N20

[Ice-9]

All right, so I'm considering throwing a nitrous system in my car. I'm making a good amount of money this summer, but not quite enough to trade in my 944 for a 944 Turbo. I got taken by a nasty little Eclipse the other day, and I've eaten the dust of several 3000GTs, so I wouldn't mind a little extra juice. I was checking on nitrous systems, and it looks like I could get a decent setup good for about 50 hp, with a bunch of optional safety stuff that I wouldn't do without, for around $900. Any opinions? Nitrous good? Nitrous bad? Which brands? Anybody with experience?

[OC]

Nitrous good. The hot setup is to add a separate dedicated fuel system for the nitrous so you don't have to touch the existing fuel lines. Less chance of going lean and hurting your engine that way.

-OC

[Ice-9]

Thanks, OC. I've checked around a little, and it seems like the only way to put in a "wet" system like the one you're talking about would be some serious customization, and I'm not sure I want to go that route. The "wet" systems are mostly made for American V8s, while the systems that you'll see in imports with smaller engines are usually the "dry" type, where the stock injectors are used. 'Sides, the Porsche injectors are pretty good, I think they can handle it.

So that's one vote "for." Anybody else have an opinion, or are you all sleeping?

[ArkiStan]

I know nothing about those systems, but hey, if it makes your car faster, why not? And I'd love to tell people, "Hey man, I park next to a nitrous charged porsche."

[babymike]

i've heard a log of mixed reviews. it is definitly one of the best performance upgrades for the price but at the same time, but at the same time you're going to lose some engine life. you're basically putting something into your engine that wasn't meant to be there, and that in turn is going to put extra stress on your engine. you can also only use it in short bursts so you don't blow up your engine. you definitly need to be careful if you do go that way.

[Paladin]

Old 4-Cylinder+Anything over a 75 shot of Nitrous=Big boom and lots of crying. Your would need alot of engine work if you want to run anything higher than a 50 shot and even then your pushing it. I weas gonna put Nirtous on my 93 Saturn but I decided against it because alot of people told me it was easy to fuck up and it stress's the engine quite abit. Talk to rollhard he can hook you up. www.rollhard.com I dont think your old 4 cylinder could handle it.

[Ice-9]

That seems to be the consensus - 50-60 hp is about as high as I should go. Thanks for the tip.

As for blowing up the engine and/or needing engine modification, there's a good bit of difference between a Saturn engine and a Porsche engine. I'll certainly keep the advice in mind, and I wouldn't be putting bigger than about a 50-hp system in, but the Turbo version of my car (with essentially the same engine with some small mods) makes about 70 hp more than mine, stock. So I'm pretty sure that the engine can take it.

Heheheh, and of course stan makes the most compelling argument of all for putting in nitrous. :D

[Paladin]

Sounds ok but remember your car is like 20 years older than mine. I hope it turns out ok. I thought it would be neat to have a Nitrous charged Saturn and people would start laughing when my engine blew up. Hey good luck

[hapoo]

hey paladin is still here... what happened once you got your license you split??

[Paladin]

Originally posted by Paladin
Sounds ok but remember your car is like 10 years older than mine. I hope it turns out ok. I thought it would be neat to have a Nitrous charged Saturn and people would start laughing when my engine blew up. Hey good luck

My bad you have an 86 not a 76

[Paladin]

Humm I just turned 16 so I get my license in a few days. I have just cut back and been lurking for awhile but I am still here. I have got alot of stuff going on lately. I finally got a job so I can pay insurance.

[Blu]

I'd stay away from Turbo and Nitros on any engine older than 6 years w/o a rebuild. You've already got alot of wear in the engine, and you're liable to blow something if you get nitros goin. Why not get it supercharged? It's super reliable, low stress, relatively inexpensive, and it's all the time power...


Blu

[Ice-9]

My engine's in pretty good shape, though - head gasket is 8000 miles old, compression is good, cooling system is good, etc., so I think it could probably handle a small nitrous system okay.

Supercharging IS an option, but there aren't many bolt-on kits available for my car. In fact, I only know of one, and for the money I'd spend on it, I could just trade in my car for a 944 Turbo, which would give me the extra power I want. Nitrous is about the only solution available for under $1000, which is what I'm looking for. Or I may just wind up trading in, after all.

[Ice-9]

This is a good point, but my car's not really worth anything. The only way my 944 would be at all valuable is if it were dead stock, concours condition. Mine is definitely neither, so I'm not concerned with resale value. Basically, I plan on either driving this car into the ground or retiring it when I buy a better Porsche. :D

[Burzhui]

Actually when you get a nitrous system, the mech's tell you right away that you might need to change your pistons to high quality onese, because the onese in your engine might get fucked up really hard and really fast, so you will be well over 1000 on that one.
I just wanted to put it in myu cougar, but i dunno if it's a good idea or not

[Ice-9]

Hmm. Yeah, the reliability issue is the main one worrying me, I guess. The car IS my "daily driver," but not in the sense that I need it to get to work. I take mass transit into SF every day, but I do use the car to get groceries, dry cleaning, etc. So maybe having it blow up wouldn't be such a great thing. Plus I just bought a bunch of car stereo stuff, so maybe that'll suffice to satisfy my penchant for upgrading (at least for now). But I may still change my mind...