MONTE
what rings would you recomend for nitrous use
what should they be gapped at for the amout of nitrous used
As I stated, a quality ductile iron top ring. You can go with the "Hellfire" which is a ductile iron ring that was originally constructed for diesel applications. This tells you the ring was designed for a high cylinder pressure, high stress environment. While a very good nitrous and boosted application ring, it is also just a good all around ring for most any HP combo. It seals quick and really good, plus won't break the bank on price. For a second ring, again ductile iron would be the choice with a Napier cut on the outside edge. A standard tension or higher 3 piece oil package and you have a good enough ring set for any amount you ever wanted to spray. It also won't cost you a ton, seals as well as the Moly top ring and won't cost you any power over the Moly coated, if that is a concern. And more importantly, has no coatings to flake off and cause issues.
"Hellfire" is just what Speed Pro calls the ring, but other companies have the same material. Total Seal calls it a TNT ring.
On gaps, I would rather have it wide as narrow, so I usually opt on the side of caution. .006 per inch of bore will suffice for about anything except motors with VERY large amounts. If you know you are going to keep power levels lower, you could go with .055 per inch, but I would not go any tighter. I am one that is a believer in the larger second gaps, because I have actually SEEN it be better. It helps relieve the pressure between the top and second ring, which promotes better ring seal and it doesn't have to be high rpm to do it. Some doubt it, but the blowby meter doesn't lie, at least not to me, so that's how I do it.
Now do you NEED the Hellfire ring for smaller amounts, no, not really and about any ductile iron ring will suffice, just stay away from Moly coated. But the way I see it, knowing that oil and nitrous is a huge No-No, the rings is NOT somewhere I would save a dime in a motor I knew I was going to spray..........Just my opinion
I know we have all heard many people say they have Chromoly rings in their motors. That simply is not possible. Chromoly is a high carbon steel and that material is NOT used in ring construction. Any steel ring is "tool steel". So when they say that, they are just somewhat uninformed, as what they likely have is the Moly "coated" ring of some sort. Now there is a such thing as a Chrome/Moly ring and what this is, would be either a cast or ductile iron ring that is hard chromed and has a Molybdenum impregnated face. These rings are not used very often, if at all in performance applications