nitrous or turbo?

[Robert Deis]

On Tue, 17 Oct 2000, Festively Jolly wrote:
>
> Nitrous I know nothing about.  I don't even know if it would be safe
> on the 5 cyl. ANY info on it would be much appreciated.

Nitrous, like most power enhancers, is perfectly safe as long as it is
properly regulated. Too much and you cause detonation, and that breaks
things in a hurry.  A properly regulated NOS system is no small
undertaking, but there are a lot of kits out there.  The biggest hassel is
that you're now dealing with an extra fuel source that you need to keep
filled, at the proper temperature, etc, and it's a bit of a pain. Not
reccomended for everyday use.

> Turbo i have heard good things about.

And rightly so. A properly sized turbo is by far the most efficient way to
add power.  However, many will point out that it is cheaper, much easier,
and much more reliable to sell your NA car and get a turbo car than to
install a turbo kit.

Same goes for superchargers- they have no "lag" in the sense that turbos
do, which is nice, but they are less efficient, and will produce less
overall power than a properly sized turbo. It's still easier to do the
trade-in thing.

Someone else also pointed out that FWD cars have traction problems when
you add power, which they do, and torque steer is a pain as well.  You
*can* do either of these things to an FWD, and it will get faster and more
fun to drive, but it will never compare to an AWD.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Rob Deis   
  MiB3346
  rdeis at io.com