Nitrous Oxide Know-How Advanced

Nitrous Oxide Know-How Advanced

Here's an article from Wikipedia on Nitrous Oxide.

I promised Kelvin to write a more layman termed article on NOS, here goes, if you have burning questions to ask, pls drop me an email...

Some of the most commonly asked questions about NOS:

1. Engine lifespan?
2. Is there a Blue flame coming out from the exhaust?
3. How does this compare to a Turbo Kit?
4. How does the system work in layman terms?
5. Detailed Price Breakdown
6. Wet, Dry or Direct Port?

1. Engine Lifespan?


With reference to the wiki article, under the paragraph Reliability Concerns, the first sentence spells it all. "As with all modifications to increase power, the use of nitrous oxide carries with it concerns about the reliability and longevity of an engine"

This not only refers to NOS, it refers to all modifications, no matter how small or big it would be. And in all modifications, some are easy enough to understand, while others like NOS and Turbos, are slightly more complicated

Golden Rule: A good-rule-of-thumb for most cars would be to run higher octane fuel and cap the increase of BHP to a maximum of 50% of your stock bhp. You'll be safe.

In layman terms: Pump better fuel when you wanna play, increase bhp to maximum 50%

On days where you dun intend to use NOS, pump normal fuel, keep NOS De-activated. Car is now stock.

Now you know how to protect the engine using the Golden Rule

* To turn on NOS, you have to open the bottle valve, switch-on the Arming Switch, and press the activate button. All 3 must be true before NOS can be activated.


2. Is there a Blue flame coming out from the exhaust?
If you have a modified exhaust, decatted and operated. Yes. Otherwise No. Yes, it looks nice. If you're seeing the blue flames, installing a carbon fibre exhaust guard will keep the bumper looking good. :)


3. How does this compare to a Turbo Kit?
In comparing, lets take a Toyota vios and TC it, while the other vios, we'll NOS it.

a. which is usually faster if both cars have the same bhp? - NOS. Bottle pressure in NOS remains constant while turbo runs out of breath or lags depending on the turbo selected.

b. which has better Fuel consumption? - NOS. Turbo spools all the time, and if you pump 98 on turbo, you can't downgrade it to 95

c. Refilling - Turbo is better, since petrol stations is everywhere, 10 mins to top up petrol. NOS, you'll need to come over my workshop for 10mins refill

d. Engine longevity ? - Same. If turbo have been tuned properly and NOS follows golden rule.

e. Trade-in? - Both kit can be sold off to another owner at 50% off market rate. If you have bought your NOS Kit from us, we'll buy-back at $675 ($450 USD@1.5).

f. Which is cheaper? NOS.


4. How does the system work in layman terms?
In layman terms, turbo uses exhaust gases to spool up and force air into the engine. NOS uses bottle pressure to inject liquid Nitrous which converts into oxygen before entering the engine, it cools down the intake manifold and a denser cold air enters the chamber producing power.

NOS kit can be further upgraded after you bought it.


5. Detailed Price Breakdown (SGD)
NOS Kit $600
Shipment to Singapore $285
Import Tax 7% $62
Labour chgs $250
sub total : $1197

Cold Ait intake Pipe :
HKS Open pod filter $45
Cold air intake $80
Labour chgs $50
sub total : $175

Total $1372 SGD


6. Wet, Dry or Direct Port?
We use only Wet Kit which is safer than Dry and doesnt require modification of any stock engine components.


Overall, NOS has a class of its own, it stands together with Turbos and Superchargers. While Turbo uses boost controller, NOS uses Jettings.