work!

I'm sure I will be away from this forum for a while again, but I WILL return again for help when I decide to do it.

SammoHung I think you have done a great job in proving those 'it'll blow up' guys wrong!

 

[SammoHung]

Great stuff mate!!

Im dead chuffed.....and I totally inderstand about waiting.....

Bad crack with the rear shunt!:-(...but at least you ended up with a micra as a reault!

...buy the best Kit you can get.....remember, your kit can be moved from one car to another (not that you would want to though...LOLZ), and can be switched OFF/ON when ever you want to be back to the super fuel efficient K10 again.

Just a couple more notes for you to mull over:

Insurance:
There are only 3 insurance companies in the UK that will insure a nitrous modified car for road use (that I'm aware of so far) these are
-Adrian Flux (Modified vehicles)
-Greenlight
-Brent Acre

for me Adrian flux were the best policy for me...new for old TPFT for just over £300 with all mods declaired

Equipment:
There is only one manufacturer of nitrous equipment that is 'designed for purpose' and this manufacturere is 'Highpower Systems International Ltd'. They are British and are also known asthe 'Wizards of Nos'.
http://www.noswizard.com/
...All other equipment is taken from other industrial applications and has various comany labels added to them (beware of these). These are big-popular brand names but dont be tricked

Nitrous advice:
there are people in here who will be able to help that are knowledgable, but there is a higher concentration of knowledgable nitrous users on the high power systems forum. here
http://www.technical-forum.com/nitrous-advice-forum/
Fork out a few quid for this book while you are saving up / planning the install.
http://www.noswizard.com/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=97

There is atleast one Supercharged & Turbocharged K10 micra (MA09 engine) in here too that is also fitted with nitrous (this is one mental car) and there are some K11s with nitrous too

where are you based?

 

[propus]

I'm based in Aberdeen. I will be ordering that book ASAP! I'm buying a new car at the mo so the Micra projet will be on hold fora good while. I also dont have a garage so wouldn't wanna try doing work outside

 

[SammoHung]

Best things come to those who wait

it will fly over


catch you soon mate