fuel cleaners & octane boost additives?

flyineagle96 wrote:

how much oct do you get from that my mix is about 115

I don't have any way to measure. I wish I did. Based on what I've read I suspect I'm gaining about 3 octane, so it's like raising my 93 to 96 or so.

Interesting write-up on toluene here: http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html

i liked reading that thanks my son will be proud

definitely worth a shot

Good writeup, AA. I found a similar writeup on turbobuick.net, but it was copied from somewhere else too... seems difficult to find the originals, but still I know it works.

I called my local Sherwin Williams, and they said they want $20 for a gallon of Toluene! Home Depot said they don't have Toluene, but have xylene for $9.

Damned speed freaks...

My local hardware store sells it for about $18.00 a gallon.
We used to have 55 gallon drums of it at work, used a cleaning solvent.
But add some of that to AVGAS and be prepaired to melt some pistons.

I'm just looking for something to punch up my 91 Pelosi Piss... I have to do some more research on the xylene, though I'm pretty sure 1 or 2 gallons in a tankful would be okay to test with.

Otherwise at those prices, I may as well just go out to Sears Point with a half tank of pump gas and top it off with 8 gallons of 100-test...

Toluene and Xylene are pretty similar boosters. They can be combined for even more! A nice homebrew would be 1/2 gal Toluene, 1/2 gal xylene and a capful of MMO. I have used this with good success, but sometimes have trouble finding both T and X at the same time.

Prices have gone UP on buying these separately. I would look into a 5 gallon bucket, but since going with the cam and Gen V blower, I have much less need for octane boosting.

Well, I just checked the TLA thread and I didn't see MMO... Marine Mammal Organs?

u mean mm oil

MMO = Marvel Mystery Oil

thats some good oil

Ah. Thanks Deek.

We used to have a glass jar on the firewall of the Auburn that metered Marvel into the intake to lubricate the valves & stems (flathead.)

What do you put it in the gas for, injector lube?

Eldo wrote:

What do you put it in the gas for, injector lube?

when you add straight toluene/xylene you aren't adding some of the basic lubricants that are added to our pump gas. MMO is to make up the difference. I have heard of people who add a little monthly "to make the fuel pump last longer" but I don't really buy into that. My FP has 140K+ miles on it and still pushes me to a 13.9 in the 1/4 when I want it to!

We added a top oiler to my father's 54 MG too. It's a cool little device with it's own reservoir on the firewall and an adjustable flow meter, the feed line ends up just inside the carb and vacuum pulls it through. Nice addition especially when you get concerned about the lack of lead in modern fuels and the heads/valves are basically unobtanium.

just picked up a 5gal barrel of toluene. hope to try it out later tonight or tomorow. cost me $40 last one they had with no plans to order more. sad!

robotennis61 wrote:

just picked up a 5gal barrel of toluene. hope to try it out later tonight or tomorow. cost me $40 last one they had with no plans to order more. sad!

that's a bargain!

Where'd you find it, Robo?

sherwin williams

robotennis61 wrote:

sherwin williams

Wow, the same place that wants $20 for a ONE gallon can here!
You lucky devil, you...

my driving impressions after adding toluene .
car runs better. it still has the occasional hiccup,as usual, but at cruising around town @1/4 throttle, the car is much quieter,she also accelerates with more force. i added less than 1/2 a gallon of toluene to about 7 gallons of gas. if i can continue to find it,ill be adding it to every tank full. good stuff with no weird symptoms at all.

Time to add my own report... and rant.

Here in the North Bay, I've yet to find either Toluene or Xylene for less than $20/gallon... Home Despot (I mean Depot) should have the lowest prices, but they only carry the Xylene for some reason, no Toluene, and it's still $20. I also freely admit to being just a bit gun-shy about adding something so "crude" to my tank...

Someone back East told me that they can currently buy 93 octane gas at the pump for $3/gallon... The best price I can get 91 octane piss for is $3.30 and climbing. I went out to Sears Point/Infineon Raceway and added 3 gallons of 100-test to about 10.5 gallons of 91, to make 13.5 gallons of exactly 93 octane. The racing gas was $7.50/gallon!! That's makes almost $4.25/gallon for the same stuff you guys in the Normal States of America pay $3 for! (Also, for the same $7.50 you spend on 100-proof unleaded, you can get 112-octane leaded! When is someone going to invent an O2 sensor that works with tetraethyl?!?)

I'm sure I'm also being hosed by the fact that reformulated, regurgitated Cali gas, that can probably be fed to a baby condor without ill effects, is only made at a half-dozen refineries, and evidently none of them make race gas. There is not a single Sunoco station anywhere near here, yet that is the brand at Sears Point... Their nearest refinery is halfway across the country in Tulsa!

Just like my recent change from a 3.6" SC pulley to a 3.5", I can't believe what a difference 2 octane make... After cruising around the paddocks to mix up the gas, I floored it getting back on the highway and saw NO sustained KR - and it almost feels like I dropped another blower pulley size when I get on it!

Furthermore, investing $9 in a proper, stiff, gasket-scraper that doesn't gouge the aluminum, so I can eliminate the superfluous PIA gasket and just use the rubber thermostat seal, makes changing out stats as quick & easy as swapping an MPS pulley... I recently put a 195 SuperStat in for winter, as well as to compare apples to apples with my 180 SS. So, I am getting less KR with the 93 gas at 197 degrees, than I get with the 91 octane at 177 degrees...

Please do a search for 'octane', and post on my survey regarding what YOU have available to you at a regular gas station!

I wouldn't consider xylene to be a "crude" alternative to toluene. They are both very similar, and from what I've read should accomplish a comparable octane boost.

Denso O2 sensors claim they work with leaded gas, but you won't see them on production vehicles, because 99.9% of vehicles don't use leaded gas. Also there is the problem of running leaded gas with catalytic converters, since lead contaminates the catalyst.

AA is right - Toluene and Xylene are very similar, and substitutable for each other in this situation (or combinable for even more octane!)

How about toluol, i think i spelled it correctly. Can't remember now, but it was also purchased in 55 gal drums and used as a cleaning agent along with Toluene and MEK - Back in the day.
I know MEK is quite toxic to your liver and is not meant to be burned as an octane booster But I'm not sure of the Toluol.
Will have to look up the MSDS and compare to Toluene and Xylene.