home brewed octane booster
09-20-2009, 12:25 AM
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home brewed octane booster
http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16920
i've been reading article on a lot of site such as those evo and subi
mixing 10% ish of TOLUENE in your gas tank can boost your octane rating. and i'm not really sure about the whole math and science behind this. but a lot of those evo, subi guys are coming out some great result with this toluene stuff which can be purchase from paint store. any more knowledgeable people please come out and chimp in, please. i want to understand this tolune stuff.
quote from qoute from wiki
Toluene can be used as an octane booster in gasoline fuels used in internal combustion engines. Toluene at 86% by volume fueled all the turbo Formula 1 teams in the 1980s, first pioneered by the Honda team. The remaining 14% was a "filler" of n-heptane, to reduce the octane to meet Formula 1 fuel restrictions. Toluene at 100% can be used as a fuel for both two-stroke and four-stroke engines; however, due to the density of the fuel and other factors, the fuel does not vaporize easily unless preheated to 70 degrees Celsius (Honda accomplished this in their Formula 1 cars by routing the fuel lines through the muffler system to heat the fuel). Toluene also poses similar problems as alcohol fuels, as it eats through standard rubber fuel lines and has no lubricating properties as standard gasoline does, which can break down fuel pumps and cause upper cylinder bore wear.
^ so from my understanding, a small doese of this toluene should not do any harm to our motor, or O2 sensor.
i've been reading article on a lot of site such as those evo and subi
mixing 10% ish of TOLUENE in your gas tank can boost your octane rating. and i'm not really sure about the whole math and science behind this. but a lot of those evo, subi guys are coming out some great result with this toluene stuff which can be purchase from paint store. any more knowledgeable people please come out and chimp in, please. i want to understand this tolune stuff.
quote from qoute from wiki
Toluene can be used as an octane booster in gasoline fuels used in internal combustion engines. Toluene at 86% by volume fueled all the turbo Formula 1 teams in the 1980s, first pioneered by the Honda team. The remaining 14% was a "filler" of n-heptane, to reduce the octane to meet Formula 1 fuel restrictions. Toluene at 100% can be used as a fuel for both two-stroke and four-stroke engines; however, due to the density of the fuel and other factors, the fuel does not vaporize easily unless preheated to 70 degrees Celsius (Honda accomplished this in their Formula 1 cars by routing the fuel lines through the muffler system to heat the fuel). Toluene also poses similar problems as alcohol fuels, as it eats through standard rubber fuel lines and has no lubricating properties as standard gasoline does, which can break down fuel pumps and cause upper cylinder bore wear.
^ so from my understanding, a small doese of this toluene should not do any harm to our motor, or O2 sensor.
09-20-2009, 01:00 AM
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toluene is powerful stuff, if you decide to use it, use in well vented area, with rubber gloves, and keep it off paint, same as most everything else.
All I can tell you, is we use toluene as a slovent on airplane parts in watered down doses. I've seen this stuff in pure form eat through kevlar, kevlar/cf combined fabrics like butter, along with alum rivets, and alum outter skins. It's just like methenol(gas line antifreeze), in small doses it should be ok.
But do your homework, and get the ratio's right, cause that would be a hell of a expensive fix. If your engine is still under warranty, I wouldn't even consider this, there are other proven octane boosters out that you'll get the samething with.
All I can tell you, is we use toluene as a slovent on airplane parts in watered down doses. I've seen this stuff in pure form eat through kevlar, kevlar/cf combined fabrics like butter, along with alum rivets, and alum outter skins. It's just like methenol(gas line antifreeze), in small doses it should be ok.
But do your homework, and get the ratio's right, cause that would be a hell of a expensive fix. If your engine is still under warranty, I wouldn't even consider this, there are other proven octane boosters out that you'll get the samething with.
09-20-2009, 02:54 AM
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I wouldn't trust it. I know people have been doing this since the stone age... But think of it this way. Toulene is basically a paint thinner (a very strong one as evidenced above). So, basically, you are thinning out your fuel. Fuel does have some lubricant properties to it, so IDK if I would feel too safe and confident about thinning my fuel. Just my 2 cents though.
09-20-2009, 03:06 AM
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I wouldn't trust it. I know people have been doing this since the stone age... But think of it this way. Toulene is basically a paint thinner (a very strong one as evidenced above). So, basically, you are thinning out your fuel. Fuel does have some lubricant properties to it, so IDK if I would feel too safe and confident about thinning my fuel. Just my 2 cents though.
09-20-2009, 10:39 PM
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09-21-2009, 12:18 AM
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If you mix e85/91 don't tune off the mix or tune very safely. e85 isn't perfectly 85% ethanol, it can vary by as much as 10% fillup to fillup (if not more), combine that with the fact you don't know exactly how much gas to ethanol you have mixed in your tank, and you have no idea what mixture you are tuning for. This is the reason "flex fuel" vehicles use a sensor to determine the amount of ethanol in the mix. The sensor uses dielectric measuring principle which basically means it measures the conductivity of the fuel - ethanol conducts better than gasoline.
Oh and we do have a lot of aluminum in our fuel systems - including the engine itself
- See the above comment about aluminum and Toluene. Not a good combo for longevity.
Oh and we do have a lot of aluminum in our fuel systems - including the engine itself
- See the above comment about aluminum and Toluene. Not a good combo for longevity.
09-21-2009, 12:28 AM
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If you mix e85/91 don't tune off the mix or tune very safely. e85 isn't perfectly 85% ethanol, it can vary by as much as 10% fillup to fillup (if not more), combine that with the fact you don't know exactly how much gas to ethanol you have mixed in your tank, and you have no idea what mixture you are tuning for. This is the reason "flex fuel" vehicles use a sensor to determine the amount of ethanol in the mix. The sensor uses dielectric measuring principle which basically means it measures the conductivity of the fuel - ethanol conducts better than gasoline.
Oh and we do have a lot of aluminum in our fuel systems - including the engine itself - See the above comment about aluminum and Toluene. Not a good combo for longevity.
Oh and we do have a lot of aluminum in our fuel systems - including the engine itself
- See the above comment about aluminum and Toluene. Not a good combo for longevity.
09-21-2009, 12:23 PM
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I've used the toluene octane booster when I ran a gas engine in a "pump gas" class. It worked in that application.. I've never tried it on a street car though.
09-21-2009, 04:08 PM
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Toulene will increase the octane rating of gasoline fuels. The octane of toulene is about 112. However, a better material would be xylene. It has an octane rating of 119 and has more enery per gallon than toulene. A good mix would be 3 gallons of xylene and 7 gallons of premium gasoline for an octane rating of about 104. You will never have a cleaner fuel system. The last time I checked, the price of xylene was about the same price as premium gas. DO NOT GET XYLENE ON YOUR FLESH - IT IS A KNOWN CANCER CAUSING AGENT - SO IS TOULENE. DO NOT GET IT ON YOUR PAINT FOR IT WILL REMOVE IT.
09-21-2009, 04:15 PM
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Toulene will increase the octane rating of gasoline fuels. The octane of toulene is about 112. However, a better material would be xylene. It has an octane rating of 119 and has more enery per gallon than toulene. A good mix would be 3 gallons of xylene and 7 gallons of premium gasoline for an octane rating of about 104. You will never have a cleaner fuel system. The last time I checked, the price of xylene was about the same price as premium gas. DO NOT GET XYLENE ON YOUR FLESH - IT IS A KNOWN CANCER CAUSING AGENT - SO IS TOULENE. DO NOT GET IT ON YOUR PAINT FOR IT WILL REMOVE IT.