NOS Question for Wes or Superuber

[cmccort]

I had an explosion yesterday in my 94 Q. I was at a stop sign when I engaged my nos. After stopping I mashed the throttle and heard an expolsion under the hood. It was so powerful that it blew the grill off and crimped the hood. When I pulled over to the side of the road and lifted the hood I saw that the explosion had blown apart the the air box and all of the tubing between. After closer inspection I saw that it had also blown the rubber seals out from under the plenum (The spider legs). There must have been a flash of fire because the insulation attached to the hood was on fire and had to be put out (With a glass of water I just happen to have). Do you have any idea what would cause this type of malfunction with the nos system? I am planning on calling a junk yard tommorow and selling it to them as a parts car but I was just curious as to what would cause this type of incident.

Thanks

[elwesso]

Sounds like the system was leaking.... Probably at the nitrous solenoid. I cant think of anything else that would cause that... Seems like you got a buildup of nitrous inside the intake... when you opened the throttle, the nitrous probably combined with the volatile PCV gasses and then somehow exploded.. Sort of a 1 in a million chance of that happening, but its very possible.

You are now going to sell the entire car as a parts car? If your going to do that, PULL THE NITROUS ECU out for me!!!

[CrimsonQ]

good lord, nos puts fear n me

[Q45tech]

"Kinetic studies of the thermal decomposition of nitrous oxide were conducted in the temperature range from 1000 to 2500 K . the decomposition of nitrous oxide behind t e reflected shock wave in a shock tube wa investigated using photographic techniques. It appears that the rate of decomposition may be governed by the vibrational relaxation time of the lower energy valence b nd. Induction times for the rapid decompo ition of nitrous oxide range from 152 microseconds at 1430 K to zero microseconds at about 2500 K. The value of about 150 microseconds at 1430 K agrees qualitatively with approximate value obtained by other investigators"

I leave it up to members to convert Kelvin to F or C.

The trick with N2O is that is takes some time compared to gasoline to decompose so the temperature in the cylinder doesn't get high enough until after top dead center to start the process.

http://www.airproducts.com/nr/...0.pdf

In a seguential injection engine [vs a carbed or TBI] backfires are very rare.

True a bad solenoid valve can leak and build up excess concentrations why JWT and others mount the injector so that the heavier N2O falls away towards the air cleaner when the engine is not running.

[qsiguy]

Geez, that's scary! Glad it didn't do that while I was driving the other day. Guess you won't be needing to fix that active suspension now then. :\

Insurance going to do anything or will you just have to eat it? Man, that's a bummer.

[superuber]

To bad! Wes may be right. Something else that may come into play is how old is the nos system? Folks who run nos really should be able to install and maitain any problems with their system. You really need to understand it to run it. I'm not saying this is the case here, just warning other DIYer's. These systems should NOT be installed and run by the average Joe! Again, sorry to hear about this. P.S. dibs on your 20lb bottle!

[silver2k2]

You should part it partially yourself, I am sure you will get way more moneyThey will still come pick it up on the flatbed and pay you for the carcass.

Its too bad that Q had a perfect body and very nice interior

I call dibs on the brakes and the exhuast

[Unnatural1]

I guess I'll ask the obvious question; why not just fix it? Do you know if there was any internal engine damage? Replace some intake pieces and get back in the game. Maybe get a new hood from the salvage yard also.

Seems like when ever I hear these stories it's because of a nitrous build up in the intake manifold like Elwesso said. I don't have much first hand experience to go on though.

I've seen it happen a couple times at the track though. Caught a pretty spectacular explosion one night on camera. I can't find the photo otherwise I'd post it.

[lino]

Sorry about your loss. Can you post pics?

[qsiguy]

Yes, I'd like to see some pics myself. I wouldn't even mind swinging by and check it out first hand.

Can't believe you vultures calling dibs on all his parts already! Now....what about those front seats, the trunk wing, rear sway bar, and the ash tray, my clip is broken so it won't stay shut?