Nitrogen Oxide_IN_TRunk

So how exactly does injecting nitrous oxide into the engine help? Combustion is basically igniting a mixture of oxygen and fuel in a combustion chamber with a sparkplug. The resulting explosion produces power. What happens is a nitrous oxide injection system pumps nitrous oxide into an engine’s intake system At 296 degrees Celsius, the nitrous oxide breaks down into nitrogen and oxygen. The loose oxygen atom is burned together with the combustion. More oxygen = more power. It’s as simple as that.

Of course there are some issues with the proportion of fuel and air and pre-mature detonation that we’ll look at later. Also, why not just inject oxygen instead of nitrous oxide since what we need is the oxygen anyway? Pure oxygen would result in too wild a combustion, resulting in a blow engine This is because the nitrogen atoms in the nitrous oxide have a function as well. The nitrogen atoms released have a cooling effect on the combustion temperature. It absorbs the heat and helps carry it away.

Nitrous oxide also cools the intake temperature by 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit and every 10 degrees Fahrenheit reduction in temperature gives you about 1% horsepower gains. So on top of the extra power provided by the extra oxygen, you get another 6-7% horsepower gains from the cooling effect. In one of the Sepang Drag Battle rounds, the winning Proton Satria used nitrous oxide to cool the intake air instead of an intercooler. That way, you save weight and reduce the lag that you get when you have to pass turbocharged air through the passages inside an intercooler.

Those who are more familiar with nitrous oxide would have heard the terms dry kit and wet kit.