i have a mp..so i could run this?
do i mix it in ..ie..fill it up half and half or use this stuff striaght?

 

So is all race gas leaded? Could I get some race gas that isn't leaded and mix that with 91 octane. Also, no one has really answered if octane booster is an option. A lot more convienent than carrying race gas with you all the time.

 

Octane booster doesn't do ****.

All race gas is leaded because it's not feasible to produce fuel with a high octane rating without adding lead to it.

Also, while Rich did bring up a very good point, I think some of you are getting a little carried away. As far as I can tell, I have never gotten a "bad" tank of gas. The quality of gas you run becomes a little more important when you're running 15+ psi of boost and are making over 350 rwhp. For those of us with less modded cars, relax.

I also think it's silly to say that Shell gas sucks or whatever. I fill up with Chevron, Shell, or very rarely, 76. The car has run the same with all of them.

Run some race gas at the drag strip or on the dyno for extra protection, but for everyday use, I don't think it's necessary (unless you are very heavily modded running high boost, as noted above).

 

Well I'm pretty sure up to 101 octane gas is unleaded but anyhting higher will be leaded. You can also do all kinds of crazy mixes with 93 octane to up the rating. Try to do some research on it there's a lot of stuff out there.

 

Anyone have any comments on Quick R2 statement about puting toluene in? post on 1st page. I think that would scare me even thinking of putting it in.

 

Yup. I was running 15 psi and making around 360 or so when the motor got jacked. Btw, it was my dad driving, and not me. He hadn't driven the car in a long time and was out of touch with what feels right and what doesn't. If I would have been behind the wheel, I betcha I could have saved the motor.....

 

I blew my engine last month. When I got my car back I went to the gas station and started to fill up. As I clinched the handle I look at the sign and it said "87" octain. I put it back and got 91 octain.

I always make it a point to look at the octain rating. It looks like I got confused from Chevrons putting 91 octain first and shell putting 91 octain last.

Im about 75 pct sure I had 87 octain when I pop my engine last month.

Scarry.

 

well there you go....

dyno testing on a hot day with 87 octane...= recipe for disaster...

dont dyno on a hot day...keep it in the 70's max...they better have some big F'n fans in the front too...and toss in some race gas why dont you...

 

Play it safe when you dyno, have extra octane in.

There is 110 octane unleaded, I get Phillips racing gas at a Mobil station for $2.89 a gallon eight miles from home. You can call your station and they can get the composition of the fuel from their distributor. I had the distributor fax the contents to me. It's interesting the different ratios of stuff that is in it.

I wonder how many motors would have been saved that blew with the wrong octane if they had water injection.

I have not heard of one that has blown with proper installed water injection due to to detonation.

That includes RICE RACING in Australia with 800+whp motor for three years.

Ken

 

I mixed a gallon of xylene (which is a close relative of toluene -- similar characteristics, similar octane level) into a full tank of Sunoco 94 octane on my Lancer Evo, which runs significantly higher boost than a stock FD.

I had no ill effects, in fact very little noticeable difference at all. The mixture should have been a 96-97 octane rating. I'm guessing that the ECU was probably already running its maximum spark advance on 94 octane, so the increased octane didn't help. A remapped ECU might be able to advance the spark further and extract a few extra HP, but that's just speculation.

Don't worry about putting reasonable ratios of toluene or xylene in your tank -- it won't hurt anything in your car. Gasoline already contains toluene and/or xylene; in fact, these "aromatic hydrocarbons" are a primary element used to increase octane rating during the blending process at the refinery. Just don't go overboard. Remember that toluene/xylene has no gasoline additives, no lubricants, no detergents, it's pure fuel. And in high concentrations, toluene/xylene may "attack" rubber or plastic components of your fuel supply system. I've seen guidelines that suggest a maximum ratio of 1 part toluene/xylene to 2 parts pump gas -- I personally would never go that high; even a 1:4 ratio gives a +4 or a +5 octane boost, which should be enough for any street-driven car.

One last thing about toluene. During the '80s turbo era in Formula 1, most of the race teams ran a fuel which was almost straight toluene. And they were developing well over 1000 HP from a 1.5 liter engine running at 60 psi of boost or more. I'm not saying that bears any resemblance to what it will do in a streetable car, but toluene has been used as a fuel, fuel additive, or gasoline blending component for years by a lot of people who are supposed to be experts in the field.

 

My Phillips 110 unleaded race gas compostion has toluene in it.

Ken

 

Negative, ghostrider. Toluene or xylene (or even benzene in certain quantities) can offer high octane levels without much of the slow burning/flame front characteristics of tetraethyl lead that require big ignition advance for optimum results.

There are plenty of excellent unleaded racing fuels available.

 

Most unleaded race fuels use toluene or xylene for the octane boost.

 

Ok, I was wrong. I've never seen unleaded 110 before though.

Thanks for correcting me, Ken and Kento.

But what would I know, we only get 91 octane here in Cali (for $2.10/gallon today)....smog *****....

 

yea I'll just run to sonoma on my way to the dyno to get race gas, lol.

I run 118 at the track.

 

Exactly. Plus, it's diluted with oxygenates like ethanol or MTBE (which wouldn't be that bad if the octane rating wasn't so low). Thus my reasoning for adding unleaded race fuel into my tankfuls. While I know that I'm not tuned on the edge, I'd rather not take the chance of CARB/AQMD Gestapo-approved fuel putting me over that edge. I noticed a definite difference in power after adding the race fuel; while not earth-shattering, there was some improvement in acceleration and throttle response.

 

Hah! There it is again.....Goose lives

 

Crazysuprakid just got back from Gotham. Steve was on his way out. The rest of the crew agreed cracked apex seal. I've got that sick feeling just thinking about it.
Anyway...Costco gas = cracked apex seal
or is it just a coincidence. Or just don't let wifey drive the FD.

 

Pretty lucky for gas quality should be at the price over here.

I run Water Injection, it all helps, but the rebuilds come with the terratory.

 

is all 110 octane leaded? when i got some a while back the guy at the station said it was still unleaded, 114 & 118 were the ones that were leaded.

 

After working in the oil industry for many years (including refining) I can confidentally say that all grades of gasoline must meet certain minimum specifications and all automobiles sold in the US must be designed to run (reliably) on one, or, more of those grades. Different brands have different additive mixtures but even the additives are pretty tightly controlled such that you can mix brands in the tank without harm.

Barring any accidental or intentional tampering at the service station, the fuel you buy at one station is not noticably different to the fuel you buy at another.

 

wow what an informative thread, maybe someone should make this a sticky... just a thought

 

Lead increases the effective octane rating of gasoline. That's why all gas used to be leaded because they could not extract as much octane from crude oil as they can now (with processes like catalytic cracking), so they just added lead.

And just FYI, octane is not really what you 'burn'. Octane rating is just that, a rating. On a scale of combustibility; octane is given a rating of 100 (highly resistant to combustion) and heptane is given a rating of 0 (highly volatile) the large mix of hydro-carbons we call gas gets a rating somewhere on this scale depending on how it's blended.

just my $.02

 

gas blew my o-rings....ok so it was being combusted, big deal :p

Seriously, does anybody know if it would be possible to mount an octane meter in the tank? Is there such a thing?

 

P.s. The gasoline at different stations is EXACTLY the same gasoline base. The only difference is the additives each individual company (chevron, sunoco, 76, etc) puts into their gas before bringing it to the station. Gas is tranfered from refineries to distributers on huge pipelines. The pipelines are shared by all oil companies, (they put 4000 gal in the mix at point A and take out 4000 gal at point B, but obviously not the same 4000 gal). ALL gas stations get their gas from these pipelines. It's just that right as they pump it on to the trucks they put in their individual blend of additives.

But, then again, there is no guarntee the truck driver knows which tank to put it in once he gets to the station.