Toluene as an Octane Booster - any experience?
 

I was browsing renntech and came across a post from a 996 carrera owner about using higher octane fuels for his car. he had a link to a somewhat lengthy article about using Toluene as an Octane booster. According to the author's testimony the results were quite significant.

Has anyone here tried boosting the octane of your fuel using Toluene? Any other additive?

here is a link to the post:
http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=24524&st=0&gopid=128507&#entry 128507

I am eager to hear from everyone.

Anyone who understands the principles behind an octane rating will tell you that there's absolutely no need to increase a fuel's octane rating if the car's not designed to take advantage of it. The spark timing is set for premium fuel, raising the knock rating further cannot change spark advance any further.

Now adding a fuel with higher heating value can be a benefit, but with greater power adds greater wear and reduced longevity, not to mention compatibility issues between the fuel and fuel system components. In addition, there's fuel metering values and after treatment equiptment to worry about. I'd just stick with the stuff from the pump.

Thanks blue.

I made a search on the forum for Octane and came across this excellent thread from 2005:

http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3624&page=1&pp=20&highlight=high+ octane+race

I do understand the concept of octane rating as a relation to compression ratio VS spontaneous ignition and the goal of raising the octane rating to prevent knocking.

Although I am still a bit confuse on the question of calorific value of Toluene VS gasoline and therefore the ability to raise the amount of energy generated through the explosion process.

interesting stuff for sure...

has no use on its own

Only needed when you combine it with one, or ultimo a combination of:
- raised compression
- more advanced ignition timing
- forced induction (super charger/compressor or turbo)

Well actually, a combination of raised compression and force induction is not recommended on m96 engines :)


Mark

lol! I've come to realize that reading about the various types of failures and also the work Jake is doing.

Thanks Mark! (or should I say "Bedankt" ?)

'Bedankt' is ook goed. Nederlands is moeilijk maar met een beetje proberen lukt het wel ;)


Mark.

btw toluene is a substance which can lead to cancer. Be careful with it...

Mark.

I experiemented a lot with octane boosters with a prior car that was turbocharged. it was very much impacted by octane. even more so after I tweaked the ECU and cranked up boost. :)

running CA 91 octane, the car ran fine, but did not have maximum power. on 100 octane race fuel, or a blend of 91/100 - the car would make probably 20hp more to the ground. another guy with the same car verified this on the dyno.

i briefly tried toluene and xylene. some of this stuff you can get at lowes, home depot. the stuff is stinky, and is a major PITA to handle. you need to wear gloves as it's toxic. also, if you do get it on your hands, your skin will literally hurt like a minor sun burn. needless to say I quit using this crap.

besides, i don' tthink it helped enough to justify all the risks, hassles.

find a nice gas station near your house that stocks 100 octane unleaded race fuel. if you look hard enough you can probably find one. i managed to find a couple that sold 100 at the pumps. not cheap, but in the long run, it's so much less hassle it's not even worth considering that other stuff.

if you must try an octane booster, the best stuff I found was made by Lucas. I also found the NOS "race" brand worked. the ones that really work have MMT in it - although MMT (and xylene/toluene) are supposed to have stuff in it that is bad for fuel lines and/or catalytic converters.

on our cars - I wonder if there is really much of anything to gain with octane boosters. on a stock motor - has anyone really seen any noticeable improvement in horsepower, throttle response, etc by using higher octane fuel?

on my past car (S60R modified by www.evolvecars.com) i could tell a difference just by blending in about 5 gallons of 100 octane into the rest of my tank of 91...using online blend charts, I figured that 93-94 octane was the sweet spot where i got the best improvement with the least amount of $$$ gas to add.

but on THAT car - it REALLY made a difference. no dyno needed. run it w/out the 100 blended in and youf elte like you were far far far slower.

Thanks for the feedback!
I use 93 only, never lower and I have not tried 100 although it's available around the various tracks in the area. I probably get some 100 net time and just decide for myself.
We use xylene to finish off preparing the surface of vehicles we wrap at work and I do agree on its potency!
It seems that the consensus is that without ECU changes, increasing the octanes on the boxster is useless...

We can only get 91 octane in California, which I think is below the minimum that's recommended for the car. The easiest way to get higher octane fuel for me, though, would be to go to the gas pumps at Sear Point raceway, buy some 100 octane fuel and blend it to 93 or so.