has anyone ever sprayed nitrous on a stock 460? if so how much and did it hurt the cast pistons?

 

I have never done this, but have been tempted. So, it would be interesting to see what you come up with.

Most trucks are for heavy duty work, like towing etc so we need power all the time versus the few seconds that nitrous is good for. I have heard that a typical tank is good for about 90 seconds total run time.

While towing my trailer, I would eat that up before I got up most hills. So I would lean more towards supercharging(turbo probably) or maybe classic "hot rod" mods. So I have avoided nitrous for my truck since I would never have enough to be worthwhile.

I have heard from some guys on a chebby site that nitrous is rough on the hypereutectic pistons as used in the LT1 series of 350s(mid 90s) in anything over a 50hp squirt. 100hp will work for awhile and 150 will kill the engine in pretty quick. Of course this is a chebby so who knows how that compares to the 460. I think hypereutectic pistons are relatively common in stock engines even from Ford, but don't know for a fact.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

I did it years ago with a 429 in a '68 Thunderbird. The engine was stock, 365 HP with the exception of an Offy Dual-Port intake and a Holley 780 vacuum carb. The engine had 150,000 miles, so I thought, what can it hurt? I can say that I ran at least 20 bottles (15 lb.) of NO2 through the engine and it ran like a bat out of hell! When I finally pulled the engine down to rebuild, I saw no evidence of piston or cylinder damage. I did a lot of street racing in those days and this was my "equalizer" for all the big block Chryslers and Chevys! The car had a positraction 2.80 rear end and with the nitrous on, it would literally melt the rear tires as long as you kept your foot in it! What a sleeper.

 

I had an early 80's crewcab with 48" tires, 20"+ of lift, with a nice zebra paint job. 460 powered, built up C6, and lockers front and back. I blasted it many, many times with nitrous and had alot of fun doing so (when you're 22, smoking, not spinning 48" tires from a red light is amusing!

Motor took it just fine, but eventually I decided to yank the nitrous, rebuild the motor and install a weiland 8-12. I started losing compression, which the nitrous accelerated. I am fairly sure the engine was going long before I put the nitrous on. I just had some tall, tall gears so it wasn't so obvious.

 

i know these engines are tough and as long as you prevent detenating nitrous is problably fine. im thinking of a 75 shot, my bottle is set up for a 125 now but ill change it. what about the trans, were they fine too? how much of a shot did you guys spray?

 

Detonation is reduced or avoided by adding fuel during the nitrous shot. Most kits have additional parts to enable you doing so. If you don't do this, you'll have 8 pistons with really large holes.

The kit I used was more of a homebrew, parts from this, parts from that, put together myself because I was poor/cheap at the time. Now I'm just cheap I'd estimate mine was somewhere in the 125-150 range based on the nozzle size. That's what I was going for anyway.

 

I have squirted stock 400 M's and 460's with 125 HP kit from Nitrous Oxide systems many times (many bottles) with no troubles. I'm currently squirting my 466 with a 250 HP cheeter system with the 200 HP jets installed. I have SRP forged pistons in this engine due to the large squirt I'm using. Stock cast pistons should be fine for up to 125 HP. system but, no more. Also do not use the hypereutectic pistons with nitrous oxide, they WILL break enentually and destroy your entire engine (nasty!). One of the most inportant part's of using nitrous is to make sure of the fuel flow. If you do not have correct A/F ratio you will destroy your engine very quickly (seconds). You need to make sure your fuel supply line is at least 3/8" all the way from the pick up inside the fuel tank to the carburator and that you have a fuel pump capible of at least 5 PSI through out the RPM range you will be using. Some high octane racing fuel (110 octane at least) will also help performance and reduce the chance of detonation. Another important part of using Nitrous is ignition timing, you will need to retard you timing about 2* per 50 HP of nitrous Oxide used, ( example for 100 HP system retard 4*, for 150 HP system retard timing 6*). I recommend using a complete "system" and following the directions until you become more familiar with NOS. Just be fore warned, "Once you have pushed the button, you won't want to be with out it ever again, you'll just want a bigger kit!!" BTW, Nitrous Oxide is used for max performance of your engine for racing or bogging, etc.. not ideal for trailering or street driving. -Ed

PS- If you plan on doing hole shots on the pavement you may want to consider upgrading your C-6, mine held up for a while but it did eventally go out. I play most of the time at the sand dunes (sand is a little more foregiving than pavement). I have beefed up the current C-6 with many high performance part's and it seems to be holding up very well. See my gallery for specs.

 

Here is a link to an earlier thread on this subject that I just found again. -Ed

http://www.fordtrucks.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=286467