The Fuel solenoid fits cleanly...
The Fuel solenoid fits cleanly underneath the carburetor fuel line, and is fed fuel through an auxiliary fuel system that consists of a larger feed line, a Holley Blue pump, and a Holley regulator.
Kester bent the bracket down...
Kester bent the bracket down a bit...
...so the nitrous solenoid...
...so the nitrous solenoid would clear the throttle-cable bracket.
Backing the budget-minded engine combination is a rare Doug Nash five-speed transmission. Hanlon Motorsports recently repaired it due to a grinding Third gear. The rest of the car consists of a six-point rollbar; HPM rear suspension; and UPR K-member, A-arms, and coilovers. Burcham employs two fuel systems: one to supply the engine and one dedicated setup for the nitrous. The engine inhales 93-octane gasoline thanks to a Mallory fuel pump and ½-inch fuel line. The nitrous system is fed pump gas via a Holley Blue pump and ½-inch fuel line. A stock tank received a sump at the bottom.
Since this was a stock block utilizing a lightweight set of pistons, we elected to control our urges and run only a 100hp hit of nitrous. Fuel pressure on the engine side was set at 7 psi, and we ran the nitrous system's fuel pressure at 8 psi. Timing for the horsepower baseline runs registered 34 degrees. In that trim, the '84 Stang kicked out 345 rwhp, and it lost 10 hp when we backed down the timing to 30 degrees-335 rwhp for those who aren't math nerds. A few degrees of timing must be removed when adding nitrous. The amount of timing dropped is dependent on the amount of nitrous injected. All kits are different, and we suggest following the instruction's sugges-tions. The jetting charts are also listed in the instruction manual; our Edelbrock plate uses a 55 jet on the nitrous side and a 61 fuel jet for the 100hp increase. With the nitrous and fuel flowing, power shot up to 443 rwhp. It was a consistent output reading, too-three more pulls were made and produced near identical results.
We resisted the desire to add more nitrous. After all, the 100 load provided us with an impressive 98hp gain at the rear wheels. That equates to about a 112hp increase at the crankshaft. Adding more nitrous most likely would have added greater power, but Burcham didn't want to puke the insides all over the floor in search of it.
The flick of a switch will put a smile on your face and a frown on your competitor's. The installation was quick, and the results were well worth the cost. The Performer RPM is listed in Summit Racing's catalog for $480. That works out to about $4.89 per rear-wheel horsepower-quite a bargain indeed.
Arming the system is the job...
Arming the system is the job of this switch. Burcham has a separate switch to turn on the auxiliary fuel pump. A WOT throttle micro-switch was wired in and will only activate the system in a wide-open throttle situation. We suggest running nitrous only at WOT, otherwise serious engine damage can occur.
Once the system was all wired...
Once the system was all wired up, we tested the solenoids (without the fuel and nitrous lines attached) and listened for each one to click.
You can also verify solenoid...
You can also verify solenoid operation by holding each one and actually feeling the click, along with hearing it.
Burcham made some last-minute...
Burcham made some last-minute adjustments to the carburetor and set the engine's fuel pressure at 7 psi. He set the fuel pressure on the nitrous side at 8 psi. Edelbrock recommends the fuel pressure be set between 6 and 8 psi. We chose to run 8, just to be safe, and air/fuel ratios were between 9.8:1 and 10.4:1 on all the runs.
The Final result with 100...
The Final result with 100 horses worth of nitrous (according to Edelbrock instructions) was 433 rwhp. It was a 98-rwhp gain over the 335-rwhp dyno pull with 30 degrees of ignition timing. Full timing (34 degrees) netted us 345 rwhp, but we had to retard the timing for use on the jug. We could have added 2 degrees back in on the nitrous runs for even more power, but Burcham wanted to keep everything safe and risk-free.
Here's a comparison of the...
Here's a comparison of the naturally aspirated dyno run versus the nitrous-assisted one.