Ford F-150 Lightning Nitrous Install - Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

Of interest here was how Shaun positioned the gauge. In the mockup we did before, he checked the angles of the valves on the bottle and put the gauge in a position where it was easy to read when he looked at it in the bed. Once everything is tight on the bottle, install it in the truck.

After we got the bottle in, it was time to run the nitrous-feed line and heater-solenoid wires to the front of the truck. Before we ran the lines, however, Adalberto "Specter" Rosas from JDM wrapped the feed line and wires in loom and electrical tape to protect it from the harsh New Jersey environment. Before he fed the lines through the previously drilled holes in the bed, he hooked them up to the bottle and put a rubber grommet in the holes to keep the wires and lines from chafing on bare metal. He then put the truck on the lift and ran the line and wires along the left-side framerail toward the front of the truck. The wires made their way into the cab while the nitrous line made its way into the engine compartment.

While Specter was running the lines, Shaun had to fabricate a bracket on which to mount the nitrous, fuel, and purge solenoids. The solenoids in the kit were different from previous solenoids he worked with, as the outlets on the solenoids came out from the bottom, whereas the older-style came out from the side. Shaun had to rework the bracket to make the solenoids fit. Once he got everything marked, he cut the bracket from aluminum, wiped it down, bent it how it needed to be bent, and painted it black.

Seen here is the template Shaun used and the bracket that resulted. The bracket has yet to be bent and drilled, however. It took a bit of time to get the bracket made, but it was worth it in the end.

Once the bracket was finished, Shaun put the necessary wiring and fittings on the solenoids, then put them on the bracket. When he put on the fittings, he used the supplied thread locker and methodically linked everything up so as not to strip any of the threads. Once the solenoids were installed on the bracket, he bolted the assembled piece under the hood of the Fridge. The bracket was made to bolt to the power-brake booster, so that's where it went.

This is what the powerplant of the Fridge looked like before we got busy. By the time we were finished, it had a nice array of nitrous solenoids, wiring, and nitrous lines that added a 125hp shot of the squeeze on top of the 600-plus horsepower the Whipple-blown Triton motor was already making.

In this photo series, you can see how Shaun mounted the arming switch, purge button, and bottle-heater switch in the dash bezel. He started by removing the bezel from the dash, leaving the area open for Specter to run the wiring for the purge, nitrous power lead, and bottle heater under the dash and into position.

With the bezel on the bench, Shaun sourced some rocker switches and the push-button switch (for the purge) from a local auto parts store, marked where they needed to be installed, and carefully drilled out the needed holes in the bezel. We wanted to go for the sleeper/factory look, so we used these slick switches instead of those supplied in the kit.

Once the switches were in, Shaun hooked up the wires and reinstalled the bezel on the dash of the truck. Unless you know what to look for, you can hardly tell what the switches are for.