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I need higher octane, booster?

Cornfield creations

Cornfield creations

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GMPP rec. 91 octane on my 350 crate engine. I started running 89 because I figured that the lower octane would be fresher than the higher octane that sits in the tanks longer. It was running fine on 89 until this past week and I started noticing spark knock. My question is can I run 87 octane and run 104 octane booster to save money and get the higher octane I need? The cost increases between the higher octanes seems to be getting higher. Just looking for other ways to save.
 
As I recall from past threads on octane booster, it's a gimmick in most cases, basically it's misrepresented or misunderstood. The amount of octane booster needed to raise the octane in a 30 gallon tank would be a lot.

I grabbed a bottle off the shelf last time I was in the store, no mention about how much it treated. So to me, that speaks volumes.

I don't know the legality or repercussions, but I know my dad had purchases fuel from the airport for racing before, and of course it was quite a bit higher octane.

However, it sounds to me like just paying for premium is the right solution. Have you tried retarding your timing? Made sure fueling is good? Engine temp is ok? I don't know much about hot/cold rating for plugs, wonder if gap and plug design might help?

What has changed between when you were running 89 and now...outside temperature?
 
if you just want to get the octane up in this tank, it sounds cheesy but the NOS octane booster raises it 60 points (10 points =1 octane number) so it will raise about 25 gal. up 6 numbers. and the lucas octane booster raises it 30 points.(3 numbers) i worked at napa for a while and looked into all of them, so i found out which ones work and which ones are the waste.
 
You can use tolulene to boost octane. it is what the oil companies use. By law gas can be as much as 40% Toluene. It is pure hydrocarbon.
10% mixture will give you 2 full points. EX: !0% mixture in 89 octane will raise it up to 91.
But
Toluene costs money and the cost per gallon will work out about the same or more as if you use 91 octaine.

As dorian said those off the shelf octane boosters are misleading. By adding one of those small cans to 10 gallons of gas you would be lucky to boost octane in 87 to
87 1/2

Mabe you just got a bad tank of gas. Mix some premeium in to see what happens
 
dyeager535 said:
As I recall from past threads on octane booster, it's a gimmick in most cases, basically it's misrepresented or misunderstood. The amount of octane booster needed to raise the octane in a 30 gallon tank would be a lot.

I grabbed a bottle off the shelf last time I was in the store, no mention about how much it treated. So to me, that speaks volumes.

I don't know the legality or repercussions, but I know my dad had purchases fuel from the airport for racing before, and of course it was quite a bit higher octane.

However, it sounds to me like just paying for premium is the right solution. Have you tried retarding your timing? Made sure fueling is good? Engine temp is ok? I don't know much about hot/cold rating for plugs, wonder if gap and plug design might help?

What has changed between when you were running 89 and now...outside temperature?
Click to expand...



Yeah outside temp has gone up. I am just running what was rec. on the engine. 195 thermostat, A/C plugs, Hei distributor, but I do have it set at 12* cause it runs better that way. After calculating it, it's mostly about the freshness of gas I was concerned on, but I am also trying to save money as it gets crappy MPG. If I can figure out how to bump that up it'd be great also.
 
Did you work on the carb and ignition advance for this motor?

My dad gained about 10% (huge in regards to percentage, not much when talking 9MPG to 10 lol) just by spending the time on his distributor to get the curve and vac advance where the motor wanted it.

What kind of cooling system do you have? Any chance it's not working as good as it can be? Used radiator=unknown. If just outside temp has changed, you must have been on the ragged edge anyway.

I can't prove it one way or the other:
http://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/202790.phtml

Edit, heres more in depth:
http://www.europeancarweb.com/tech/0503ec_octane_boosters_tested/index.html
 
Or you could just put a hydrogen booster on it and have free 127 octane fuel made from water and lower emissions cleaner oil the hydronox 5000 is a good buy right now on sale and works very well if you have a ecm and fuel injection you may gain 20% in fuel savings.
 
Something I've heard of back yard mechanics doing is to double up the head gaskets. it's not something I would try on anything I liked, but it would lower the compression a little bit and allow for lower octane fuel.
 
Yep its done but you end up with problems I myself just run 91 in it and go. It does cut into my beer fund a lot now. But the facts on hydrogen are real and it does work I dont like a brown water system since under the pressure of the piston it makes water in the cylinder. But the one I am talking about makes pure hydrogen and will not put water in you oil. Soon as I buy a newer vehicle with fuel injection I will put one in. They are now using them in metro buses and heavy trucks with gains in the 2 to 20 % on fuel so if you are burning 300 gallons a week it makes sense.
 
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=1956337#post1956337

In addition, the electrical system in your car is very efficient. It produces much more electricity than needed so you can add large stereos and whatnot. WE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT EFFICIENCY! The HydranOx 5000 uses no more than 12 amps of that extra electricity to make hydrogen (fuel) for your car.
Click to expand...

LOL (not at you, at them) 12 amps being at best 5-10% of the alternators rated output, assuming a new vehicle with a 200 amp alternator...yeah that's nothing. :) Assuming a worst case of 40 amp alts like some of our trucks, that's a hell of a lot of power.

That's completely ignoring the fact that it won't produce enough hydrogen to matter...which is exactly why hydrogen as a fuel source is a joke anyways, since you have to "generate" the pure hydrogen by using energy in the first place...just not in the vehicle. But we don't need to get into that...you can't get more energy out of something than you put into it, otherwise you'd have perpetual motion.

I'm stopping now, I'm helping this get off topic. Make sure the vehicle is tuned as well as it can be, and run 91 if it's still necessary. GM said it was.
 
Not to do a total hjijack but... over in the lounge there is a thread about those HHO set ups:http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230829
couple of guys are expermenting with them with less that stellar results. But interesting read tho.
***** hijack off********

Re: Your ignition timing. I think 12 is a bit high for lower octane gas. Try 8-10* and see what happens.
 
Humm the timing thing I have 37 degrees at 3500 rpm full on my plugs gapped at 35 and still have backfire and stumble when I run it hard wish I could figure that one out.
 
Yeah, he's referring to so-called HHO setups. Hydrogen enrichment does have real merit.
 
Has anyone looked into the Fitch Fuel catalyst? If that does what it claims and many magazines have tested it, it says you can run a lower octane than what is required, I believe a step below, like if you need 91, you can run 89 and also claims better performance and better MPG. But for $200 you can buy a lot of 91 octane before it will pay off.
 
750 Edelbrock on a performer with MSD billet dist and 6 a box headman headers 202 heads Edelbrock fuel pump when I romp on it and then stop and go again it coughs or back fires not on WOT it runs great up top this is all bottom end Im about ready to put a holly on it Ive already blown the carb up once.
 
get rid of the 750. put on a 600cfm carb. You'll be happy because of less fuel consumption, your truck will be happy because it won't be drowning any more.
 
lmao thats what I thought I gots a 750 Edelbrock for sell need one holly 600 cheap
 
I ran tolulene in a 280-Z I had while in college. Used a pint to a tankfull of gas. Worked well. An added advantage is that it will keep the fuel system cleaned out.
 
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