Despite the various concerns over suspension, upholstery, paint, and so on, that we occupy ourselves with when it comes time to build or update a modern street rod, the whole idea for hot rods in the first place was to go faster. Though this concept is sometimes lost in the mix, it does seem to be making a comeback with street rodders, particularly now that drag racing is reemerging at some events.
Of course, the focus for the majority of us isn’t going to change from functional driver to all-out racer, but it might be nice to gain a slight advantage over the other guy, should you find yourself in the staging lanes sometime in the coming season. So rather than rushing out to get a new engine, why not take a page from the guys who race every weekend: Install a nitrous oxide system.
The basic concept is simple: The more fuel your engine can burn, the more power it can make. The challenge has always been to get more air into the engine so that it can burn more fuel. Nitrous oxide, or N20, is made up of nitrogen and oxygen. When injected into the engine, the heat of combustion separates the nitrogen atoms from the oxygen atoms. This additional oxygen can then be matched with additional fuel (also injected by the NOS system) to maintain the optimum air/fuel ratio and generate more power.
Although these systems have been around for almost 30 years, nitrous still seems to be a novelty on street rods, but it’s got to be the easiest way to add 100-plus horsepower to your engine. Chuck Karnatz knew that when he commissioned the staff at the So-Cal Speed Shop to install a system from NOS on his ’36 Ford coupe in preparation for our Asphalt Ego-Rama last summer. The system definitely helped Chuck’s e.t.s during the drag portion of our competition and didn’t hinder the car’s driveability in the least when it wasn’t in use. The accompanying photos and captions outline the installation procedure.
