Yes, once I had the slicks, they stayed on...it sure made a difference in hooking-up off of the line. I started out with a ET Drag slick then switched to the ET Street...that made a difference as well.
The stock tires, without nitrous, were spinning so bad off the line, it was hard to be consistant for bracket racing. I coulding imagin what it would have been like on the bottle. The cost for the factory tires were crazy as well...I couldn't afford to be replacing them regularly.

 

Doesn't this wear out the engine much faster than either Turbochargers or Superchargers?

 

when installed properly, it is no more harmful than a properly installed turbocharger or supercharger application. The problem is that a "proper setup" is typically very expensive.

the reason that nitrous oxide has such a bad rep is that it is far easier to 'throw together', and its cheaper than a decent turbo or blower setup. so what happens is that kids who want to go faster without alot of money buy themselves a nitrous kit for 600 or so bucks, and that kit can provide about 100hp. that basic kit can still be done "safely", but some cars (such as my stratus) just dont take to nitrous. when you hear about someone adding nitrous and blowing the engine 10 minutes later, they are typically cheap and lazy. they buy a basic kit which only includes a bottle, the lines, and a swtich/solenoid to activate the system. they put a switch on the steering wheel or something, and push the button like the guys on the fast and the furious...

When the basic kit is hooked up correctly (and "Safely") it will typically be a wet kit. the difference between a wet kit and dry kit is that on a wet kit, there is a nozzle that introduces the nitrous oxide into the system, but there is also a nozzle that adds addition gasoline, thus preventing the car from running lean, or at least lessening the concern of running lean. ideal internal combustion occurs at 14.7 to 1 air to fuel. so for every 1 part of fuel, you have 14.7 parts of gasoline. it is far more complicated than just that, but for this discussion, that amount of information will suffice. some cars, such as something like an SRT4, will have an air to fuel ratio of around 12 to 1...the lower the first number is, the "richer" your engine is...the higher that first number is, the leaner it is. too rich will cause the engine to produce less power, too lean will cause the engine to create tremendous amounts of heat, thus doing things like breaking pistons, rods, etc. adding the additional fuel with a wet kit allows you to run more nitrous without a fuel system controller/piggyback, thus preventing the engine from going too lean, but it only does so much as it is a VERY small amount of gasoline.

all types of forced induction, be it nitrous, turbo, or a supercharger, builds excess heat, hence intercoolers on a turbo or blower setup. the problem is that when nitrous is thrown on a car, it is a far more violent form of adding horsepower. with a supercharger, say that you run 14 pounds of boost which in a perfectly efficient engine (which none are) will roughly double your horsepower. the internal speed of the supercharger increases with engine rpm, so the added power is progressive, and not all at once. a turbo works the same way, but it is even more progressive, since the turbocharger internal speed is fully dependant on the flow of the exhaust gas, and not a belt.

say that youre running the proper amount of boost with a turbo or supercharger to add 100 horsepower to an engine which makes 200 stock hp. with a turbo, at idle, you are receiving very little, if any, gains since the turbo has not spooled up to the proper internal rpm range. a supercharger will have the same effect...as you begin to accelerate with either setup, and your engine rpms increase so does the boost, so the power is added gently, over the power curve, so you may not actually make 100 more horsepower until something like 2500-3000 rpm (just a random number for the example, actual numbers vary greatly) a thrown together nitrous setup is the opposite. as soon as you activate the system and the nitrous is injected into the system, it is adding the amount of nitrous needed to provide 100hp, all at once, so with the flick of a switch you go from 200 to 300hp...that is much harder on the engine than just adding the amount of boost to add 100hp.

the most correct way to run nitrous, and the way that some people successfully and safely run HEAVY nitrous for a long time is to run an progres

 

None for me. Even with my current car, I want to keep it N/A. DOn't know if I will ever goto a drag strip, I am more interested in going to a track day at a road course or AutoX.

 

Thanks for clearing that up, Patrick. Just goes to show that the old saying is true. "What you pay for is what you get." That does make a lot of sense. Gradual changes are the way to go. Instantous changes are too violent on the engine. It is just like shifting a manual transmission. You don't rev the engine to its top rpm speed and ingauge the clutch, you start off low and build you way up. Reving at the top level is too violent for the transmission and tares the transmission apart eventually.

The Fast and The Furious movies are inaccurate? No! You have to be kidding! Yeah there is a reason why people don't use movies as a source for an argument. There is a difference between fantasy and reality. It is humorous when you really look at how inaccurate these movies really are. These people who make these movies have about the same IQ as the people who add the cheap Nitrous Oxide Systems. Room temperature.

 

That is so true, even some superchargers and very shocking because they ramp up so quickly even in the low RPM range which is another
reason centrifugals superchargers have become popular.

 

Didn't Ford have an issue with this on the Thunderbird Super Coupe (S/C) 1990-1995 model?

 

I have not a clue.

I am only familiar with Taurus (about 15) and no experience with Thunderbirds.

 

I thought I read something about that with the T-Bird. I know the NA model of the 3.8L V6 T-Bird had Head Gasket problems, but I think they had even more problems due to the supercharger putting on too much pressure too quickly.

 

I dont know about u but if i want preformecne on demand i would take a supercharger or a turbo charger but cause nitrous only works untill u run out and i have never bought nitrous before but i would say its very exspenive. and ne ways nitrous (if not used properly will blow ur motor faster then crap.