Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous Oxide
Nitrous Oxide Refills
& octane boosters
(Wellingborough / Northamptonshire)
Got a printer and want a hazchem warning diamond for your nitrous? Click Here
Shag me I haven't had so much fun since I first learnt what an orgasm meant. Nitrous is serious, heavy duty, unadulterated fun. It's also surprisingly affordable and - contrary to entertaining but inaccurate films - it will NOT damage your engine - PROVIDING you use a QUALITY kit made for the purpose - and not one made famous by Hollywood!
I first toyed with fitting nitrous oxide when I had the Vauxhall Senator, problem was the car was getting a little old and tatty so it seemed like an idea to wait until I bought something else. I finally decided on a MKIII Toyota Supra Turbo. It goes quicker then prunes through a short granny anyway but no harm in adding a bit more fun is there?
Another fact that surprises many is that it is NOT illegal to own or use a nitroused vehicle - so long as you are properly insured. Direct Line charged me an extra £250 when I told them I wanted it fitted and that was that. I was asked a rather silly question though: - "Why do you want to fit nitrous oxide to your car". Bless her. It isn't because the solenoids look pretty - thought they do! On the subject of insurance etc, you need to make sure you have a seriously effective alarm and immobilizer if word gets out. Once your car has been fitted with nitrous it makes it a bit more nickable. Chances are though, if you already have a Thatcham 1 system you should be about right. If you buy a "Highpower" kit, you can also get specially arranged insurance. However although I have a "Highpower" kit myself,
DON'T
For those among you who are interested, all nitrous systems are NOT created equal. In fact, once of the biggest sellers (NOS - now HolleyNOS) does not have as safe a system as a UK company by the name of HIGHPOWER. The difference between power that will blow your mind and power that will blow your engine comes down to design, understanding and implementation. You might damage an engine by simply dumping in an extra 75 bhp worth of power in one go - yet be quite safe running over 150 bhp if only you allow it to build up over a period of a few seconds. More dangerous still is a poorly designed solenoid which tends to leak small amounts of nitrous oxide into the engine when it is supposed to be off. As an absolute best case, this just wastes your gas, more likely, your engine will run increasingly leaner until your pistons decide to object in that endearing "melting all over the place" way that only pistons can have. A major leak without compensating fuel can destroy your engine in less time than it took to read this sentence. DON'T use solenoids that are not up to the job. "Pretty labels stuck onto a bog standard industrial solenoid do not a safe engine make". Decent ones (pulsoids) are actually designed specifically for the purpose, they also have a lifetime warrantee.
BUY
This brings us to the importance of having a controller which "strobes" the fuel solenoids (or pulsoids) to enable to the engine to build up from perhaps 50 bhp to 150 bhp over a few seconds, this allows the engine (and turbo if present) to spool up without being hit with one hard bang of power. You can vary the initial power level and the time it takes to reach 100%. Apart from looking after your engine and gearbox it saves gas and stops wheel spinning at the start line. Although the line "It is better to have boosted and lost traction, than never to have boosted at all" is true, it is better still to have all your power being pumped to the road as traction rather than squeals and smoke generation.
Here in fact, there are one or two other decent products on the market by other companies, but remember if the controller DOES fail and it is able to control the pulsoids individally, in a worst case, nitrous is switched on, fuel is left off and the engine gets to see a scrapyard.
There are a variety of progressive controllers - some digital, some analogue and a few hybrids. A hybrid has the ease of rotary adjustment - but is still controlled digitally - giving precision and reliability. Although some of the best nitrous controllers are made by HighPower systems - they ARE expensive and for folks on a budget, there is a product which offers pretty much all of the function of the "minimax" but has an adjustable "end power" setting as well as being hybrid based. It is also over £100 cheaper at around £169 including carriage and a chromed arming switch with blue LED. I have played about with this controller and nice touches are that it will handle both cheap solenoids on one setting - and the MUCH better quality pulsoids from Highpower on a different setting. If you are interested in one of these little units (with an 18 month guarantee) then let me know, when supplies start ramping up, I might be able to help you.
"CHEAP"
Progressive nitrous controllers or "nos controllers" are the modern alternative to the old 2-stage system where one set of soelnoids were engaged at the start, then switched over to the second set - and lastly, BOTH sets were used at the same time - giving in fact a THREE stage system from just two sets of solenoids. Some folks still use this system but it lacks the fine adjustability that modern controllers can offer you.
As an aside, even small amounts of nitrous totally eliminate turbo lag!! This in itself is a major benefit - but there are lots more especially if you do have a turbo fitted. For example, when the liquid nitrous oxide enters the intake with the extra fuel, the temperature of the nitrous is around MINUS 80 degrees centigrade. This has the most fantastic intercooling effect on the charge - resulting in a cooler / denser charge entering the engine. You will NEVER find an intercooler that can cool the output from a turbo like nitrous can.
Nitrous (NOS - is a trademark like Hoover), is injected into the engine with additional fuel (taken from a T piece in the existing fuel line). This means that the engine is not allowed to run lean - as both the nitrous and the fuel solenoid have matched jets to ensure the engine always run a little on the rich side (if the kit is a good quality one).
NITROUS OXIDE
As a general rule you do NOT need to modify / strengthen your engine or transmission providing you use a progressive controller. Clearly the engine and gearbox needs to be in a generally good condition - as does the clutch for manuals. Side note - most nitrous oxide records are set by AUTOMATIC cars - and not manual. Aftermarket pistons are all well and good - and sure you can fit them if it blows your frock up. Point is, you can often double the power of your engine - or more - WITHOUT needing to do this - unlike using a VERY heavy duty turbo.
If you would like to know more about how nitrous oxide works, how much it costs and why you should consider it before wasting your money on something trivial like getting married or having kids, take a look at this link to HIGHPOWER.
KITS
If you decide to buy an HP kit, please let me know as I can give you an e-mail address to an agent of theirs who actually buys and sells the kits - who can also fit the kit for you AND depending on what you want, may also give you a discount and bung me a farthing too :) If you are local to Wellingborough and come to me for refills, I will also give a small discount on gas if you contact me before you order.
I will probably add much more to this page - but really everything you need to know can be found at the HIGHPOWER link above. The owner of the company (Trev) takes time to explain how the system works to anyone who is seriously interested - either by e-mail or by telephone. By the way, HP kits carry a LIFETIME guarantee and utterly superb customer service. For the cynics amongst you, I'm not being paid for this page, it's just that I am so impressed by the quality of the kit and the company behind it, it seems sensible to encourage people interested in nitrous to buy quality kit from a firm that doesn't ignore you once the sale is closed.
With an outlay of substantially LESS than a grand, you can have a car that goes like a raped ape and still have enough money left over for sensible add ons (nitrous pressure gauge, spare bottle, one heat range colder spark plugs and a fresh set of boxer shorts.
(New engines have a knack of being VERY costly)
If you are in the Wellingborough / Northants area and would like a refill, please click the link at the top of this page. I can probably help you out. As of July 2005, we now have a proper nitrous pumping system, so refills are faster and more complete - even if the bottle is empty / warm.
Quite nippy to begin with, now pootles along spinningly well.
Mods Done
Metal Head Gasket
Turbo-Technics uprated turbo fitted
Adjustable Wastegate Mod
Boost cut defencer
Lexus AFM
550cc Injectors
Mongoose de-cat pipe from turbo back
SAAB BOV mod
EGR block-off mod
Fluidyne aluminium radiator
Uprated transmission oil cooler
HP/ WON Nitrous Oxide kit fitted
Progressive nitrous contoller
Uprated fuel pump
Second fuel tank & pump for 117 PN fuel installed - used when on nitrous to avoid knock
Adjustable tracking fuel pressure regulator on race fuel system
Under-pressure fuel switch protection fitted (disables Nitrous)
Wideband o2 sensor with trip to disable nitrous if > 12:1 A/F
Magencore leads
2 heat range colder iridium plugs, gapped 0.55mm
Replaced "iffy" rubber hoses with silicone
Mods Ordered, awaiting delivery / install
Water spray on intercooler
Non-Performance mods
And these would be done because....???
Actually not quite true, I did get the old girl re-sprayed, looks all shiny and new again :)
And yes, have just bought a Bentley Turbo R - which is hopefully having nitrous oxide fitted too :)