Can a switch pitch handle the extra torque/hp of a nitrous shot? And can a switch pitch handle 450hp at the crank? And if so, how about a nitrous shot on top of that? curious -nate
You pretty much exactly quoted my combo. Mine has held up fine so far, but we'll see what happens when I step up to larger (200-250HP) nitrous shots. My convertor was a 13" unit from TSP. -Bob Cunningham
ahh. what gearing are you running and how is highway driveability? i hope to do this to a convertible. what shot are you running? (im thinking 125 ish) and how much fun is it to drive?
I have a 2.56 rearend. You might say "gosh, with that tall of a gear, can you launch the car", to which I would reply "let me remind you this is a BUICK motor with 150HP of nitrous, torque is not a problem". You know what I mean. And highway drivability is fantastic, I keep up with the best interstate traffic (specific speeds deleted in case the men in blue happen to read this). I am running a 150HP shot typically. Heh. Do I really have to answer that? Let me just say that I am very happy. By the way, I believe that not all switch-pitch convertors are built the same. Some are stronger than others. -Bob Cunningham
I too was looking on a taller gear though, not that tall.. was aiming for very low 3's. I could only imagine how fast that car would run with that tall of gear on the highway. a lot more room till red line and i don't think you'd run out of hp to get to the red maybe just road. i agree on the build of the torque converter. you can kill a standard converter with nitrous alone. With the moving parts of a SP converter would worsen the dependability.
OK Bob, torque may not be a problem, but I'm thinking traction is. I would think that as soon as a tire slipped just a little, it would all just go up in smoke.
Well that's true. To be honest, mine is a daily-driven street car, primarily used on the highway. So most of my "racing" is done from 60MPH up to, umm, 65 MPH (yeah that's it), so traction isn't really an issue. At the track, it is not realistic to hit the nitrous at the starting line. I have to feather the throttle carefully off the line to avoid spinning. I actually have a 2-stage system so once I have good traction NA, I can hit the first nitrous stage (100HP), and then further down the track I'll hit the 2nd stage (150 HP). A few more things to tweak and I'll be doing 100HP+150HP, and really lay down some HP. I have done the 250HP shot a couple times, but never held it for a whole run. Man, what a rush that is! -Bob Cunningham
bob did you do anything special to the bottom end? and what type of nos system are you running. I do realize however you are running an EFI system on it as well so things will be diffrent with a carburetor. -nate
Because I planned to use a lot of nitrous, I built up a strong bottom end- Crower rods, girdle, o-ring'd block, JE pistons, etc. If you are gonna stick with a 125HP shot, I suspect you'll be okay without the girdle and rods, etc., as long as everything is in good shape. I suspect you will need some forged pistons, however. -Bob Cunningham
O yeah, forgot to add... I use a Top Gun nitrous system for now. I have a Stage I system (75 - 150HP) for the first hit, and a Stage V system (100-300HP) for the 2nd hit. Eventually I hope to switch over to a Highpower nitrous system, which is sold out of the U.K. I am convinced it is far superior to anything available out of the U.S. -Bob C.
