i found this and figured i'd see what you guys thought about it
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MAKE YOUR OWN OCTANE BOOST
How to make your own octane booster (this is the basic formula of one of the popular octane booster products). To make eight 16 ounce bottles (128 oz = 1 gal):
100 oz of toulene for octane boost
25 oz of mineral spirits (cleaning agent)
3 oz of transmission fluid (lubricating agent)
This product is advertised as "octane booster with cleaning agent *and* lubricating agent!". Diesel fuel or kerosene can be substituted for mineral spirits and light turbine oil can be substituted for transmission fluid. Color can be added with petroleum dyes.
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Toulene
R+M/2...114
Cost...$2.50/gal
Mixtures with 92 Octane Premium
10%...94.2 Octane
20%...96.4 Octane
30%...98.6 Octane
Notes: Common ingredient in Octane Boosters in a can. 12-16 ounces will only raise octane 2-3 *points*, I.e. from 92 to 92.3. Often costs $3-5 for 12-16 ounces, when it can be purchased for less than $3/gal at chemical supply houses or paint stores.
so if my math was right (its probally not) if 16oz would raise your octane 2-3 *points* so a whole gallon of this stuff to 9 gallons would raise your octane 2.4 so from 93 to 95.4 but 3 gallons of this home brew octane booster (30%) to 7 gallons of 93 (70%) would make it 100.2 octane
a 50/50 mix of this and 93 would put you at 105oct and would end up saving you around $40 over 10gal of 105 race gas (at 7.50 a gal *rough estimate)
what do you all think?
__________________ 94 Camaro v6 now soon to be nasty
Quote:
Originally Posted by mechanix565
the reason i want twins is because i dont know how you would go about hooking up a single turbo because i have dual exhaust
Last edited by nastychevelle; 04-29-2009 at 10:28 AM..
Seen the toluene octane boost around for a long
time, but don't usually see recommended to add
the "cleaner" and "lubricant". Not sure that ATF
when burned, is going to be O2 sensor or cat-
friendly. And why do you need to lubricate
whatever, when regular gasoline doesn't? Ditto
the "cleaner" mineral spirits.
Xylene I've also seen recommended and it's more
commonly available than toluene it seems.
But boosting octane when you don't need to, adds
no power.
yeah, forget the cleaner and lubricant b.s. All that is is a marketing ploy to get people to buy the product... it's probably cheaper for them to substitute those "cleaning" and "lubricating" substances into the product rather than selling just a good octane booster that works. And we all know almost every octane booster when added gives you 0.x octane boost.
where can you buy toluene? Have you found a place that you can buy it in at least gallon sizes?
do some googling on it, if you added a decent amount it will alter the air-fuel ratio required for the engine to run. If it's late model fuel injected with O2's then it might compensate for it no problem, carbs you may need to re-jet.
toluene and xylene are the only 2 real octane boosters that are cost effective, toluene is a hydrocarbon so when burnt it only forms CO2 and H20. Not sure about xylene, and I think xylene alters the air-fuel ratio more than toluene and xylene has less energy content also. Both of which will be a waste of money regardless, cause like was said if you don't have a high enough compression to take advantage of the increased octane rating then it is doing nothing for you.
yeah, forget the cleaner and lubricant b.s. All that is is a marketing ploy to get people to buy the product... it's probably cheaper for them to substitute those "cleaning" and "lubricating" substances into the product rather than selling just a good octane booster that works. And we all know almost every octane booster when added gives you 0.x octane boost.
where can you buy toluene? Have you found a place that you can buy it in at least gallon sizes?
do some googling on it, if you added a decent amount it will alter the air-fuel ratio required for the engine to run. If it's late model fuel injected with O2's then it might compensate for it no problem, carbs you may need to re-jet.
toluene and xylene are the only 2 real octane boosters that are cost effective, toluene is a hydrocarbon so when burnt it only forms CO2 and H20. Not sure about xylene, and I think xylene alters the air-fuel ratio more than toluene and xylene has less energy content also. Both of which will be a waste of money regardless, cause like was said if you don't have a high enough compression to take advantage of the increased octane rating then it is doing nothing for you.
well from what ive read local paint stores sell it so im gonna hit up ace hardware/lowes/ and home depot to se if i can pick it up in a gallon size... and check prices.... but im building a turbo motor and more octane means more boost if the motor can handle it.... thats the reason i was looking it up and well my dad has a 377 stroker motor with 13.5:1 i guess we could use it in there as well
__________________ 94 Camaro v6 now soon to be nasty
Quote:
Originally Posted by mechanix565
the reason i want twins is because i dont know how you would go about hooking up a single turbo because i have dual exhaust
You can buy toluene from Home Depot and sometimes Wal-mart, but buying it at a paint store in 5gal drums is cheaper. IIRC toluene and xylenes are both additives found in gasoline.
I went thru a phase on my head/cam ls1 car where i would put in 1 gallon of xylene to a full tank of 91 octane gas...i dont know if it was a placebo effect but it seemed like it helped it rev cleaner and quicker. Odd side effect is when id change spark plugs they would have a redish tint to the electrode and surrounding area...
well im just thinking i could help save a little cash instead of running $7.50 a gallon 104 and run something that comes down to $2.75 a gallon but then again you get what you pay for and idk if this is good enough to run in a motor thats got a decent amount of $ in it
__________________ 94 Camaro v6 now soon to be nasty
Quote:
Originally Posted by mechanix565
the reason i want twins is because i dont know how you would go about hooking up a single turbo because i have dual exhaust
One local street racer has been adding Xylene to his gas tank before nitrous runs. Haven't really talked with him about how much he is adding, but I've seen him do it a few times at the local meets and he hasn't blown up anything... yet anyway.
It's a shame you can't get toluene in bulk where I live. Unfortunately Oklahoma is like in the top 3 of Crystal Methamphetamine manufacturing states. I believe toluene is one of the primary ingredients in Meth. :-( My car could use it, my compression isn't anything too high, but with over 11.3:1, and nitrous I think mixing a 100 octane would be a bit better, or at the very least cheap insurance against detonation. The highest pump gas here is 91. :-(
__________________ 94 Z/28 GTP Stage 3 heads, 230/244, .510/.540 112LSA. Built-T56, Nitrous Oxide, all bolts ons, etc.
I used to mess around with toluene when I was into dsm's. The cheapest way I found to do it was open a contractors account at Sherwin Williams. You can buy it in 5 gal buckets at discounted price.
I never ran into any issues running it on my dsm and a/f looked alot better at higher boost.
i found this and figured i'd see what you guys thought about it
so if my math was right (its probally not) if 16oz would raise your octane 2-3 *points* so a whole gallon of this stuff to 9 gallons would raise your octane 2.4 so from 93 to 95.4 but 3 gallons of this home brew octane booster (30%) to 7 gallons of 93 (70%) would make it 100.2 octane
a 50/50 mix of this and 93 would put you at 105oct and would end up saving you around $40 over 10gal of 105 race gas (at 7.50 a gal *rough estimate)
i know a guy that used to put in 10 gallons of 93 and put in 4 gallons of e85 and he loved it.....he sprayed the crap out of it on a stock tune and bone stock everything it ran like a beast...
Be real carefull with this stuff.It's like NOS and can hurt your motor if used in the wrong mix.It also dissipates in about 45 minutes in your gas tank.A lot of class racers used it(cheating) and by the time the tech guys got around to checking their mix it had dissipated.You need at least a 20% mix to be effective.
Good luck.
home brew octane booster 
