Hello All, This is my first post, but I have been reading a lot on these forums and I wanted to get your opinions on Nitrous. I have an 05 2.2L coupe, and have been going over all the different things I want to do. I have a feeling the GM supercharger isnt going to produce enough HP to justify dropping over 4,000.00 on it. So then I started thinking about Turbo, which sounds great, but I have heard from a few different places that Turbos can ABNORMALLY wear out an engine. I do know that with perfomance, you have to give up SOME longevity, thats a given, and with proper care I know that any engine can run for a long time, bbut I am worried that Turbo would un-neccesarily wear out the engine.
I was speaking with the guys at the shop up the street, and they recommended doing all of the normal modifications (Intake, Exhaust, throttle body) and then install a nitrous kit, which will give turbo power when nessecary, but leave the car running fine otherwise.

Can anyone thing of any drawbacks to this? Sorry for the long post!

BTW, on a side note, I received an email notification from Borla that a cat-back system for the Cobalt 2.2L will be available in the next few weeks!!!!!

 

http://www.gm.com/company/gmtunersou...build_book.htm

Read through these and you'll have a better understanding of what the 2.2L can do.

Welcome to the site by the way

 

Thanks!

I actually have a copy of this book, I bought it from the local GM parts department for $15.00 after seeing it on Ebay for $20.00.
I guess I should have read it a little bit more carefully, as it says right there thats its safe for up to a 100 shot. But thanks for the link!

Does anyone know, and pardon my ignorance, how long does a shot last in your system? Is it something that is pretty much gone after a minute or so, or does it last longer?

And how long will a bottle last when used conservatively?

 

just go turbo yuoll be happier

 

I think nitrous is a good choice on these engines, I hope to go this way as well. Power only when you need it so your car will run like stock pretty much any other time. I have read that for these engines, anything over a 50 shot is not recommended unless some timing is pulled.

Your nitrous last until your bottle is out of course. It will stay on as long as you have the nitrous button engaged or as long as you're at WOT (depending on the kit).

Don't forget to buy a step colder plugs (or 2?) and run 91/93 octane when running nitrous.

Also about the statement turbo statement. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I mean if you're pushing something like 20psi then yeah but you should have forged internals at that point anyway. As long as you arent' overboosting you shouldn't see any abnormal engine wear.

 

well a stage 3 turbo kit adds appox. 90 hp so when compared to that you could essentially spray a 90 shot of nitrous if you wanted to and it would still be safe since they both add the same ammount of power and pressure, of course i mean 1 or the other

 

90 hp from a turbo and 90 hp from nitrous are from 2 different affects.... the nitrous creates a stronger explosion instead of the turbo affecting the air intake and exhaust. nitrous wears the engine a lot more than any turbo will.

 

how?

 

The engine is affected differently with each method, but the end result is the same.

However, you can typically run a correctly configured engine 100% duty on boost, whereas you most likely can not run an engine on spray for an equal amount of time.

 

I'm just not a very big fan of nitrous.....

 

if nitrous is tuned correctly, it shouldnt have any abnormal effects
it puts less longtime stress on ur engine

if you look at a motor that has nitrous, its in so much better shape because it burns so much cleaner

turbo will require quite a bit of supporting mods

i would use nitrous, but i wouldnt do more than a 100 shot on stock internals

 

The GM build book recommends a max of 75 on the stock 2.2L

 

dont forget when you turbo the 2.2 youll be switching from regular unleaded to the high performance gasoline. and youll be filling up more frequently.

 

Not necessiarily(sp?) turbos have been found to sometimes up fuel economy. That's why all the huge boats run huge turbos for the gains and the increased mpg. All in how you drive it.

 

not if you tune it for different fuel maps
i dont know if there is tuning software available for that tho

 

Again pardon my ignorance, but dont MOST fuel management systems allow you to select the Octane rating, and then adjust accordingly?

Its really sounding like turbo is going to be the way to go. Especially since from what I understand, with a blow off valve, I can (with a light foot) operate the car normally. Even more so because its a 5 speed, I can control the boost that much better.
Is that pretty much right or am I way off?