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NITROUS OXIDE EXPLAINED Nitrous Oxide is an often misunderstood gas and there is much mystery over it's use in the automobile! On this page we don't aim to explain everything about using Nitrous Oxide but rather to give you an overview of its use and an introduction to the hardware. We have displayed this information as a list of questions and answers to ease the reading and help you find just what you want to know.
You will find more information on the specific items of hardware in the subsections of our website, this page is just an overview! |
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What is Nitrous Oxide? Nitrous Oxide is a colourless, odorless gas with the chemical equation N2O. This means that for every two Nitrogen atoms there is one of Oxygen. N20 is an oxidizing agent...an 'oxygen carrier' .
In automobile applications N2O is injected into the engine to carry this extra oxygen into the combustion chambers. When the extra oxygen is present along with the correct quantity of additional fuel it makes for a large increase in power! |
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What is a Nitrous Oxide Kit? Nitrous Oxide Kits come in two main types, wet nitrous or dry nitrous. They each have some common components but vary in the way that they inject the nitrous oxide and get the additional fuel into the engine. Both kits have a nitrous bottle (usually mounted in the boot), a nitrous line (aka hose) that carries the nitrous oxide to the engine bay and a nitrous solenoid valve on the end of the line. This valve is switched electrically and is energised at wide open throttle.
A Wet Nitrous kit injects the nitrous oxide along with a quantity of additional fuel. The additional fuel is taken from a 'tapping' into the car's fuel system and this hose is fed to a fuel solenoid. Again, the fuel solenoid is electrically energised in the same way as the nitrous solenoid. The two solenoids then have hoses that meet at an 'injector' called a fogger nozzle in the throttle body where the fuel and nitrous oxide are mixed in the correct quantities, atomised into a fine mist and squirted into the airflow.
A Dry Nitrous kit relies on the car's ECU to add the extra fuel, the nitrous system injects only nitrous oxide. Some dry nitrous kits inject the nitrous oxide in such a way as to 'trick' the ECU into adding the extra fuel. Other dry nitrous kits have the ECU reprogrammed to enrich the fuel injection when nitrous is added or use third party ECUs to control the engine. |
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Turbobits Nitrous kits As we said above you can get a wet nitrous kit or a dry nitrous kit. We sell single fogger wet nitrous kits, direct-port wet nitrous kits and dry nitrous oxide kits.
Turbobits have made two ground-breaking initiatives:
The first is the marriage of American nitrous oxide kits with Euro 'PI' marked cylinders (more on this later).
Secondly we have decided to offer a big range of individual nitrous parts online for those wishing to put their own kit together. |
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Single Fogger or Direct Port Nitrous? Most folk will find a single fogger wet nitrous kit is all they need. You can get upto 150HP extra with our universal kit!!
For those who want a more detailed nitrous oxide installation we can offer a direct port (aka Multi Port) nitrous kit. A direct port nitrous oxide system will have as many foggers as there are cylinders, so a V6 engine will have 6 foggers... one in each branch of the intake manifold.
Sometimes a direct port nitrous kit is necessary where the engine does dot have a common intake manifold. For example, where there are 4 carburettors each with their own intake trumpet. Or a boxer (flat) engine where there might be two intake ports, one on each side of the engine.
Multi port nitrous oxide kits have the potential for more power as there are more foggers. They are also nice to look at and more 'developed' so the enthusiast might prefer the look and feel of a multi port nitrous system for his or her show car! |
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How Does Nitrous Oxide Work? You know it's an oxidizing agent and we've told you its chemical equation is N2O but what does nitrous oxide actually do?
Well, when nitrous is injected into your engine's intake the first thing it does is cool down the intake charge. This improves charge density and helps prevent knock (the fuel igniting before the spark plug fires - aka pinking).
Next, inside the combustion chamber, nitrous oxide breaks down and gives up it's oxygen. If you've seen that physics experiment of how fast a cigarette burns in oxygen you can imagine what happens to your air/fuel mix now! |
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How Much Extra Power Will it Give Me? You'll see our nitrous kits have a maximum power increase figure to them. Our (DT604) single fogger wet kit is rated at upto 150HP. This is based on the maximum nitrous oxide flow that the solenoid valves can pass. It is not what you should be aiming for.
When you plan your nitrous installation you need to think of how much power your engine put out when it left the factory and bear in mind that this is the power the car was designed for. Most manufacturer's err on the side of caution when they set the power output of the engine and then select the other components of the car (such as the clutch and gearbox) to suit. It goes without saying that the geartrain will take more than the standard power of the engine... but how much?
This 'how much' is where you need to be careful. By injecting a 150HP nitrous oxide and fuel 'shot' into your Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 it will end in disaster. Think along the lines of adding 10 to 30% of your engine's standard power output and play it safe! Think of 50% extra if you're prepared to set it up your nitrous kit carefully!! |
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Where Can I Get the Nitrous Bottle Filled? Right here! Turbobits have teamed up with a gas company called nitrous oxide supplies and can offer refills by post. It couldn't be simpler.
All out nitrous kits now come with Euro 'PI' marked bottles and are perfectly legal to re-fill in the UK. Our bottles come with a re-usable packing case that you should keep for sending your bottle back for refilling.
One word of caution... beware DOT marked CGA valve bottles that have been imported from the USA. It is now illegal to fill these bottles in the UK and you should not buy a nitrous kit from anybody who claims otherwise. You can get them filled but why run the risk of being turned away from the filling station? See the foot of the nitrous bottle pages for more info on DOT and PI Markings!! Or CLICK HERE to go straight to the Euro 'PI' bottle page. |
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Does the Bottle come Full or Empty FULL!! FULL!! FULL!! FULL!! FULL!! FULL!! FULL!!
All our car nitrous kits ship with a full bottle of nitrous oxide* to get you started... and thats worth a few quid. Bear this in mind before you think of buying from the competion ;-)
And remember... our bottles are all Euro 'PI' marked so you will be able to get them legally re-filled to... does the competition offer this?
Turbobits and Dynotune... a winning combination
* UK Mainland only. Overseas ship empty.
* Bike kits ship with an empty bottle. |
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