Using Nitrous on a chip tuned car

Unless provisions for retarding the ignition timing have been made, ensure that an aftermarket chip or a modified engine computer are NOT installed when using a Nitrous System. Most modified chips use advanced ignition curves. These advanced ignition curves can lead to detonation and severe engine damage when used with nitrous.

If nitrous will be used with an aftermarket chip, it will be necessary to install an ignition system that allows the timing to be retarded when the nitrous system is in use. As said above, it is recommended that you retard the ignition timing 2 degrees for every 50 hp worth of nitrous used.



Remote Bottle Opener

Normally, your nitrous bottle should be kept closed, with no pressure in the nitrous lines. But when you're lined up against that guy that just looks a bit too fast, you'd hate to say "excuse me, do you mind if I hop out and open my bottle in the trunk?". Easy solution, get a remote bottle opener! Allowing the opening of your nitrous bottle from a switch mounted near the driver.




Nitrous Controllers - progressive and 2-stage units


A regular nitrous oxide setup will normally be triggered by some sort of 'wide open throttle' (WOT) switch. This is a device that energises the solenoids when your right foot is pressed to the floor, or close to it. It is at WOT that it is safest to inject a full 'shot' of nitrous oxide.

The bad thing about this, is that a large nitrous shot can increase the power output dramatically, that it might not be desirable to let it go all at once. You are going to put an extra stress on your engine and drivetrain and you might even have problems with traction (Wheelspin).

Although there are many different nitrous controllers on the market today, we can group those into two: Progressive nitrous controller units and 2-stage units (time delay swithches)



Progressive Nitrous Controllers

Large gain Nitrous oxide systems without a progressive nitrous controller can cause considerable stress on the engine and drivetrain of your vehicle and valuable power can be lost due to excessive wheelspin. Progressive systems are used to build up power gradually and are preset by the user. A Progressive Nitrous Controller unit allows you to adjust your system to suit different road/track and weather conditions and also gives the the control needed to increase your bhp gain by giving a very smooth power increase across the rev range. A fully progressive unit programmable by the user will start injecting nitrous oxide at lower RPMs and gradually increase the flow of nitrous through the solenoid until the maximum nitrous flow is reached at full RPM.

A Progressive Nitrous Controller unit can be programmed to control both the amount of nitrous that is flowed to the engine (from 0-100%) and the time desired to "ramp up" from first hit to full flow. For example, you can program the controller to flow 25% of the nitrous 1.5 seconds into the run and increase it to 75% nitrous at 5.3 seconds. Or, it can go all the way to 100% much sooner. This enables a racer to "fine tune" the power curve of an engine to best utilize prevailing conditions. It can also be used to activate a retard box or 2nd stage of nitrous. They are easy to use, and each function is set through simply turning a series of dials to the desired position and pushing a "program" button.

previous page | go to page11