Flow tool vs solinoid flow

Sitting here and thinking of using a flow tool to set my fuel pressure ( I know, thinking is bad, right?). Anyway, I stepped up from using the NOS Cheater solinoids with a big shot plate, to the big shot solinoids and -6 nitrous feed line. Long story short, a bad tune due to improper fuel pressure and not pulling enough timing led to a cracked block and a complete rebuild. So with the new motor ready to go, I'm paranoid about messing this one up, which got me thinking. I bought a flow tool to make sure my free flowing pressures will be set correctly, but this doesn't take into account the solinoid oriface nor the holes in the plate. Is it worth the time to hold the plate in a bucket and flow through that to see if the fuel pressure remains close to the same when the system is on? I know the correct answer is to send the whole system out to be flowed, but time is short as is funds at the moment, so just looking to see if I'm making wise choices or just wasting my time.

Run it on motor only untill you can do it right?

You've already upped your N/A Hp to close to what you had spraying with the small motor, stop being in such a rush.

Thats already the plan for now until I get the chassis setup back in control. Not only do I have a new motor, but I've made many new chassis changes. I want to do this right, which is why I'm thinking about flowing the whole system and not just up to the solinoid.

get the flow tool Steve sells, its bad ass......

Thats the tool I have. Just wondering if I should verify what I get through the tool is the same that comes out of the plate.

youd be better off sending the entire system to steve or the likes and getting it flowed and blueprinted along with tunes that wint melt your stuff. The plate may have issues you wont see by checking stuff with a bucket. The nos side usually has more issues than the fuel side also.

Makes sense. I'm still new to this whole nitrous thing, part of why I burned my junk up last time. Guess I'll have to get with Steve and send a box out in the mail....

best thing to do imo

richter69 wrote:best thing to do imo

x2

Thanks guys for sharing your input to Karl. Some know and some learn that having a system flowed save a lot of money in the long run. The clean tunes and tech help alone save added runs and trips to track that many make over and over and usually still don't get where they really need to be to have a good clean tune..

As far as the conversation on flowing the entire system versus just the reg will likely not help you out. Most all of the tuning advice you ever get will be flowing one side of your fuel pressure regulator thru a set jet size. If you flow after the solenoid the pressure drop you see will likely scare you to death.. There is a pretty good pressure drop across the solenoid if you try and flow that side as well.. Hope this helps.. SJ

Steve,

The last part you mentioned is what I was wondering about. I know with my fuel pressure on the motor side, I set the pressure knowing what the carb needs as the motor is running. Setting the fuel pressure with the tool and not going through the solinoid seems like setting pressure with an open ended hose with a jet to give some restriction. I would think the amount of restriction seen going through the -6 line to the solinoid, down the the much smaller -3 (or -4, can't remember) line feeding the jet would be much greater and actually make the pressure different where it counts. Then again, I've been known to over think stuff...