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Great POST WC!! JS, I agree. I love the tech talk stuff.

I am by no means an expert in the field of engine tuning for nitro, but I did spend some time reading and studying all of the tech articles I've seen about it in my life. What I don't have is experience actually doing what I think is right to set up an engine to run nitro. There are dozens of key elements involved, but my own focus of imperative accuracy would be in the nozzles and the cylinder heads...air and fuel delivery and subsequent (sounds like a long time, but actually it'd be milliseconds) creation within the combustion chamber of the cloud of vapor that is to be ignited in sequence and on time. Since nitro is a slow-burning fuel that creates tremendous expansion upon detonation, my thought would be to set the timing slightly ahead of the power load, but not actually in front of it. All eight cylinders would be firing at the apogee of the spark at precisely the point that maximum compression is taking place during the combustion cycle. The compression would aslo be variable but critical to achieving a precise piston firing depending on altitude, nitro percentage, fuel volume and blower overdrive. The blower is busy jumping all over the cylinder heads, shooting unbelievable amounts of air and fuel into them...the dang thing spins so fast it's crazy...but if the amount of pressure it exerts on the cylinders exceeds their tolerances, or doesn't match up to what they're set up to take, then it's going to malfunction, either break a rod (or God forbid, a crank) down low or suck a valve up high. Or blow up while you're going 325mph. Or just not run. The engine...the cylinder heads in particular...are to me the most attention-demanding feature of a nitro engine...the blower and injector are set up to help that part of the process take place properly...I listened to Leon, Lippy, Larry and Bandito at Eddyville and Leon in particular helped me to learn a lot about their operation, showing me his program on the computer and watching him make adjustments to the motor, etc...between the Bandito slipping me some whiffs of nitro right out of the can off his hanky. The pure fuel is cold to the touch. It reminded me of ether. It evaporates if it sits in the open air...like naptha or alcohol does...but the chemical properties in that stuff have made addicts out of us...it's very strange that the Random Rods picture at the upper left of this screen is the Nitro Madness AA/Fuel Altered...a shot of it I've never seen...this one's from the left front, by Iowa Al. Heck, if I'da had this one, I wouldn'ta had to flip Lippy's Funny Car horizontally in Photoshop (had to do all the lettering and decals, too) to get the engine in it...Anyway, I hope I didn't make a fool out of myself with this post. I've had these ideas for a long time...I also realize I have left the door open to a lot of discussion which could lead to derailment in this thread. I can easily be corrected and I'm perfectly happy to have that happen if that's what I need...I'm a good learner...I also have some aero theories that would get me in trouble, too...Cheers, WC1

John, you are a wealth of knowledge and it's great to see you so enthused. If we were still racing I would be honored to have you as a crew member.

Ya gotta watch out for the nitro .. it'll find every scratch ya got, just like lemons. We could get one of the guys to pour some on the ground, give you a pack of matches and you'd NEVER lite it. Funny part is, it was a cleaning solvent for printing presses before it made it's way to a fuel tank.

Barb, coming from you, just that statement alone is like receiving an award. Thank you. I'm more in the artistic, creative world than on a technical, practical level with my ideas. Some of them I know are far-fetched (the ejectable body, the onboard oxygen-feed to the blower, etc.) and downright stupid, and I tend to overlook obvious answers that were already in place before I pipe up with some revelation...If I was sponsored by Castrol GTX as a think-tank guy (R&D team), I could cost JFR a fortune in busted parts! It might make for a good episode of "Driving Force", though...I can see him now...kicking the Cat...anyway, did you guys do the fire-up this weekend, Rapid? How'd it go? Cheers, WC1

Damn, Cat...If I didn't know better....I woulda thought those last couple of posts were made by Leon......Great read, my Friend!!.....(and Miss Barb....on behalf of the Cat.....Thank You again for your kind words!! )

... kicking the Cat..... you got me giggling on that one Johnboy.

Great Post WC, It is the smoke and magic of Nitro that requires different thinking, and ignoring all you thought you knew about tuning an engine. It just doesn't apply with the Nector or the Gods,,,,Nitro!! I loved reading your thoughts, thanks for sharing them.

Barb, you are too Cool kid!!

Well,,,we started it up today on between 45 and 50% Nitro. OH MY GOD!!! Frank Oglesby said not to do it,,,,I can't tell you what he said exactly,,,but it had to to with Pam Anderson and then there is every other girl!!!

It made the men jump, scared all the kids, and it sure as heck made the Nitro Madness boys GRIN!!! It sounded sweet, fuel out the pipes, when I would wack it the awning tried to move to Kansas!! I do believe I just fell in love again!!!

i can hear it, smell it, and feel it all the way down here in st.louis !!!

aahhhhhhh Auntie "M"........eye just saw a house with a blue roof fly by.......

A guy came up and said his buddy pissed his pants when I whacked it,,,,I didn't look, just took him at his word!!

It was funny to see the crowd jump after listening to it idle for a while.