The Zex Blackout nitrous system...
The Zex Blackout nitrous system comes with everything you need to start spraying (except the nitrous oxide), and retails for $650.95.
Our '93 SSP has appeared in almost every issue over the past year. When we introduced the coupe in "Back to Basics" (Nov. '09), it was only making 199 rwhp and 220 lb-ft of torque. At the track, it huffed to a modest 14.52 at 97 mph.
In that issue, we did some old-school tuning and simple bolt-ons, and yielded 243 rwhp and 278 lb-ft of torque, as well as our first 13-second timeslip. In the next issue, we installed Edelbrock's E-Street heads with roller rockers and upgraded the fuel system. These mods brought power output to 273 rwhp and torque output to 299 lb-ft. We also saw e.t.'s drop into the low 13s.
Next, we installed a Performance Automatic (PA) street/strip torque converter. Another trip to the track yielded a new best e.t. of 12.80 seconds, but the 180,000 miles of abuse coupled with the added heat from the torque converter took its toll on the original AOD. So we shipped our overcooked slush-box to PA for a refresh.
Once back in business with a fresh trans, we shed some weight with an A/C-delete, an aluminum driveshaft, removal of the front sway bar, and addition of skinnies up front. The coupe ran a best of 12.49 and we thought we were done tinkering with it.
The controller box handles...
The controller box handles the fuel and nitrous delivery. You can program the box to recognize when your TPS is at WOT, so you don't need a microswitch on the pedal.
Wrong. It wasn't long after "Lifting Weight" (June '10) hit the newsstands that we got a call from our friends at Zex, which had just announced the release of its new Blackout nitrous systems. Under the guidance of Matt Patrick, product manager for Zex, we ordered a Blackout system for our SSP. The wet system (PN 82023B) is designed to work on a variety of carbureted and fuel-injected vehicles, and comes with all the fittings, hoses, and hardware for installation, as well as jets for 75, 100, and 125hp shots.
Naturally, we were excited when the new all-black bottle showed up in the mailroom. "Zex has always been known for its purple colored components," said Matt Patrick of Zex. "Purple is one of those colors-either you love it or you hate it." So in response to customer requests, the Zex team, led by Patrick, developed an all-black system that is priced comparably to the standard Zex systems.
Zex recommends using colder...
Zex recommends using colder spark plugs for nitrous applications. It sent us a set for our coupe (PN 82003-8), which retails for $41.88 for the set of eight.
Zex, though its own company, is affiliated with Comp Cams, and is actually located under the same roof in Memphis, Tennessee. "Zex wasn't a company that Comp Cams bought out," Patrick told us. "We actually started the company from scratch. So we're not going anywhere. You can expect the same level of customer service and product quality as that of Comp Cams or any of our other product lines."
After installing the kit in a couple of hours, we drove to Ramsey's Performance in Lutz, Florida, for initial testing. Dennis Ramsey helped us make sure we weren't going to cause any damage with the nitrous oxide, and once we felt comfortable with the tune, we couldn't wait to get to the track.
We wanted to see our first 11-second timeslip, so we topped off the bottle and headed to Bradenton Motorsports Park on the drag radials. Follow along as we install, tune, and test our new Zex nitrous system.
The kit comes with enough...
The kit comes with enough jets for 75, 100, and 125hp shots.
Zex also sent us a pressure...
Zex also sent us a pressure gauge (PN 82005),....
....which threads right into...
....which threads right into the bottle and sells for $46.15.
Once you mark where the bottle...
Once you mark where the bottle is going to go, drill holes for the provided bolts and bottle clamps.
We found the best place for...
We found the best place for our bottle was in the trunk to the right of the spare tire. We had to remove the fuel tank to reach the bolts from the underside.
Once the bottle was mounted,...
Once the bottle was mounted, we simply ran the feed hose through an existing hole in the trunk, and zip-tied it to the fuel lines along the underside of the car.
With the battery disconnected,...
With the battery disconnected, we relieved the fuel system pressure and removed the fitting off the fuel port on the fuel feed tube.
The kit comes with an adapter...
The kit comes with an adapter fitting to replace the stock fitting.....
....It must be prepped with...
....It must be prepped with a liquid thread sealant-not thread tape-and tightened. The fuel feed hose then attaches to it.
Zex also sent us a purge solenoid...
Zex also sent us a purge solenoid kit (PN 82010). It retails for $115.45 and is easily installed with the provided hardware.....
....We mounted it to the frame-rail...
....We mounted it to the frame-rail on the right front, near where we mounted the controller box.
After mounting the purge solenoid,...
After mounting the purge solenoid, we attached the ground wires (one for the purge solenoid and one for the controller box) to the body with the hardware provided. We decided to ground them together as a fail-safe. If there is a bad ground, the system will not purge, giving the driver a hint that something is wrong ahead of time.
A Y-fitting comes with the...
A Y-fitting comes with the purge kit, and is installed between the nitrous feed line and the controller box.
A hole must be drilled and...
A hole must be drilled and tapped (the tap is even included) to mount the nozzle
The white wire on the controller...
The white wire on the controller box must be attached to the TPS signal wire. You can use a voltmeter to find out which wire is the signal wire by turning the key to On (with the engine off) and having someone depress the accelerator pedal slowly. WOT is usually around 5 volts.
Since our rear window defogger...
Since our rear window defogger has been out of order for quite some time, we used that switch as the arming switch. It is protected by a fuse and is activated by a relay. It's easier, however, to just use the switch provided in the kit. We just want to be sneaky.
We hid the purge switch in...
We hid the purge switch in the ashtray.
With the nozzle in the intake...
With the nozzle in the intake inlet tube, we installed the pills for a 125 shot and headed to Ramsey's Performance in Lutz, Florida.
After making a few pulls on...
After making a few pulls on the dyno, Ramsey found that our coupe was happiest with 14 degrees of timing with the 125 shot. The air/fuel ratio was a safe 12.0-12.5, and it made 344 rwhp and 361 lb-ft of torque. Without the juice, it made 257 rwhp and 277 lb-ft. So the 125 shot produced over 86 rwhp and 84 lb-ft of torque, and even caused a little tire spin on the dyno (arrow).
At the track, we made a few...
At the track, we made a few baseline runs without the nitrous, which yielded a 12.72 at 104 mph and a 12.81 at 103 mph. On the juice, we had a hard time hooking up at first. Coming out of the hole on the spray was a little much for the stock-style suspension, so we tried a less aggressive launch method. The result was an impressive 11.79 at 115 mph. A backup run produced 11.93 at 114 mph. We dropped almost a second off e.t.'s with a few hours of work and less than $1,000.
Dennis Ramsey (Ramsey's Performance)...
Dennis Ramsey (Ramsey's Performance) used a timing....
....light and a half-inch...
....light and a half-inch wrench to adjust our timing.