lots to learn for you and i!lol its a whole nother world.ive had some help so if i can help others im just passing the torch.
i see the best value in a dollar comparison would be cold fusion,but never had experience so maybe someone else can comment on theres...
start out slow!!!contact the manufacturer of their system and ask what is smallest nitrous shot that is recommended(i bought big shot kit and nos says no smaller than 175 shot with the big selenoids)
they all jet conservatively,but dont let motor run way rich because that can be just as dangerous as too lean.extra fuel can get past rings and push up on piston,not good!
you gotta run diffrent plugs also,contact head manufacturer for good input,i have dart 355s and i called and told them my specific application and they told me which plug on motor,which on 175, and which on 275.so i have 3 diffrent plugs i run.im only running a 275 max at this time.
bottle pressure needs to be atleast 1000 lbs to 1100 when in staging lanes,purging down to the 1000 number is best because at end of run itll be down more than that
you must pull timing out of motor.when nitrous is in motor for every 50 hp gain on nitrous good rule of thumb to start with is 2 degrees less.
you might wanna think of running a seperate fuel regulator for nitrous side.i hope for your motors sake you have a big enough fuel delivery system!!!!big pump,lines,fittings,blablabla...
more octane needed also.if your motor is 10 to 1 compression,110 octane should be good out to about 250-300 hp gain levels,but it is much more than that.if your cam has lots of duration,then bleeeding off of cylinder pressure would cause the need of a higher octane to be minimized.
there is much more than this here but im not a pro
i shot my car 2 times last year to a best of 8.66 sofar,oh yea by the way add more converter slippage also,and make sure your rev limiter is set a bit higher than you think,i believe i hit mine last year and have to pull out the 7600 chip and put in a 8200.
the whole half the life idea,well it could be better or worse,depends on how much homework and research you do!!!
1.plugs2.timing3.fuel......those are main points...always respect power!!! have fun!!! im a junkie after the first nitrous pass-lol