As some of you know, I made a promise to NOT buy any performance parts for the car for 2 years, at which point, I was going to install a turbo kit as an undergraduate present for myself. However, with a price of over $4000 US, which will no doubt go up in two years, and the price of a Nitrous Express wet direct port kit for less than 1/4 of that, I don't know if that promise is such a good idea anymore.

My only real concern is that I might get in trouble with the law. I will admit, if I do get it, I will run it on the street. Besides being terribly afraid of the consequences of the law, I have no problems with it.

So I was wondering, has anyone with nitrous ever been caught/ticketed for it? BTW, I'm in Ontario, so if you know the specifics regarding nitrous in Ontario, I would greatly appreciate some info regarding that.

 

Well I don't know about in Ontario, but here in Oklahoma I HEARD from a friend who says he was told by a local cop that it is illegal to have the bottle in the car because its explosive and they can ticket you for it. Like I said, this is what I heard, I don't know if its really true or not. As for actually using it, well I don't know about a nitrous ticket but I bet thats a definate speeding ticket!! Personally I wouldn't worry about it, just watch out for cops.

 

In NJ it is illegal to have the bottle hooked up in the car, not in the car itself. I always had my gauges and switches hidden so unless the cop opened my trunk he would have no idea I was using Nitrous. Thankfully in all the time I used it (over 80 bottles worth) on the street, I was never caught.

Erik

 

in virginia i know its illegal to have your bottle open while your driving on the street but i dont think its illegal to just have a bottle in your car.

 

Anyone know of nitrous legality in NYC?

 

where the helk are you going to use Nitrous in NYC?

 

Try using it on 5th ave ha ha ha

 

Ill find a place.

 

its illegal to use Nitrous on the street.. however if you want to drive around with the bottle in the car you will need a blow down tube..

 

you do realize the cost of nitrous vs. a turbo is not that far apart when you factor in the cost of filling the bottle over time.

 

Not to mention the engine rebuilds can be quite costly In ontario I believe you can have the bottle in the car however it can't be hooked up.

 

On the BQE,Beltparkway,or the Longlsland Expressway Ok!

 

I love the lawmaker's mentality on this one: "you can't have a bottle of nitrous oxide in your car because it's explosive."

OK.

The last time I checked, my car had a big tank of an extremely explosive liquid bolted to it -- Gasoline. If I recall from chemistry class, something like 1 pint of gasoline = the xplosive power of 1 stick of dynamite.

Typical bogus backwards-logic legislation.

 

would you fail your inspection if they saw a nitrous kit installed?

 

Absolutely

 

Neither liquid gasoline nor nitrous oxide is explosive. Gasoline vapor is explosive, but not the liquid in the tank. Nitrous oxide itself is not explosive, it is just a nice source of oxygen...

 

from previous discussions I remember that in illinois it is illegal to have the bottle open on public roads or highways. you must also have a purge valve.

 

What my friend said is that the bottle is pressurized, which is why it would be considered explosive, and therefore you are required to have a permit to carry it in your car. Wouldn't that be sweet! Get stopped for spraying nos and say, "Well officer, I have a permit for it!"

 

When going to inspection what should you do? Take the bottle out or the whole kit?

 

the bottle is explosive bc its pressurize, as is anything thats pressurized, try hitting a unopened can of pop with a golf club, it explodes, not flammable but it still explodes. If for any reason the pressure in the bottle exceeds the pressure that the bottle can hold, it WILL explode. Blow down tube will monitor, and if pressure gets too high, it will release the nitrous from the bottle, explosion prevented. But Nitrous Oxide(N2O) isnt flammable.

explosive =/= flammable but flammable = explosive

 

Also, N02 by itself is an inert gas.

It is only explosive when mixed with gasoline and a spark, because the reaction releases the O2 in it, causing the fuel to burn hotter, boosting your engine.

Where did everyone get this idea it was explosive in the first place?

IanS

 

frome watching the Fast and the Furious NAWZ

 

And how much does it cost?

 

I know there's a lot of fascination and wonder about nitrous oxide. It's relatively new to most, but I've been running nitrous in the mustang on the street for 10 years, and have plenty of friends doing the same thing.... and I've never heard of any of them getting a ticket for it.

Do any of you actually know of a particular case where someone actually got a ticket or failed inspection for nitrous?

Anyone actually have cold hard facts, rather than what they just heard someone else say? Any first hand information available?

I don't know of any nitrous specific laws out there, but of course, laws vary from state to state. A police officer needs a warrant to check in your trunk or under the hood, anyway. I wouldn't worry about it.

Of course if you are using it at a bad time and cause a collision or are caught reckless driving it might get a person in trouble... but I've never heard of anyone getting in any trouble for having a nitrous oxide system installed.

.........and quit calling is nosss. NOS is just a brand name. It's nitrous oxide, or nitrous if you're in a hurry.

Good Luck!

 

I have confirmation, but only for my state. Yes it is illegal to have a nitrous bottle in the car. They consider it a pressurized vessel, like oxygen tanks in an ambulance, and thereby require that you have a warning label on the car. Where to get the warning label or even if they would let you to keep it legal? I haven't a clue.

This information came from a police officer that frequents one of the shops that I go to. I don't know how much the fine would be, but speeding by itself is not probable cause to search in the trunk, but your gauges/switches are. Any officer could possibly push the issue and find probable cause, but will they? It all depends on your attitude and behavior during your stop that will go a long way into what he/she will or will not do.

 

So would it be better to hide the guages? Even if you were going to only use it on the track? I dont want a cop to get all jumpy just cause i have a nitrous gauge. Also, what do people do for state inspection?

 

Spring for the money to get a concealed system! It would be highly improbable that the cop could see it, bearing that he pulled you over and made you pop your hood (which is illegal anyways--where is the probable cause). Of course, if you have your Max painted bright orange with flames on the side and a big a$$ aluminum wing mounted to your trunk, then I believe you are definitely worth getting pulled over and ticketed cause that just paints a big target on your butt...

...hide your gauges in your glove compartment with a false top. I've seen speed shops custom fabricate these things all the time...

-A

 

It is noce to see that SOME people (especially the three posts above) have a grasp on probable cause. Rarely do I see 3 posts in a row where noone goes off on some tangent of nonsense about how it works.

That said, remember, probable cause is nothing but judgement at the actual scene. They CAN inspect whatever they want, and ticket you accordingly. Will it hold up in court? 99.9% of the time, no. But that does not stop some people from being cited, then having to waste time in court fighting the ticket (w/ or w/o a lawyer). The safe thing is a stealth or semi-stealth install, just to be safe.

Plus it does not invite theives.

So back to my question: how much is it to fill a tank?

 

Right at $45 bucks at a suttons speed shop. I havent filled mine yet but im sure there are cheaper places....just have to look.

I hear its like 60+ at the track.

Aaron

 

Ok, imagine this;

Your bottle in the trunk, right above your gas tank. You get rearended by someone. You gas tank is punctured, your bottle is punctured... Something sparks.

You have Fuel (gas), Oxgen (N20) and a spark.

OMFG that would go up like an atom bomb...

What about an accident where the gasoline is buring furiously (only in hollywood will a gas tank alone spew a 100" fireball) and the contents of your trunk are superheated. heat=pressure. Presure exceeds bottle limitations. At best, the safety valve vents the nitrous - at worst there is a catastrophic failure of the bottle. Either way it will pump lots of lovely oxygen into the middle of a gasline fire. It'd be like the 4th of july. Especially if the bottle was to fail suddenly - it'd look like the Challenger shuttle - ISTR it was an oxygen tank seal that failed - is that right?

 

Thanks for that lovely picture. In theory it is correct...pretty scary.

Only thing is, gas tanks USUALLY do not leak, even in rear-end collisions. Of course, the ones that are bad enough to make them leak are the ones that are likely to make it difficult or impossible to exit the vehicle, so your theory compounds the danger in that situation...

 

a tank of gasoline wont burn, itll go up in one big explosion, the amount of gasoline vapors that would be released from the tank being ruptured is more than enough to cause an explosion. the trunk is NOT above the gas tank, the gas tank is under the back seat. And again, NITROUS OXIDE(N2O) is NOT flammable. Try it yourself, take a nitrous bottle, put a lighter at the valve, and open it, there will be no flame at all, itll put it right out. N2O is a non flammable molecule, only in the heat and controlled environment of a combustion chamber in an engine, does it get hot enough to break the molecule into its separate elements, nitrogen(N2) and oxygen(O2). Its simple chemistry, just bc the elements the molecule is made from is flammable it doesnt make the resulting molecule share that trait. H2O as u know it water, Hydrogen(H2) and Oxygen(O2) are extremely flammable, but WATER(H2O) is NOT.

 

Hi Sin, At the last car show I was in (Dark Nights), they had a large police booth where they were setting up the anti-street racing program. I talked with an officer there for a while about performance parts, and told him I was going to be installing a supercharger. He commended me on this, and said that he was happy to hear I wasn't running nitrous. I asked him why, the legalities about it, and why it would be "worse" than an SC, when the gains from a 100 shot direct port, seem greater (in the 1/4 anyway..)

He said that Nitrous was only good for blowing your **** up, showed me pictures of some idiot who blew up his car with nitrous ... However, the car was rear-ended. The actual explosion was NOT caused by the use of nitrous, which I pointed out to him. He still said toting around a bomb in your trunk isn't a good idea, which I guess he's somewhat right now.

Anyway, legalities. In Ontario, he grumbled that it was 100% legal to carry Nitrous around in your trunk, 100% legal to have it setup to run, however, it was illegal to USE on the street. How a cop is ever going to see you running nitrous, and be able to prove that you were actually running it is impossible to me. He said they were trying to get legislation passed to make it illegal, but for the meantime, you should be safe.

 

That's exactly what I was told as well, regarding the legality of nitrous oxide in street cars. But with my horrendous record of charges, I'm hesitant to push my luck. In fact, I have to be in court on the 6th to have another two tickets dropped. It's basically no contest, I'll win. I've been charged with like 15 demerit points now, though I have a perfectly clean record.

 

NOS in Ontario is good...m'kay.


It is for Off-Road use only. Just be careful where you spray, and you will be fine.



G-uiced


Anyway, legalities. In Ontario, he grumbled that it was 100% legal to carry Nitrous around in your trunk, 100% legal to have it setup to run, however, it was illegal to USE on the street. How a cop is ever going to see you running nitrous, and be able to prove that you were actually running it is impossible to me. He said they were trying to get legislation passed to make it illegal, but for the meantime, you should be safe. [/B][/QUOTE]

 

Nitrous oxide (N20) doesn't break down into nitrogen and oxygen until it's temperature reaches around 575 degrees. (if memory serves) It comes out of the bottle at a really cold temperature, then the heat of compression breaks it apart and frees the oxygen. This extra oxygen then reacts with the extra fuel that's injected to make more power.

Spraying nitrous oxide directly on a fire won't really do anything... I tried it. I sprayed it on a campfire, expecting it to cause a huge flare-up. It didn't work. Doing the same thing with pure oxygen makes for an impressive display!

The largest danger from a nitrous bottle is a possible rupture. But, there's a safety button on the end of the valve that will rupture if the bottle pressure gets too high. This releases the bottle's contents and keeps it's pressure from getting high enough to make the bottle fail.

Good Luck!

 

<s>A police officer needs a warrant to check in your trunk or under the hood, anyway. I wouldn't worry about it. </s>

First of all.. forget about warrants. Even to search your house, an officer only needs probable cause. Meaning that he has some reason to suspect something is wrong. Like if you opened your door and he smelled decomposing corpse.. that would be probable cause to search your home for a decomposing corpse. If you're pulled over for racing, or are at the scene of street racing, this is probable cause to search your car for illegal modifications. Also you do not have as much privacy interest in your car as in your home (according to the law anyway.)