Octane Booster
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 4,366
Likes: 7
From: Las Vegas NV
Octane Booster
Does this stuff really work? Any recommendations on certain brands (like Outlaw 108), there's quite a few products on the shelves, from 104 to 108 boost (supposedly). Can this stuff actually harm your engine? Thanks.
Pro
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 544
Likes: 0
From: La Jolla California
Re: Octane Booster (Motor City Vette)
Most of this off-the-shelf stuff will only raise your octane rating a few points. That means from 92 to 92.2 or so. It's not really worthwhile. The only way to really increase your octane (short of buying race gas) is to mix in with street gas appropriate quantities of xylene (117 octane) or toluene(114 octane) to achieve the octane you desire. These are the chemicals used in high octane race gas. You can get them at your local painting supply co. for about $5/gallon.
Pro
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 544
Likes: 0
From: La Jolla California
Re: Octane Booster (74VETTE)
Say you want 20 gallons of 100 octane fuel. You have available to you 93 octane pump gas and 117 octane Xylene. You mix 6 gallons of Xylene with 14 gallons of 93 octane pump gas. To calculate the final octane this solution will deliver you first have to calculate the percentage of each fuel types in the mixture. You have 6 gallons of Xylene in a 20 gallon solution. This means Xylene constitues 30% of the mixture. The 93 octane gas constitues the other 70%. You then multiply the appropriate percentage times the octane of each fuel and then add them together to get the final octane. In our example, we get (.3 * 117) + (.7 * 93) = 100.2 final octane. You can use the same method to obtain any desired octane using any different fuel types- just change the mixture percentages and octane ratings accordingly.
[Modified by Langadorf, 12:38 AM 1/13/2003]
[Modified by Langadorf, 12:38 AM 1/13/2003]
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 9,341
Likes: 0
From: Las Vegas Nevada
Re: Octane Booster (Motor City Vette)
This brings up another question for me... Could someone please explain what the Octane rating of the gas actually means what what the effect is of higher octane gas? I always run the highest I can find, normally 91 but do I really need the good stuff or would I be better off with a midgrade?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 5,635
Likes: 4
From: Orlando Floriduh
Re: Octane Booster (SharkByte)
Check out this link http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/part1/
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 9,341
Likes: 0
From: Las Vegas Nevada
Re: Octane Booster (silvervetteman)
Check out this link http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasoline-faq/part1/
Owwww. My brain hurts...
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 5,635
Likes: 4
From: Orlando Floriduh
Re: Octane Booster (SharkByte)
There are four parts. That was part one. You are a fast reader !! There was another doc. on adding toluene to your fuel but I can't fid it off hand. If you do a search on the web you will had information overload. WARNING!! WIL ROBINSON WARNING!
Your 81 should run fine on 93..... BTW I used to visit some friends in Lompoc. :leaving:
[Modified by silvervetteman, 9:03 AM 1/13/2003]
[Modified by silvervetteman, 9:04 AM 1/13/2003]
Your 81 should run fine on 93..... BTW I used to visit some friends in Lompoc. :leaving:
[Modified by silvervetteman, 9:03 AM 1/13/2003]
[Modified by silvervetteman, 9:04 AM 1/13/2003]
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Pro
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 544
Likes: 0
From: La Jolla California
Re: Octane Booster (silvervetteman)
Generally, you should run the lowest octane gas your car can run on without pinging or retarding the timing. If you use a higher octane fuel than what your motor requires, you're just wasting money and possibly gas mileage. Lower octane gas actually tends to release more energy when burned than higher octane fuels thus making it more efficient. Higher octane is for motors with high compression, nitrous, or high boost. Octane is basically just a measure of knock-resistance - higher octane doesn't give you more power unless your engine is built in such a way that it can benefit from it.
[Modified by Langadorf, 10:31 AM 1/13/2003]
[Modified by Langadorf, 10:31 AM 1/13/2003]
Pro
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 544
Likes: 0
From: La Jolla California
Re: Octane Booster (BB wowbagger)
Carcinogenic is the correct spelling. You need to be exposed to high amounts of Toluene or Xylene for it to be really dangerous (the same goes for gas too). Just be careful pouring it and don't get any on your skin. I've spilled some on my skin before and it immediately makes your skin feel all tingly and kind of numb. If you're worried about it, just wear some rubber gloves and don't go sniffing the fumes intentionally.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,699
Likes: 1
From: Westampton NJ
Re: Octane Booster (Motor City Vette)
Per my friend the ChemE when I asked her many moons ago what "octane" was...
(Simplified for my non-technical Computer Engineering self)
Octane is a rating of a fuel's resistance to burning. A higher octane fuel requires more heat and pressure to burn at the same rate as a lower octane fuel.
e.g. -- 87 octane takes .5 seconds to burn with a normal charge density in an 8.5:1 CR cylinder (hypothetical numbers). 91 octane would take .8 seconds to burn in the same charge density and CR (again, hypothetical numbers). 91 octane would take .5 seconds to burn with a normal charge density in a 10.5:1 CR cylinder (same assumptions as other examples).
Hope that explains octane in laymen's terms that still don't make the real engineers cringe! :steering:
(Simplified for my non-technical Computer Engineering self)
Octane is a rating of a fuel's resistance to burning. A higher octane fuel requires more heat and pressure to burn at the same rate as a lower octane fuel.
e.g. -- 87 octane takes .5 seconds to burn with a normal charge density in an 8.5:1 CR cylinder (hypothetical numbers). 91 octane would take .8 seconds to burn in the same charge density and CR (again, hypothetical numbers). 91 octane would take .5 seconds to burn with a normal charge density in a 10.5:1 CR cylinder (same assumptions as other examples).
Hope that explains octane in laymen's terms that still don't make the real engineers cringe! :steering:
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 7,739
Likes: 630
From: Unreconstructed, South Carolina
Re: Octane Booster (Motor City Vette)
I looked at Prestone's site for info on their octane booster known as "0 to 60" ... while the ad says it boosts octane ten (10) points ... there is a further explanation if you drill a bit further down into the site. Basically, it says the following: ten (10) octane points = one (1) octane number ... so that one (1) bottle of "0 to 60" will boost 87 octane gas up to as much as 88 octane. BTW, same info informs that "0 to 60" contains MMT. IMHO, not much of an increase & I feel the '10 point boost' claim a bit misleading for all but those who read the fine print.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 426
Likes: 0
Re: Octane Booster (Motor City Vette)
I can buy 110 octance racing fuel at my local gas staion at the pump down the street...It cost over $3.00 a gallon though...don't really look at the prices, it could be closer to $4.50 a gallon. Theres a racetrack nearby, I see all the stock cars get towed in and fueled up in the summer...
Pro
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 708
Likes: 21
From: Montrose CA
Re: Octane Booster (emsrescu)
I see that it has already been said... booster in a bottle wont get the job done. LA gas fell apart two years ago when they went from 92 to 91 octane. That one rating point was enough for me th have to change the timing to keep the engine from knocking. Sad state of affairs for older cars.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 356
Likes: 0
From: Glacier County mt
Re: Octane Booster (Carl in LA)
http://www.kemcooil.com
Lead Supreme 130
Real T.E.L. in a can..
It is the only octane booster that works..
:yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod:
Lead Supreme 130
Real T.E.L. in a can..
It is the only octane booster that works..
:yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod: