Gapping rings for nitrous? Why not for expected torque amount?
Gapping rings for nitrous? Why not for expected torque amount? First off my rings are gapped for a 250 shot. But I am curious about something. Do you gap rings because of excessive heat or because of all the cylinder pressure created by the nitrous. If it is because of cylinder pressure than I am confused about something.
Lets say you gap your rings for a 150 shot. At 3500rpms you are producing 250hp NA plus 150 shot = 400hp/600lbs torque, but at 5500rpms you are producing 385 hp NA plus 150 shot = 535hp/510lbs torque.
Now it seems to me you could actually do a two stage nitrous system and at 5500rpms hit a 250 shot and still be ok. With this 250 shot the engine at 5500rpms would be producing 385 hp NA plus 250 shot = 635hp/606lbs torque.
Basically the cylinder pressure from 3500rpms with a 150 shot has only gone up 6lbs of torque if you were to add a 250 shot at 5500rpms.
So I am confused about how do they know how wide to gap the rings. Shouldn't it be based on how much torque you plan on making and not necessarily the amount of nitrous shot. Anyhow I guess somebody can let me know for sure. Thanks for any help.
Lets say you gap your rings for a 150 shot. At 3500rpms you are producing 250hp NA plus 150 shot = 400hp/600lbs torque, but at 5500rpms you are producing 385 hp NA plus 150 shot = 535hp/510lbs torque.
Now it seems to me you could actually do a two stage nitrous system and at 5500rpms hit a 250 shot and still be ok. With this 250 shot the engine at 5500rpms would be producing 385 hp NA plus 250 shot = 635hp/606lbs torque.
Basically the cylinder pressure from 3500rpms with a 150 shot has only gone up 6lbs of torque if you were to add a 250 shot at 5500rpms.
So I am confused about how do they know how wide to gap the rings. Shouldn't it be based on how much torque you plan on making and not necessarily the amount of nitrous shot. Anyhow I guess somebody can let me know for sure. Thanks for any help.
Last edited by djm_e22; Jul 24, 2010 at 11:11 PM.
It the heat in the cylinder. The excessive heat makes the metal in the ring expand and by widening the gap it would allow it to expand without butting up against each other which would spell disaster.
Lets say we have an NA engine of 500rwhp and a nitrous engine of 500rwhp. Shouldn't they require the same amount of oxygen to reach these levels. The NA motor will get enough oxygen from some good flowing heads. Where the nitrous engine will get the extra oxygen from being more dense in oxygen. But they still should require the same amount of oxygen right?
Plus a nitrous motor we run richer than a NA motor. So if both motors have 500rwhp and the NA motor's AFR is 13.0:1 and the nitrous motor's AFR is 11.0:1, why wouldn't the NA motor need gapped rings? It is closer to leaning out than the nitrous motor so it should be hotter inside the cylinder right?
I think I'm still missing something.
