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How much does weather affect N20 cars?

Joined
4 September 2006
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We all know that Turbo/Supercharged cars run dramitically better in the colder weather, right? right. What about a NA car. Does it run dramitically better are just a bit better? Heres the actual question I'm after, What about a NA car with Nitrous? Does it matter what time of the year you run it "AS MUCH" as it matters to a FI car?

Example....Lets say a FI car will run 12:5 in the summer and 11:7 in winter w/same setup

Will a NA w/N20 that runs a 12:5 in the summer also run a 11:7 in the winter?
 
First off, it's pretty safe to say that all cars react favorably to colder temperatures FI or not. That is because (in layman's terms) work (aka power) is a function of temperature differential between the pre and post combustion process. In other words, the colder the air in and the hotter the air out of your engine, the more power you will produce (simplified explanation omitting several engineering principles but you get the idea). The larger you can make that differential, the more power you get.

Having said all of that, the reason an FI car reacts more favorably to colder temperatures is because of the fact that compressed air heats up. When you compress the air via a turbo, that compressed air can get very hot. However the effect the compression is that your combustion is greater therefore your leaving air temperatures is greater. So that's where an intercooler comes into play. An intercooler tries to cool that compressed air so that the net result is that you get compressed AND cool air, so when you go through the combustion process, the temperature differential is huge. Thus big power. So FI cars benefit from cold air, just like N/A cars, but the effect of cold air is amplified due to the compression and intercooling process.

Now, if we look at a NO2 system, you'll note that there is no additional compression process other than the typical cylinder compression of a normal N/A (again simplified, you technical people know what I'm talking about). What the NO2 system is doing is providing a hotter combustion process to increase power, but does not use compression and intercooling. In other words, it would be analogous to a forced induction system with no intercooler. Because of that, the only benefit the colder air would provide would be on a similar level as N/A engine. So while a NO2 system would benefit some from colder air, it would not approach the levels of gains an FI system would.

Hope that answers your question. :smile:
 
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