OCTANE BOOSTER

[MIKESPOLARA]

Any recommendations on octane booster? Available in qrt cans a plus

 

[Photon440]

Toluene from your hardware or paint store store. It has an (R+M)/2 octane rating of 117.

 

[MIKESPOLARA]

Toluene from your hardware or paint store store. It has an (R+M)/2 octane rating of 117.

Thanks for that info, unfortunately it can't be sold in SoCalif due to it's high VOC BUT I've got my paint store good friend working on it.

 

[RJRENTON]

Toluene from your hardware or paint store store. It has an (R+M)/2 octane rating of 117.

The problem with toluene and the similar solvent MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) is its volitility index. While increasing the octane rating, as noted, is evaporation rate is high. If you have fuel percolation issues now, using these aforementioned materials, will make those temperature related issues worse. Not to mention the safety aspects. Both toluene and MEK will diffuse thru the skin directly into the blood and nervous system.
If you feel you need a higher octane fuel, consider one of the Sunoco Race fuels available in 5 gallon pails either leaded or unleaded. Expensive but it definitely works. OR, thrre is 100 octane Low Lead Aviation Fuel available works extremely well...but expensive. IMO....stay away ftom the "octane booster" additives...they contain a manganese bearing compounds, which when combusted, will kill your spark plugs. Go to www.sunocoracefuels.com to see what's available. Just my opinion of course.
BOB RENTON

 

[GrabberOrange69]

I’ve used this to good effect on my ‘69 11.2:1 CR Shelby GT350:

 

[RJRENTON]

I’ve used this to good effect on my ‘69 11.2:1 CR Shelby GT350:

View attachment 1164925

BUT.....how many bottles of this product did you use to satisfy your "11.2:1 compression ratio" and what was the cost per bottle or what was the dilution ratio of gasoline to octane booster. "Good effect" means?
BOB RENTON

 

[GrabberOrange69]

Bob,

I fill all my vintage cars with ethanol free 92 from a local station. Keeps my carbs and fuel systems happy. For the Shelby, I then add a bottle of the Lucas octane boost. The car has a 20 gallon tank...and since I don’t run it dry, but down to an UN-scientific 1/4 tank before I refill, it’s essentially getting one bottle/15 gallons. I’ve used other brands of octane boost, but Lucas seems to be consistent. I’ve putted the car around w/o octane boost, but never laid on it w/o octane boost.

I don’t have any ping problems; the car doesn’t diesel following shut-down; the engine has been in the car since ‘03, hyper-pathetic flat top pistons at zero deck; .032” quench; aluminum heads. The cam is not radical...226*@.050, .500 lift. It pulls vacuum for the power brakes. It’s a 4sp.

 

[RJRENTON]

Bob,

I fill all my vintage cars with ethanol free 92 from a local station. Keeps my carbs and fuel systems happy. For the Shelby, I then add a bottle of the Lucas octane boost. The car has a 20 gallon tank...and since I don’t run it dry, but down to an UN-scientific 1/4 tank before I refill, it’s essentially getting one bottle/15 gallons. I’ve used other brands of octane boost, but Lucas seems to be consistent. I’ve putted the car around w/o octane boost, but never laid on it w/o octane boost.

I don’t have any ping problems; the car doesn’t diesel following shut-down; the engine has been in the car since ‘03, hyper-pathetic flat top pistons at zero deck; .032” quench; aluminum heads. The cam is not radical...226*@.050, .500 lift. It pulls vacuum for the power brakes. It’s a 4sp.

As long as you're happy....great. I'll continue to use Sunoco Race fuel standard at 110 octane leaded @ 2.5 gallons per 3/4 tank of 93 octane pump gas....this is what works for me.
BOB RENTON

 

[Photon440]

The problem with toluene and the similar solvent MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) is its volitility index. While increasing the octane rating, as noted, is evaporation rate is high. If you have fuel percolation issues now, using these aforementioned materials, will make those temperature related issues worse. Not to mention the safety aspects. Both toluene and MEK will diffuse thru the skin directly into the blood and nervous system.
If you feel you need a higher octane fuel, consider one of the Sunoco Race fuels available in 5 gallon pails either leaded or unleaded. Expensive but it definitely works. OR, thrre is 100 octane Low Lead Aviation Fuel available works extremely well...but expensive. IMO....stay away ftom the "octane booster" additives...they contain a manganese bearing compounds, which when combusted, will kill your spark plugs. Go to www.sunocoracefuels.com to see what's available. Just my opinion of course.
BOB RENTON

That is absolutely not a problem with toluene. It used to be a common fuel with highly turbocharged Formula One racing teams in the 80's, using as much as 86% Toluene as fuel. Compared to gasoline, the higher density toluene evaporates so slowly that pre-heating of the fuel was required (running engine heat into the fuel line) but at a more reasonable 10% level on street use the fuel will burn quite nicely.

Of course you shouldn't get it on your skin; being careful with such liquids is common sense. You shouldn't get gasoline on your skin either, although it is less of an irritant.

 

[MIKESPOLARA]

As long as you're happy....great. I'll continue to use Sunoco Race fuel standard at 110 octane leaded @ 2.5 gallons per 3/4 tank of 93 octane pump gas....this is what works for me.
BOB RENTON

Where do you store all this race gas? I sure wouldn't want large quantities in my garage

 

[mrhemi]

Tetra-ethyl lead

 

[RJRENTON]

Where do you store all this race gas? I sure wouldn't want large quantities in my garage

Generally, because a supplier is close by, I only keep 1-2 five gallon containers at hand. Because of Covid, there are not many car type activities available, so fuel consumption is low....the car only sees 300 - 400 miles per year. Average MPG is 7-8, I DO NOT race the car at all, so fuel consumption and storage is not an issue. This is just what works for my circumstance.
BOB RENTON

 

[MIKESPOLARA]

Generally, because a supplier is close by, I only keep 1-2 five gallon containers at hand. Because of Covid, there are not many car type activities available, so fuel consumption is low....the car only sees 300 - 400 miles per year. Average MPG is 7-8, I DO NOT race the car at all, so fuel consumption and storage is not an issue. This is just what works for my circumstance.
BOB RENTON

Understood. I don't drive very much also but not sure if any suppliers close by, at least close enough for me. I hate driving around town in traffic which is part of SoCal life

 

[RJRENTON]

That is absolutely not a problem with toluene. It used to be a common fuel with highly turbocharged Formula One racing teams in the 80's, using as much as 86% Toluene as fuel. Compared to gasoline, the higher density toluene evaporates so slowly that pre-heating of the fuel was required (running engine heat into the fuel line) but at a more reasonable 10% level on street use the fuel will burn quite nicely.

Of course you shouldn't get it on your skin; being careful with such liquids is common sense. You shouldn't get gasoline on your skin either, although it is less of an irritant.

I researched the subject.....yes it is added to gasoline to enhance its octane rating.
FYI....
You can get toluene at Sherwin Williams Commercial paint stores. It is between 114-117 octane.
Toluene is an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent often referred as methylbenzene. Toluene is widely used in industry, often served as a substitute for benzene. Methyl side groups present in toluene makes toluene metabolized differently than benzene.
Toluene is well absorbed through the lung, with an alveolar retention of 40 to 80 per cent of an inhaled dose. Air-borne exposure to toluene vapor represents a significant concern to both industrial workers and consumers. Current standards for a permissible exposure limit for toluene at 100 ppm.
Toluene is produced during the process of making gasoline and other fuels from crude oil, in making coke from coal, and as a by-product in the manufacture of styrene. Toluene has numerous commercial and industrial applications and is a solvent in paints, lacquers, thinners, glues, correction fluid and nail polish remover, and is used in the printing and leather tanning processes. Due to its easy accessibility, low cost and ease of concealment, some U.S. states have placed restrictions on the sale of these products to minors.
Toluene is used as a solvent, especially for paints, coatings, gums, oils and resins, and as raw material in the production of benzene, phenol and other organic solvents and in the production of polymers and rubbers. Most amounts of toluene (in the form of benzene-toluene-xylene mixtures) are used in the blending of petrol and it also occurs as a by-product of styrene manufacture.
Toluene is a pure hydrocarbon (C7H8) contains only hydrogen and carbon atoms. It belongs to a particular category of hydrocarbons called aromatic hydrocarbons. Complete combustion of toluene yields two different types of products like carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). There are no metallic compounds (lead, magnesium etc), no nitro compounds and no oxygen atoms in toluene. Toluene is made up of exactly the same ingredients as ordinary gasoline.
Octane rating/octane number
Octane rating or octane number is a standard measure of the performance of a motor fuel or aviation fuel. The higher the octane number, the more compression the fuel can withstand before detonating. In broad terms, fuels with a higher octane rating are used in high-compression engines that generally have higher performance. In contrast, fuels with lower octane numbers are ideal for diesel engines.
The octane number in vehicles mentioned as Anti-Knock Index (AKI). It’s an average of two octane ratings using the same test equipment but using different operating conditions. The methods produce a Research Octane number (RON) and a Motor Octane Number (MON). With modern engines and fuels systems, recent studies have shown that RON is more important than MON. So in these cars, the higher the RON the better these cars perform. This difference is called sensitivity.
Toluene applications in vehicle additives
Toluene has a RON octane rating of 121 and a MON rating of 107, leading to a (R+M)/2 rating of 114. (R+M)/2 are how ordinary fuels are rated in the US. Toluene has a sensitivity rating of 14 (RON: 121-107 MON). This compares favorably with alcohols, which have sensitivities in the 20 to 30 range. The more sensitive a fuel is the more its performance degrades under load. Toluene’s low sensitivity means that it is an excellent fuel for a heavily loaded engine.
Toluene is denser than ordinary gasoline and contains more energy per unit volume. Thus combustion of toluene leads to more energy being liberated and thus more power generated. This is in contrast to oxygenated octane boosters like ethanol or Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE), which contain less energy per unit volume compared to gasoline. The higher heating value of toluene also means that the exhaust gases contain more kinetic energy, which in turn means that there is more energy to drive turbocharger vanes.
Toluene is such an effective anti knock fuel that it takes a smaller quantity to achieve the same octane boost compared to 100 octane racing gas.
Toluene is such an effective anti knock fuel it also means that it is more difficult to ignite at low temperatures. The Formula 1 cars that ran on 84 per cent toluene needed to have hot radiator air diverted to heat its fuel tank to 70oC to assist its vaporization. Thus too strong a concentration of toluene will lead to poor cold start and running characteristics. It’s recommended that the concentration of toluene used not to exceed 30 per cent or what the engine is capable of utilizing.
Maybe you knew all this info...maybe not....perhaps others can benefit from the information.
BOB RENTON

 

[68GTX4SPEED]

This is the real ****, but it's extremely poison, use gloves and the wind coming from your back when doing a mixture, don't get a drop on your skin ever, https://www.ebay.com/itm/Octane-Supreme-130-fuel-additive-octane-boost-booster-/190586596801?_ul=CL

 

[33 IMP]

I use two or three gallons of 100LL in an 8gallon cell, the rest 91 california cat pee. Just don't get caught with it on the street. (The avgas in Arizona is cheaper than pump premium in california).

 

[Sixpactogo]

I used this stuff years ago in my Sixpack Challenger. I bought a gallon of it at the Mopar Nationals years ago. It stopped the pinging so I guess it helped. I got tired of messing with it though and sold the Challenger and built my Gen III ride that will run fine on the 91 premium . http://bndautomotive.com/page/page/901818.htm

 

[Johnpat]

Boostane,been using it for years.
Order on line along with it's info.

 

[SlinktRR]

I agree with RJ, don't use toluene. I work in a lab and generally the rule is chlorinated solvents/benzene avoid, like carbon tetrachloride, and if you have to use it use it in a fume hood. Toluene, while not chlorinated and less toxic than benzene because of the extra methyl group on the ring, you still don't want chronic exposure. Storing it in the garage is worse than having gasoline as the vapors are no bueno for your CNS/brain in general. Think glue sniffers and the brain damage they suffer, toluene is in plastic adhesives like model cement. And the more you are exposed the less you notice it as your nose loses sensitivity to the vapors, but you are still breathing it. It may do well for adding octane but the tradeoff without proper ventilation in the avg garage is not worth the exposure.

 

[Photon440]

You may not want to use toluene, and nobody says you must. Of course you should take precautions; filling in a closed room would be an example to avoid. Toluene is a pure hydrocarbon - it has carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms and nothing else. C7H8 - that's it. A closed container is usually quite sufficient as the Reid Vapor Pressure of toluene is far lower than gasoline, lessening the risk of evaporation. As mentioned earlier it is difficult to evaporate at room temperature.

As glue sniffers was mentioned, hopefully nobody here is planning to get high by sniffing aromatic solvents. But the fact is that toluene is already in general everyday use in certain glues, nail polish, marker pens and the like. Modellers use it straight as an adhesive to weld polystyrene parts together. And is already in the gasoline sold in many pumps. It's hard to imagine any other off-the-shelf octane booster that is actually safe if mishandled.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/tolulene-as-an-additive-higher-octane-fuel.21729/

https://www.survivalistboards.com/t...l-additive-octane-booster-for-old-gas.189790/

https://www.simplesolvents.com/simple-solvents-blog/what-is-toluene#/

https://www.sunocoracefuels.com/tech-article/mixing-fuels-calculating-octane

https://www.performanceboats.com/threads/toluene-mixing.46842/

https://www.worldofchemicals.com/42...ive-for-racing-fuels-fuel-octane-booster.html

https://www.alkydigger.net/TechInfo...-plug-fouling-with-toluene-added-to-gasoline/