NOS Comparison - Nitrous Plate Shootout

The Big PictureWe expected to see minimal differences in the average power numbers between our seven contenders, despite radically different approaches in the Speedtech and ZEX designs. In five of the six plates, that's exactly what happened. The Nitrous Pro-Flow plate was the high-performing exception. The difference between the average horsepower for the five other plates was a mere 3.8 hp. Compared to a standard of 560 hp, that's 0.7 of a percent difference, which is virtually invisible considering that none of the plates were consistent on back-to-back runs.

The biggest thing we learned about messing with nitrous is that even with close monitoring of bottle pressure, fuel pressure, and all the other variables, these plates would often generate vastly different results with no changes to the system. During one test, a plate produced a torque peak of 4,300 rpm and a horsepower peak at 6,000 rpm. On the next pull-with no changes-the torque peak occurred at the same 4,300, but the horsepower peak dropped to 4,400 rpm. We don't have an explanation for that.

This variability also points out that even Nitrous Pro-Flow's 16 to 17 average horsepower advantage over the other plates may not always be repeatable. But let us not detract from the Pro-Flow's performance in our test. While more expensive, the Pro-Flow plate clearly demonstrates it has an advantage when it comes to making power with a single-stage plate system.

Test Procedure Nitrous is incredibly sensitive to bottle pressure. Squeezing gaseous nitrous to 735 psi (or higher) creates liquid nitrous oxide. Just because a nitrous bottle is filled to a given weight doesn't mean that bottle pressure is ideal. Study the accompanying chart and you'll see that bottle pressure is directly proportional to nitrous temperature.