anyone dabbled with nitrous oxide before?

Matt82

Matt82

Matt82

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basically im happy with all aspects of my engine apart from its power output.

currently its revvy and fun, its really economical.

ive not tweaked or changed anything for ages, i cannot be arsed with NA tuning and going FI is too much of a pain as the engine itself is great and i dont want to ruin the character of the engine.

the lump will cope with "+50bhp" of nos no problem, i only want it as other friends of mine have been putting different engines in their cars and slowly theyre becoming quicker than me, once they get theirs running properly.

50bhp of nos ought to put mine right back in the running again. for normal use (and i do a lot of miles now it seems) i wouldnt even have to run with the bottle in the car.

anyone used it before? did anyone come across any down sides?
 
I dabbled with NOS once. The 100 shot blew the welds on my intake, fried my piston rings and my passenger footwell fell out.


As a sensible response: NOS over time will probably end up costing you more than a decent exhaust, intake and remap and doesn't have a permanent benefit. Plus it will also be a bit of hassle refilling it and is not easily reversed if you come to sell the car due to having to tap the intake manifold etc. Even if you did put a lot of money into N/A tuning, selling the parts back on could see you make most of the money back again in most applications if you keep them in good nick.
 
Yes. It's great for 1/4 mile and sort track use.

Day to day basis it'll cost you a fortune.

Setup correctly there are no downsides. However it's not the mod you should be going for.
 
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What capacity was that bottle?!

£80 over 3 laps... was that a constant throttle based injection or were you hitting a button when you wanted to use it?

Matt82 said:
did you have to text the mad scientist to come pull the block apart?
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Yeah, then some Japanese guys blew it up :(
 
Dup said:
As a sensible response: NOS over time will probably end up costing you more than a decent exhaust, intake and remap and doesn't have a permanent benefit. Plus it will also be a bit of hassle refilling it and is not easily reversed if you come to sell the car due to having to tap the intake manifold etc. Even if you did put a lot of money into N/A tuning, selling the parts back on could see you make most of the money back again in most applications if you keep them in good nick.
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mine has the conventional na tuning bits already. reversing the inlet manifold is easy, manifold for these are easy to find.

na tuning = lots of money for not much gain.

i could do £400 for a ported head, then the costs of postage, buying a spare and then the gasket sets and then the issues with the exhaust manifold.

for 10bhp = no

cams. maybe 15bhp, with a remap, £200 for the cam, £300 for the remap, maybe more for the inter cam timing to be set.

easily £1000 for 20-25bhp and it may effect the already fine engine.

with nos i keep the fine engine, i gain speed when i want it (on race wars nights) and the cost will be nothing compared to na tuning
 
Orange Peel said:
One decent size bottle lasted me 3 laps of Donington. That's roughly £80's worth.

It's not a cheap long term way of making your car more powerful.
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lol thats pretty bad. mine is only a 2.0 engine anyway so permanent power gains are going to be really dear, and i couldnt consider trying to use it for 3 laps straight on a track.

ive been offered a set with a 13LB bottle which seems pretty huge.

i wonder if the bottle costs would outweigh the increased fuel consumption i would face if i turbod it...
 
Dup said:
What capacity was that bottle?!

£80 over 3 laps... was that a constant throttle based injection or were you hitting a button when you wanted to use it?
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11lb Bottle, using a switch on WOT with 100hp flow.

Crude but effective system.

Moved onto a Minimax controller soon afterwards.
 
Matt82 said:
I wonder if the bottle costs would outweigh the increased fuel consumption i would face if i turbod it...
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The only example I can give it from my old Astra. Originally a 2.0 16v with 155BHP. Fitted a turbo engine, with a few tweaks and a proven 280BHP at a cost of £1500. Sold the old engine for £300, so total to convert was £1200 for an extra 125BHP and a slab of torque that can be used all day long.

Doing that with Nirtous would set you back say £500 for a decent kit. Then say a refil once a month (which is far from the truth as it's very addictive) so say another £50 a month, minimum.

Fuel consumption dropped from 26MPH average to 22MPG.

Turbo then Nitrous is the way forward :)
 
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Durzel said:
How old are you?

I suppose it figures with the new Fast & Furious movie out in the cinemas.
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this..

And a 50 shot on a fairly standard 2.0 wont set the world alight. There'll always be someone with more power.

Keep racing on the track people.
 
Durzel said:
How old are you?
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he was following on from my FNF quotes ;)


I think in this situation, you might as well try NOS and see how it goes. You can just stop using it if you get tired of the refil costs and sell on the kit. I would look into the cost to the engines life cycle in standard guise however. NOS is better on an FI system really, but FI can cost a hell of a lot.

Think yourself lucky not owning a K20 engined car. You can spend £6k just on ECU, remap intake and exhaust for 20bhp if that!
 
yup, ive got a few vtec owning friends and there seems to be a lot of scene tax for the tuning parts.

na tuning is great, revvy engines are great. id have a much quicker car if i could justify it for everyday use, but i do do a lot of miles and the current one covers most bases. relatively quick (60 in 6.6) but ive got friends who are putting together things that ought to leave mine in a straight line. nos could redress that balance and ill still be able to dominate everywhere else (big engined e30 bmws are like one trick ponies, they wont get close to mine on a b road) but id like that extra go for straight line stuff

i think ill get a second hand setup, ill fit it all myself using a second hand manifold (still deciding between 1 injector or 4)... ill keep you posted
 
At the end of the day though, you're arsing about with a Mk3 which has a **** load of miles on it, as it is. Buy a Mk2 shell and put an ABF in there.....you'll have much more fun for not a lot of ££'s. You know it makes sense. ;)
 
i sorta went down that avenue a year or so ago. i bought a nice mk2 with a hole in the gearbox. got that up and running to use it till the tax etc ran out but the car was just tooooo damn nice to start destroying. its own engine had pretty big spec and i couldnt bring myself to start ripping it apart lol

mk2 plus 2.0 16v it big win. another one of my friends has exactly this and is adding a supercharger :S mine currently matches his anyway, but when he has the charger i shouldnt stand a chance
 
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