How Does A Nitrous System Work And What Does It Do To Your Engine?

If you've watched a car movie like the "Fast and the Furious" franchise in recent years, you might've noticed them pressing a button and the car suddenly getting a massive boost in engine power. When the protagonist or driver does this, the camera usually goes into the trunk of the car, showing a red tank, which then follows a winding pipe that ends in the engine. You then see the engine turn red hot, and then the lights around the driver turn into a blur as they hit terrifying speeds.

The button that the driver presses is the nitrous system, and it seemingly makes cars go incredibly fast when activated. But is this visual even real? Or is it just a load of Hollywood effects to give you the feeling of speed? Let's check out how a nitrous system actually works to see if what you see in the movies is real or just a fantasy. We'll tackle how it makes your engine go faster, what you need if you want to install one in your car, and other alternatives to this system that will help you hit top speeds.

A nitrous system is a set of performance parts you can install on your car's powertrain system to allow it to temporarily output more power. This system typically includes the following: One to two nitrous bottles, which contain the liquified gas; the lines that transfer the nitrous from the bottle to the intake manifold; the jets — which help spray the gas evenly with the fuel (depending on the system you have), the solenoids, which physically activates the switches and valves in the system, and the controller, which controls the entire system.

The purpose of all these parts is to deliver the nitrous oxide gas into your car's cylinder to help it produce more power. Nitrous gas is composed of two nitrogen atoms and one oxygen atom and is stored in liquid form in nitrous bottles. When you activate the system, it will spray the nitrous into your intake manifold (with or without fuel, depending on the type of system you have installed), which will then enter your engine's pistons to deliver more power.

When the nitrous oxide is inside your engine, it delivers power in two ways. The first one is when it's heated. When it hits around 570 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 300 degrees Celsius), the molecules split apart, leaving more free oxygen atoms that can be used for combustion.

Another thing to consider is that nitrous oxide is stored in liquid form at 600 psi. When it changes to its gas form in your car's intake manifold, its temperature drops significantly to -129 degrees Fahrenheit (or nearly -90 degrees Celsius). This helps cool the air heading into the engine, making it denser and allowing more oxygen molecules to cram into the pistons.

Oxygen is crucial for any combustion to happen, whether it's an open flame or a car engine. It's also the reason why your car loses power at higher elevations — there's just less oxygen available to burn fuel. But when you combine the added oxygen from the nitrous gas with the cooled, denser air coming from the outside, you'll have more oxygen molecules in your pistons compared to just using natural air from the surroundings. Your car can then add more fuel into the mix, allowing it to produce more power from each piston per revolution.

The average movie-goer might think that adding a nitrous system into your car is as simple as strapping a bottle in the trunk, putting a line from it to the intake manifold, and adding a button. However, it's a lot more involved than that. Sure, adding those parts is the beginning of putting a nitrous oxide system into your car, but you also need to make several other changes, depending on how much additional power you're getting from the system.

But one of the first things you should know before you even think about adding nitrous to your vehicle is how much extra power can your engine accommodate. You could get an extra 150 horsepower from a nitrous system for a short while, but if your engine cannot handle that amount of power, you risk tearing it to pieces with all the added stress.

Even if you add just the right amount of nitrous shot to your engine so that it won't break, you still need to adjust your engine's timings and fuel delivery to ensure your car is delivering the right amount of fuel for the added oxygen from the nitrous. You might even need to replace internals, from the spark plugs all the way to the pistons and rods, to ensure that you can use the nitrous oxide gas to its maximum potential and that your engine won't be damaged from the added power.

Nitrous systems are cheap and affordable compared to other systems that add more oxygen to your engine. However, it has one glaring disadvantage — it only has a limited number of uses. Since you carry the nitrous gas in a tank, you'll have to fill it up once you've used it all up. For example, a ten-pound bottle would last for about quarter-mile races if you set it at 75-shot (or adding 75 hp to your engine). If you up the output to 125 hp, it will only last for about six runs.

Aside from that, nitrous oxide is kept under pressure, usually at around 900 to 1,000 PSI. Most tanks or systems have a blowoff valve for safety, letting out excess gas when the pressure goes up. This happens when the nitrous gets hot, which could happen when you park your car under the summer sun. While there's little to no risk of the tank exploding, especially with the safety measures, you're essentially wasting nitrous oxide gas because it's being vented into the atmosphere instead of being used in your engine.

Another issue with nitrous oxide systems is its legality. Different states have different laws about installing it into your car, so you have to check with your local DMV to know if you can do it while keeping your car street-legal. Some states won't allow a nitrous system at all, except if you remove the tank from the car when you're driving on a public road.

A nitrous system gives your engine more oxygen to breathe, allowing it to burn so much more fuel. This will give you a lot of horsepower, and you could surprise your opponents when you let the nitrous flow during a race. Plus, it's kind of cool when you open the blow-off valve when you're at the starting line.

The other way you could do this is to add a forced induction system like a turbocharger or supercharger, as both systems push more air into your engine. It even cools down the incoming air if you add an intercooler to the system.

You will never need to top up a forced induction system, especially as it's powered directly by the engine or the exhaust it produces. However, it could get expensive and complicated to install, making a nitrous oxide system a tempting solution for those who don't want to spend as much money on their vehicles — that's why it's called the poor man's supercharger.