Sometimes you find art in the most unexpected places, like under the hood of a powerful racecar or street machine.

Take nitrous, for example. Who would think that plumbing an intake manifold for shots of squeeze would result in such a creative expression of symmetry, composition and order. It truly is form following function.

“Once you get the function down,” says Ryan Lewis of Nitrous Express, “it’s like the inner workings of clock. You wouldn’t think it would end up looking so cool, but it does.”

EngineLabs pulled these examples from a gallery of customer manifolds on the Nitrous Express website. Lewis says there is a consistent procedure in place to map out the nitrous-line design. First, the technicians first study the car in which the nitrous will go, asking the customer for numerous photos of the engine bay. The technicians need to know every possible obstruction to clear, such as throttle linkage, superchargers and the firewall.

“Then we determine the correct spray nozzles for the manifold and install them,” says Lewis.

The hard lines are routed from the nozzles to the distribution blocks. Some of the symmetry is due to efforts in making the lines equal in length and bend radius. There are options, of course. Some lines are made from steel-braided hose, but those are more restrictive due to the hose ends. Lines may also be coiled in place of a hard 90-degree bend.

Curiously, Lewis says very few customers request nitrous plumbing solely for aesthetic reasons. Except for an occasional show car, almost all plumbing is for performance. And the end results are quite stunning. Enjoy!