Finally broke into 11's

I've had the cable melting issues in the past as well. I have mine wrapped in some heat reflecting hose cover. Looks like this only not adhesive:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/the-13995/overview/

After that I have not had an issue again.

The nitrous: I used to run nitrous all the time years ago on an 11 second car at high altitude, so here is what I can tell you. Running a 175 shot on a 10lbs bottle will only get you 3 solid passes from one end to the other. Any more and it will start to peter out down track. A 15lbs bottle will get you 5 solid passes, or at least it did with my car years ago with a 180 shot. You should be able to spray it out of the hole and have it hook if the suspension is working well. Make sure you have the front end loose (90/10 shocks) and at least 5" of suspension travel (if possible). The old picture in my sig is from Bandimere back when I was spraying my old 360 right off the line, it would run 11.1 with a DA of 9500+ feet. Bringing your own atmosphere in a bottle helps a TON when you run at high altitude.

I hope this helps.