I've been thinking of getting something for my car that would make a significant difference in power (FI or N20). Which, in terms of longetivity of the engine, would be safer for me? If I were to go spray, I figured that even though my engine would have some strain, at least it wouldn't be strained all the time as an FI car would. As a daily driver, which is "safer" for the Z? Keep in mind that I would only spray once or twice a week (at least those are my thoughts so far ). If I were to go FI, I would most likely go with the Vortech Supercharger, as it doesn't require too much maintenance. Any help would be appreciated.

 

i doubt youd spray once or twice a week unless this is your weekend car. Power is addicting so be honest with yourself before hand. Thats like saying once i have a turbo i will only boost once or twice a week! Id say supercharger with a good tune.

 

That is true, well I guess not once or twice a week, but at least it won't be on all the time. I'd probably be running a 50 shot to be "safe". That vortech is calling my name though..... I'm just trying to justify price + longetivity of engine to get the overall best route to go.

 

Well to help you out. Yes i def. think gatti-man is right on this subject. NOS is like a girl with STD's. You know you want to hit it but your afraid of the consequences. You might only hit it once or twice a week and after awhile your going to start thinking thats its safe to hit it more. and then POP. there goes your engine. Supercharger on the other hand is much safer for your engine. Not to mention 99% of the superchargers have warrenty's on them. That right there should justify the cost. The thing that makes a supercharger so much safer than the turbo is you are always getting the 5psi of boost at all times (or whatever boost your at). where as turbo it fluctuates. Hope this helps you. NOS puts sooo much strain on your engine its not even funny. Imagine carrying a 20 pound box and then all of the sudden someone adds another 100 pounds instantly. if your used to carrying a 60 pound box your going to hold up better! catch my drift?

 

Very well said 1flyz. You've completely changed my mind about the n20 . I guess I'll just have to save up for the S/C. Just a quick question (I know I can search, but since were on this subject). If I am looking for best reliability and ease of install, is the vortech the way to go (between the S/C available for the Z)? I've read many good things about it. Thanks again for the input!

 

supercharger is safer

nitrous has a lot of potential variables to go wrong that if you don't follow the exact precautions, you could be screwed

SC doesn't hit the engine with big toque as hard, but will put out a lot of hp

 

lmao

 

SUPERCHARGER BY FAR, although it puts minor strain on the motor, it is not as bad as when you spray, thats alot worse. Easy to work with, and linear gains throughout the powerband.. plus most company's who offer the sc for the Z also offer warranties for their producsts.

 

Staying NA is the safest thing you can do by sticking to bolt ons. But if you do get FI then get a SC. Make sure you get the warranty. Stay away from N2O.

 

Is there an echo? lol j/p man. i dont think it can be said enough about how much safer supercharger is than spray.

 

i got nitrous but havent used it yet, you guys serious, what if you spryin like a 50shot??!?!

 

Hey, everyone has different opinions about things. Me personally i would never do NOS. IMO it puts too much strain in too little time on the engine. I dont care what engine you have no engine is meant to jump another 50-150 HP in a split second. But like i said everyone has there own opinions. I would just hate to see a member blow there engine.

 

Very well said ya'll. I was considering NOS also but ya'll made a good point into changing my mind. I guess I'll stay N/A for awhile til I get my F/I. Thanks!

 

if u r a moron, don't get the juice. it is perfectly safe in the hands of the educated.

 

Yeah I was thinkin about putting my car on the bottle also. With the research I have done, SC or Turbo cars have blown a lot more than cars on the bottle. Everyone has their opinion but I mean all that extra weight on the engine or in the engine bay alone just doesn't seem like it's going to increase the cars life line let along stay the same! just my thought!

 

you guys are forgetting something. time of use. nitrous will only be in use for a few seconds at a time where as FI will be on in some way from the second you turn your key. i've had my nitrous setup for over 2 years, but if you put together the times where ive actually sprayed (drag and street), it wont add up to 30 minutes. 30 minutes!! lol.

FI installs are a lot more complicated then nitrous installs. a lot more tuning is needed, the ECU has to be programmed, timing, mapping, etc. nitrous is as close as you can get to plug and play (with a sprinkle of tuning and no ECU work). less parts to install with nitrous = less parts that can fail on you.

nitrous, IF installed right and tuned properly is very very safe. just know your limits. dont go adding more then 25hp per cylinder on stock internals and then get mad when you blow your motor.

as for the people that are worried about the TQ spike you get with nitrous, you can get a 2 stage setup or a progressive controller. stage 1 will spray maybe a 35 shot off the line and stage 2 will bump it up to a 100 or 150 shot once your at higher speeds. a progressive conroller can even ramp up the nitrous shot depending on your rpms and what gear your in.

the only down side to nitrous that i can think of......bottle refills.

its all a matter of prefrence really.

 

You stole the words right out of my mouth!

I am currently running a nitrous setup with the use of a computer controlled progressive controller. With the aid of the controller and my laptop, I can dial in the nitrous to spray differently at different RPMs. I can ramp the shot based on time or RPM.

Your main concern is safety. Well to take the stress off of those precious little rods and pistons I have my setup programmed to start at 0% and ramp to 100% based on pre-selected RPM points. An example would be to begin spraying at 0% at 2500 RPMs and ramping the increase to 100% by 4500 RPMs. The power comes on very smooth and is completely predictable. You get to pick where you want it to start and how much you want to start with and where you want it to end and how much you want it to end with.

In addition to that, my setup taps into the wideband 02 sensors and can be programmed to immediately shut down the spray as soon as you go above or below set parameters for your A/F. With that being said, if you tune your setup and absolutely do not feel comfortable with your system spraying with an A/F mixture of, let’s say 13.5 or higher, then just program it to shut off in the event that the A/F goes above 13.4. Seems like a pretty smart idea to me.

With the latest model of the Maximizer progressive controller you can even program it to not fire if the bottle pressure is not exactly where you want it. If the pressure is low, you could go rich and backfire and if the pressure is high, you can go lean and that would not necessarily be good either. All you do is set the pressure window to fire in, and it will keep you perfectly safe.

Another cool thing about nitrous is that fact that it is great in hot weather. I did great during the extremely hot summer here in Texas for the simple fact that nitrous is extremely cold when injected in to the intake and motor. Obviously the cooling effect adds to the ability to reduce detonation and pre ignition. Kind of a natural safety feature.

I am not saying that nitrous is any safer than any other form of FI, but what I will say without a doubt, that with proper equipment and install, it can be as safe as any other FI option out there. I would venture to say that if you were to do a combination of all the available options, it would definitely be safer.

The thing I love most about the setup is the ability to switch programmed settings via the push of a laptop button from my track setup to a street setup. I have about five different settings in all that I use and allow me to keep decent traction with my street tires under almost any different condition.

 

I've had N20 for 2+ years and no problem. I really hate it when people buy into the whole, "if you get nitrous you'll blow your engine". Anything F/I can blow your engine if you don't take the right precautions and tune correctly. Education is a powerful tool!

-Bootay

http://videos.streetfire.net/player....7-B202F9014CD5

 

Agreed. I had a supercharger that I ended up removing to to multiple issues. Then I installed Nitrous. While it may be good at the track, it isn't as simple to use on the street as "the Fast and the Furious" would lead one to believe. Also, the tank runs out so damn fast, and to dismantle the tank and fill it every week is a pain in the butt. I filled my tank twice, and really haven't used it since.

By a good FI system, but do not venture down this road unless you have the financial means to deal with a blown motor. Alternatively, build your motor. It all depends, however, on how much money you can/want to spend. Nitrous works, and there are plenty of electronics available now to run it safely, but I found that it just wasn't practical for me. You think "oh, I'll just spray once in a while", but once you spray, you'll want to keep doing it, and the Nitorus just doesn't last.

 

A small shot would be fine like 75 shot, but get it with all the features, window switch is very important!