Kenabinkport

I have been doing a lot of research on octane boosters and I have found that using racing fuel concentrate works best.
Earlier today I went to my local auto store to find some places that sell racing fuel, and the guy working there said that he used denatured alcohol
in his car for some extra boost. I looked online and I couldn't find anything about using alcohol for performance, just for smog tests. Is this guy correct in saying that alcohol will work as booster, and if so, how much alcohol should I use per gallon of gas.
Thank you.


1993 C4 LT1 Standard

froggy47

blkbrd69

Torco does work.

Have multiple track data logs to show it. From the research I have done its about the only additive that backs up the claims.

Some other chemicals we used to be able to buy worked, but the EPA took them away.

Does the local auto store guy have real data to back up a stupid claim like using denatured alcohol?

bags142

Hmm.. maybe he was thinking of toluene?

Which can be found at many big box stores

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octanebooster.html

el es tu

Toluene is 114 octane

xylene 116.5 octane

both can be found at hardware or paint stores - they used to be cheap, but now they seem to be above $10 for the individual gallon sized cans however larger 5 gallon cans are sometimes available at a discount


you can figure out how much you need by how much fuel you are putting into the tank and averaging out the octane levels

lets say you have a 20 gallon tank and can only get 93 octane...

If you went with 14 gallons of 93 octane fuel and 6 gallons of 116.5 octane xylene, youd get approximately 100 octane fuel...

((14gallons x 93octane)+(6gallons x 116.5octane)) / 20 gallons total = 100.05 octane per gallon

Olitho

What does the Toluene and Xylene do to the rubber parts in the fuel system?

el es tu

dunno, but as a solvent it cant be good if you just dump it in pure - I highly recommend mixing the fuel in a separate container.

btw toluene is (or at least it used to be) what F1 teams use for fuel

you should see what the ethanol fuels do to aluminum parts...

EDIT:
sunoco fuel costs

http://www.sunocoracingfuels.com/en/shop

100 octane is roughly 10 bucks a gallon

Bill Dearborn

It might be useable as an Octane Booster, however, denatured alcohol is ethanol that has had something added to it so it isn't drinkable. There are various chemicals added but no standard on what is added. You could be adding something that is harmful to the engine.

Denatured alcohol is a mild solvent that is fast-evaporating and toxic. It is ethanol that includes a number of additives, thereby making it poisonous, unpalatable, and hence, undrinkable. The word “denature” symbolizes eliminating a property out of alcohol, thereby declaring it as unsafe for drinking. It is mostly used as a household paint remover and solvent. Due to its varied use in industries, denatured alcohol is combined with several additives, the most common being methanol. Other typical additives are isopropyl alcohol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, and denatonium. With its wide multiplicity of uses, denatured alcohol can easily be found at hardware stores or any other store that supplies painting materials. Despite being toxic and harmful for consumption, some people consume denatured alcohol as a surrogate alcohol which is as dangerous as causing blindness or even death, in case it contains methanol. As such, to cut out the effects of methanol, denatonium is added to give the liquid a bitter flavor.

Since it can be used as a paint remover that suggests it might not play well with your fuel system components.

Bill

Joshboody

For octane I will be tuning E45 soon once I get a handle on HPT. Not sure of the general consensus on E85 with GM fuel systems, but on the tuning seems you could get away with at least E20 (prob higher) with stock ROM letting the LTFT adjust for a bit before WOT.

Octane is very important in summer (for sure in AZ) just looking at the timing adjustments for IATs... lot of power left on the table. Even though E85 is rated at 105-ish octane its effectively higher due to the better cooling.

mgarfias

I've run both toluene and xylene as a cheaper alternative to putting in race gas. Its not that its cheaper per gallon, but you get more of an octane bump per given volume than race gas. I did mix in some ATF (a few ounces per gallon I believe) to keep from grinding the fuel pump up.

It works. Tho, in retrospect I would probably just buy a 55gal drum of race gas and add that as needed. Fortunately now that I live where its not hot as hell, I can get away with 92.