octane boosters

[cwhubb]

I've tried a few different octane boosters in the past and to tell the truth I've never noticed any seat of the pants or by ear as in pinging difference which begs the question, are they legit or just snake oil? I get alot of anectdotal stories, is there any info out there based on legit testing? Also aviation fuel...can you use it or not?
Thanks

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

ive used the moroso octane booster before and had success
with it. only for my original street car never for my drag cars.

 

[Darter6]

Years ago Hot Rod magizine did a story and found that it made a improvement with 87 octane. They got a higher octane number mixing with the 87 than the 91 octane they tested. It may be in their arcives.That's all I can remember.
I've used them in my motorcycle because it would ping on a hard pull when the temps out here are above 100 degrees.Sometimes it helped and most of the times it didn't.104 and the $10 a bottle stuff worked but the cheaper $4 bucks a bottle did nothing. I have a bottle of Lucas to try next. Avgas, My brother-in-law swears by it in his supercomp dragster.Others say it is blended for high altitude and isn't the best for ET but has a high octane number.Never used it myself.

 

[cwhubb]

hmm, I have heard good things about 104. I'm at 6300 ft alt, theoreticaly I can use lower octane (91) I found out some av gas is only 80 octane, others 110, I'm concerned about what the additives might do to my motor, did you know it's color coded? lol oh yea... it has very high lead levels too.

- - - Updated - - -

well I looked at european car site they did a super comprehensive test and surprise or lack there of... mm and ferosens based boosters worked best with 87 octane, 91 or above negligable gains. conclusion was for the extra 3 bucks per fill up it costs to upgrade to premium gas, it's money down the drain to buy a 10 buck can of booster. be advised this doesnt apply to high compression race engines. also you can get away with a little less octane with aluminium heads

 

[Moparmatt72]

My dad ran the lucus booster in is 85 dodge dually with a blue printed 360. And it took the pinging away. Ive tried the preston one and noticed a little difference in my neon srt4.

 

[cwhubb]

@ mopar Matt you know, my 94 ram 1500 with the 360 pings once in a blue moon with 87 octane

 

[Stumper]

They do raise the octane (rating) a bit and can help with a motor that is in the detonation zone but from what I understand they do not increase the heat value of the fuel to actually give anymore power?

 

[RustyRatRod]

I've used 104+ in the past and it always worked good.

 

[cwhubb]

@ stumper from what I read they lower the ignition/ flash point of the gas so it doesnt cook off before the spark plug ignites it and you can advance the timing for more power

 

[Moparmatt72]

@ mopar Matt you know, my 94 ram 1500 with the 360 pings once in a blue moon with 87 octane

I believe my pop was running 89 and still pinged once in a while too especially if he had a load or was towing something.

 

[cwhubb]

@ Matt, I think they slip us crap gas once in a while

 

[Moparmatt72]

Lol no doubt about that

 

[Budnicks]

Avgas, My brother-in-law swears by it in his supercomp dragster.Others say it is blended for high altitude and isn't the best for ET but has a high octane number.Never used it myself.

it's a "light" hot fuel/gasoline, but it has anti-icing additive too, it is high in octane count thou, really depend on your combo, some combos even high compression, like much "heavier" slower burning fuels/gasolines, even at a slightly lower octane levels...

 

[68GTX4SPEED]

If you wanna go old school and use the real stuff tetraerhyl lead they have started the production again, I have bought it but not tried it yet, will do it this summer.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Octane-Supr...pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item2c5fd8adc1&vxp=mtr

 

[Big Sugar]

Almost all available Octain boosters sold at automotive stores are bottles of Mental Horsepower, that have only a slight effect on your pump gas Octain Level......Basically it's like a clean car feels faster.


Ron

 

[67 coronet]

same results as superstockracer here.ran moroso octain boost in a hot 68 charger 440 on the street.ran great.ran too low on gas one time and forgot to buy the moroso(hard to find that stuff)put in 8 gal of premium with a full can of 104+.pinged like a pig.had to retard the timming just to limp it home.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

They do raise the octane (rating) a bit and can help with a motor that is in the detonation zone but from what I understand they do not increase the heat value of the fuel to actually give anymore power?

Believe it or not, LOWER octane gasoline (faster burning) has a higher "heat value" and makes more power than premium or octane-boosted gasoline. However, as CWHUBB pointed out, you "might" be able to get more horsepower with higher octane IF it allows you to advance your timing & that timing advance makes your particular engine combination produce more power. It all depends on your application. Octane booster or premium gasoline will just slow down a motor with 8:1 compression.

The advantage of higher octane (think of octane as "anti-knock" rating) is that you can build an engine with higher compression, more boost, more nitrous, etc. without the engine "pinging" itself to pieces. The moral of the story is, whatever engine combination you have, run the lowest octane gasoline you can without getting knock/ping.

I don't know much about AV-gas except it is illegal to run on the street (something about taxes) and it probably doesn't have the right additives in it that a daily-driven street motor needs. Again as CWHUBB mentioned, the delta-H (heat value aka "heat of combustion") is what is important for power.... that's why nitro methane works so great in top fuel cars. I had some nitro methane way back when and considered blending it with my gasoline, but never tried it. I've also heard somewhere that old racers would dump a gallon or two of xylene (type of paint thinner) in their tanks, but I'm not sure if that was for delta-H or octane-boosting reasons.

The only thing I can think of that octane booster is good for is if your motor needs high octane not to knock and you can't always get good gas. My Road Runner only runs on 93-octane. 92-octane is a 50/50 proposition and with 91-octane premium the car will idle, but you can't even put it in gear without it knocking like crazy. I used to keep a couple cans in my trunk in case I was ever in an area where I couldn't get 93 octane gasoline. In Chicago all the premium is 93-octane so I haven't needed it in years & I haven't taken a long trip in the car in years....maybe this summer (big grin).

 

[womanator]

I'm a big fan of aluminum heads.
Blend the chambers-no sharp edges.
Have the exhaust flow for the cam you are running.
If you can't get then exhaust out you keep the heat in the engine.

My True street car.
67 Dart.
440 ci.
11.5-1 engine.
Eddy heads
Stock flow on my bench.
in.-246 @.600
ex.-198@600
Cleaned up.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Piston .004 above the deck.
Cam-Hughs grind #htl6064bs .587 in .594 ex.
Installed @103.
tti's 2" headers with 3" ex to dump's before the axels.
Timing set @ 34 degree's total in by 2800 rpm's.

280 Pass's before taking the bottom end apart.
No broken rings or pistons.

After 100 pass's down the strip took the heads apart and the valves were gum'd up=carbon.
This was with Chevron 92 octane with techron.
Changed to Arco= cheap 92 octane and valves were clean when the heads were cleaned up this year.
Don't buy into the cr-p about Chevron gas keeping your engine clean.

I have about 5000 street miles on this engine and 280 pass's at the strip.
The car has run in the 10.70 range at the strip.
I guess I posted this more for the guys wanting to build a high comp. street engine.
For you guy already into detonation the answer is to solve the problem by changing you combo.
I know these are harsh words,
I'm ready for the remarks I'm going to get.
A quick fix is not the right fix,
I have a wall of shame for my mistakes.
Always buy the part for the build you are working on today.
Not for your next build.

 

[RustyRatRod]

womanator, you'll get no arguement from me. I think you're dead on.

 

[68 HEMI GTS]

If you wanna go old school and use the real stuff tetraerhyl lead they have started the production again, I have bought it but not tried it yet, will do it this summer.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Octane-Supr...pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item2c5fd8adc1&vxp=mtr

atleast that stuff tells you what it does, seems pretty decent. i think the store bought octane boosers are a gimmick. i even asked one of the old school chemical engineers about it where i work, he said "toluene" is the best way to increase octane. said the same thing about the octane boosters, "waste of money"