Octane Boosters

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octanebooster.html

Found this tonight. I thought it was pretty interesting how Toulene can be bought at paint stores for $3 a gallon. If this were put in the gas tank with 3 gallons of toulene and 10 gallons of fuel (approx 99.5 octane rating) would this actually harm fuel components, valves, and etc...?

If it was this easy it would be really common.... This has been around a long time...

Google that $hit

From what i've been reading, it seems quite common.

What is the current, real price
for toulene?
How many paint stores really sell this stuff?

No idea, not even sure i'd try this, I just found it interesting.

Found this tonight. I thought it was pretty interesting how Toulene can be bought at paint stores for $3 a gallon. If this were put in the gas tank with 3 gallons of toulene and 10 gallons of fuel (approx 99.5 octane rating) would this actually harm fuel components, valves, and etc...?

No, it's a pure hydrocarbon which is already used as an ingredient in the gas you buy at the pump. Theoretically you could run straight Toluene, but at 114 octane you might have trouble firing the mix unless you have very high compression (over 12:1) or a very hot ignition.

BTW, I use it myself, in a 4:1 ratio.
You should be aware though... I'm just a bracket racer and I don't chase points. In many classes of racing the sanctioning body has rules about fuels.

xylene is a little higher octane 117 unleaded. I can get a 5 gallon drum for about 28 dollars at sheriam willams(sp) I used to mix that in my test car 87' saab 9000t with 200k on the clock. I mixed it 50/50 lol but have to mix the Black Mystery oil with it if you using such high % or xylene or toulene. Btw the sabb with a stock turbo, exhaust, weight reduction went 13.3@107 ;)
225fwhp/295fwtq, stock clutch, axles and tires were regular bfg comp/ta 205/55/15

Damn, guess it is pretty common, how do these mixtures actually effect the fuel components and motor internals?

Toulene is some pretty nasty stuff. I knew a guy once that had toulene poisoning. A leaking container under his work area gave him all kinds of horrible symptoms over time, including black pimples on his face.

That's the first thing I thought of when I read this post.

ive used it for about 2 years and i works great. i can put four gallons of gas and one gallon of tolulene. and up my timing 3 degrees a wot. without knock.

Damn, never knew it was so common.

a buddy of mine used it and it worked out for him, I never did because I was using a stroked 390 to 428 in a 67 Ford but the engine was from 1965 and used leaded fuel, so I just topped off with the 111 octane leaded racing fuel. only problem was the exhaust gases killed all grass for 10 feet behind it.

Sounds like a good way to get even with a "complaining" neighbor or two!!!

Damn, guess it is pretty common, how do these mixtures actually effect the fuel components and motor internals?

i never studied the results on a car, but i work for a contractor that installs storage tanks and piping for almost every liquid know to man. xylene and toulene are not gentle on rubber. we have had several severe leaks in pipes with rubber linings. so im going to go out on a limb and say it will ruin any rubber based seals in the fuel pump/system. not as bad as storing hydrochloric acid in a paper cup tho.

here you can find more info on this. http://www.elektro.com/~audi/toluene/
I use it on a 302 with knocking problems problems (13:1 compression) and works fine i make a 4:1 still knocking a little, i am going to try it in a 2:1 to see how it works and let you know.

Great link, I may try this once at a track.

sure please tell me how was your ride!
It's say that is better even that racing fuel if you run O2 sensors, because toluene no contains metal so don't destroy it, i just going to continue testing in the high compression engine to see the better mixing deal with 91 octane gas and latter i am going to start in my lt1. :)

did u know that if you buy an over the counter octance booster that says it raises it 8 points, does jump u from say 92 to 100, it bumps it from 92.0 to 92.8. what a deceiving marketing strategy.

...I work for a contractor that installs storage tanks and piping for almost every liquid know to man. xylene and toulene are not gentle on rubber. we have had several severe leaks in pipes with rubber linings. so im going to go out on a limb and say it will ruin any rubber based seals in the fuel pump/system.


When you buy gasoline at the pump, it already has toluene in it. I would certainly agree that you wouldn't want to handle the stuff with your bare hands, but any system that can handle pump gas should have no problems with toluene.

I don't know anything about xylene.

I've always liked the fact it dose not harm factory o2 sensors, unlike the leaded race gas kill rate. I've ran it at 33% with pump fuel with no hint of knock..
Cheaper than race gas but I'll be try'n a even less costly method of controlling knock this year.... water ;)

I have used it a few times , but it is $13 a gal ,works great to help with any detonation, car runs so much smother in the upper rpm , have not had any problems with it

When you buy gasoline at the pump, it already has toluene in it. I would certainly agree that you wouldn't want to handle the stuff with your bare hands, but any system that can handle pump gas should have no problems with toluene.

I don't know anything about xylene.

i didnt want to sound like a tool and go to edit my post, but i did miss a couple things. im not saying it is going to eat rubber right up, but over time it will. put a rubber washer in a can of toulene. yes it is in most gasolines but only at a small concentration. just like sulpher. not im saying dont try it, as im curious too, just be careful and it will eventually cause damage. a f-1 car might not see it because they are constantly rebuilding the car.

put rubber in gasoline and it wont be too happy either

do over the counter octance booster's work???

do over the counter octance booster's work???


did u know that if you buy an over the counter octance booster that says it raises it 8 points, does jump u from say 92 to 100, it bumps it from 92.0 to 92.8. what a deceiving marketing strategy.

so yes they do, but not to the levels you would expect. cheaper to buy sunoco 94 or 104 octane if you have it in your area.

I ran the 3gal gass to one gal of touliene and a half a cup of MM oil at M9 this year.

It worked great! (383 LT1 with 11.8 comp.)

I was getting detionation untill I started to run this stuff.

I have used it a few times , but it is $13 a gal ,works great to help with any detonation, car runs so much smother in the upper rpm , have not had any problems with it


I paid $8.14 for a gallon today at Sherwin-Williams.

That still ain't cheap, but neither is race gas.

I also paid $2.319 for a gallon of Sunoco 94 today. As I already mentioned, the Toluene is 114 octane.

[(94 x 2) + (114 x 2)]/4 = 104

[(2.319 x 2) + (8.14 x 2)]/4 = 5.2294

So, $5.23 per gallon of 104 octane race quality fuel, that incidentally contains more thermal energy than ordinary gasoline because Toluene does.
(There's a reason that it's a major ingredient in TNT.)


A gallon of Sunoco GTPlus Unleaded 104 Octane is about... what...? Six bucks? I'm not even sure.