Adding a nitrous kit is only half the story, as we decided to add a few more nitrous accessories. We picked up a bottle heater, which is from Nitrous Pro Flow as well. The bottle warmer wraps around the bottle and heats it up, safely. This product is particularly useful in cooler areas around the country. But what good is a bottle heater if you don't know the bottle pressure? An Auto Meter gauge was installed in the cup holder using a Speed of Sound gauge panel. We picked a Cobalt gauge--the blue glow is cool at night. This particular Speed of Sound panel is a custom piece, but the company can build it to order if you like the setup. We wanted one gauge, so the cup holder isn't rendered totally useless. Speed of Sound added three switches to go along with the single gauge hole. The switches control the bottle heater, nitrous system activation, and purge--which was another item we picked up.
The installation took just a day, and when we showed up, shop proprietor, Dan Carlson, had a fancy new billet bracket for the nitrous bottle. The Real Speed bottle bracket offers a solid mount with minimal cutting of the carpet. The brackets also feature a rubber liner to secure the bottle tightly and not scratch it up in the process. The brackets mount in an NHRA-legal manner, meaning they have 9/16-inch bolts holding them in place. It also has a bracket to hang a wrench for use on the nitrous line. The test subject, an '08 Mustang GT, had four modifications--despite being only a few months old. Real Speed added a Pro 5.0 shifter, FRPP mufflers, Steeda cold-air kit, and a custom Real Speed tune. Real Speed techs, Rob DeMartinis and Dan Mulholland, handled the installation while Carlson tuned the car on the company's in-house Mustang Dyno using SCT software.
Due to the stock spark plugs, we only tested the 100 hp and 75 hp power levels. There are those who have gone up to 150 hp with the stock spark plugs, but we didn't feel comfortable running that much nitrous with the factory platinum plugs. We have two sets of naturally aspirated results; the reason is that the car was overpowering the clutch when Carlson hit the engine with the 100 hp load of nitrous. This was due to the low 3.31 gears out back. Had there been higher numerical gears in the rear, it wouldn't have loaded up the clutch as hard in Fourth gear. Carlson's solution was to conduct the test in Third gear with the 100hp hit.
Naturally aspirated, the '08 Stang threw out 273 rwhp and 278 rwtq--remember this is on a Mustang Dyno that reads lower than a DynoJet and even lower while running in Third gear. The Nitrous Pro Flow 100 shot brought the output up to 363 rwhp and 435 rwtq. It showed a 90 hp gain at the rear tires, which works out to be a bit over a 100 hp gain at the flywheel. The 75hp pills were swapped in and Carlson was able to make these runs in Fourth gear. That produced a slightly higher 291 rwhp and 296 rwtq, sans nitrous. On the sauce, Carlson spun the dyno wheels to 360 rwhp and 427 rwtq. That works out to 69 rwhp gains, which workout to 75 hp at the flywheel. Torque gained an awesome 131 rwtq on the 75 hit and a scorching 157 rwtq on the 100 hit.
OK, if you're scratching your head asking, "Why is the 100 hit worth only 3 more rwhp than the 75, overall?" The answer is simple; we charted the gains on the bottle, regardless of the naturally aspirated baseline. We started with lower N/A horsepower and torque readings. If the clutch did not slip in Fourth gear with the 100 hp setting, then the car would have made 381 rwhp and 453 rwhp. The lower naturally aspirated output in Third gear shows how different the engine is loaded in different gears. The 1:1 ratio of Fourth gear will put out more power than Third gear.
Mulholland removed the battery...
Mulholland removed the battery and drilled out an existing hole in the battery tray. A grommet was used to protect the nitrous line when it passes through the hole. The hole is located to the side of the battery, so no worries about any interference.
The nitrous(right) and fuel...
The nitrous(right) and fuel (left) solenoids are bolted to a bracket.
Here is the nozzle used in...
Here is the nozzle used in EFI wet nitrous systems. One inlet is for nitrous...
...and the other is for fuel...
...and the other is for fuel supplements--the proper mixture is important for safety and power gains.
Mulholland added the purge...
Mulholland added the purge solenoid to the inlet fitting of the nitrous solenoid.
The solenoid bracket was mounted...
The solenoid bracket was mounted on the strut tower using self-tapping screws. Mulholland made sure there was nothing behind the mounting location. The '05-'07 Mustangs have a bracket where the Nitrous Pro Flow solenoid bracket mounts, '08-'09 cars do not have it.
Once the solenoids were secure,...
Once the solenoids were secure, Mulholland ran hard line to the front of the car for the purge solenoid. He runs the line out of the grille, in front of the horse's mouth. The lead photo of this story shows the effect, one that he says most enthusiasts prefer so they can show it off at car shows.
The nozzle screws into this...
The nozzle screws into this block, which is used to mount it in the inlet tube.
Steel-braided lines are run...
Steel-braided lines are run from the solenoids to the nozzles, one for nitrous and one for fuel. Be sure the proper solenoids feed the appropriate side of the nozzle.