Conclusion
After getting out the components of the NANO kit, it was apparent that installation was going to be a snap. Any enthusiast who owns an adjustable wrench and a few hand tools can easily install the system in 15 minutes or less. The biggest decision to make when installing the system is whether to piggyback the NANO high-pressure air/ high-pressure nitrogen cylinder onto your existing nitrous bottle or mount it in an adjacent area such as a rollbar.
After witnessing the first pull on the dyno, where the fluctuations in the horsepower and torque curves as the rpm was elevated and the bottle pressure started dropping without the NANO system enabled, it worried me that the air/fuel ratio was on a march upward once the engine crested 6,000 rpm. Bottle pressure had dipped on a full bottle from a pre-dyno pull psi of 1,050 all the way down to 850. Clearly, to get the bottle back up to 1,050, a bottle-heater or track-sid "propane torch" would have been necessary, but as the contents of the bottle declined, the air/fuel ratio would have steadily increased. In contrast, when the NANO system's valve was opened and the on-board regulator was set to 1,050, the engine maintained that nitrous pressure for the duration of the dyno run. Simply maintaining a constant pressure over the duration of the dyno run resulted in outstanding gains of 25.3 horsepower and 47.3 lb-ft of torque. Subsequent pulls on the dyno as the contents of the bottle decreased showed no changes in torque or horsepower output. Simply put, the NANO system worked. As the size of the nitrous shot increases, so too does the variability in output due to the amount of nitrous being flowed to the engine. Although no tuning was completed for this article, one look at the horsepower chart for the 300-shot shows none of the wild variability in power production sans the NANO. A gain of 47.5 hp on the 300-shot was impressive. Track testing was conducted only on a 175-shot, mainly because it was first necessary to be able to pull consistent 60-foot and eighth-mile times without the NANO before testing could begin. Although eighth-mile times averaged just under a tenth better, the real potential of the system can be seen in mph and mph average with and without NANO. Running close to 2 mph faster in the eighth-mile shows that the horsepower and torque gains shown on the dyno were pretty much on the money. Had time permitted, it's entirely possible the car could have picked up 1.5 to 2 tenths running the 1,320.
If you are a dyed-in-the-wool nitrous junkie who either occasionally squeezes your car on a Saturdaynight cruise or heads out to the track to run as hard as possible, strongly consider the NANO system. HPA is readily available for a minimal cost at any paintball or scuba shop, and the benefits of making reliable, repeatable power far outweigh the cost of the system. According to Darnell, "Our customers rave about the consistency they achieve with the system. No longer does a racer or enthusiast have to fight inconsistent air/fuel ratios at the top of the track with potentially catastrophic consequences." Even if you were racing in Antarctica, a bottle heater wouldn't be necessary, as the high-pressure air will put your nitrous pressure at whatever you set it at. In addition to consistent track passes, every drop of nitrous is utilized. For those of you hesitant to run nitrous on your LS-series mill, think again, as the days of running inconsistent times at the track or leaning out your motor after you miscount the number of times you juiced up your ride are distant Memories.