Xylene for octane boost?
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Stan Weiss
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OK, talking only about gasoline and nothing changes in the engine / computer. If I have two gasolines one with 89 octane and one with 111 octane and both have .74 specific gravity I will have the same air / fuel ratio. If I have two gasolines both with 89 octane but one has .74 specific gravity and the other has .71 specific gravity I will have two different air / fuel ratios. Said another way octane by itself does not effect air /fuel ratio BUT specific gravity by itself does.
04YELLOWGT
Active Member
The thing is though, if this stuff was so great and safe on your engine why wouldn't it be on the market today. Companies are always trying to find the next hot seller, Im sure somebody has tried this and found out it wasn't safe to run, for the engine or the environment.
Trust me xylene is some wicked sh**, it'll burn your skin very quickley and it eats through rubber gloves.
Trust me xylene is some wicked sh**, it'll burn your skin very quickley and it eats through rubber gloves.
Stan Weiss
Member
The united states won't use any of this **** because it's bad for the environment, and can cause serious damage to your body if constantly used. What do you think they put in unleaded race gas??? Toluene, xylene, ethanol, MMT, and other high octane chemicals mixed with regular gasoline.
Octance Booster you buy in a can has Toluene in it and that is what adds the Octane. However it is in such a small dose that it doesn't really do anything.
This is an old racer's trick to making higher octane fuel. It does work. This is an alternative to people who do not have race fuel available to them. This is what I was going to do until I found that I can get 110 Octane unleaded race fuel locally.
If you are going to run a mixture of this stuff, I strongly suggest you tune the car to run it.
It's more expensive to run 100 octane where I live. Plus, the car will be tuned for the mixture. As others have stated, the xylene creates a different air fuel ratio.
I read up on some other additive called Torco (sold online). Apparently adding a small 32 ounce bottle will boost your gas to 97+ octane. I think it's BS because I don't see what chemicals would cause such a reaction. If it was THAT easy, people would it in NASCARs and sh1t instead of c16 ect. I have yet to try the xylene though. Might tune for it soon using my pro racer software.
Stan Weiss
Member
Just a guess. But do you think that maybe NASCAR and other racing organizations have rules which say what tests the gas in your tank must pass. 
A place that sells it here in Hawaii wants 22.XX for the bottle.
Gotta love Hawaii and our overinflated prices
Ouch that could get expensive San geeezzzz.A place that sells it here in Hawaii wants 22.XX for the bottle.
Gotta love Hawaii and our overinflated prices
Ouch that could get expensive San geeezzzz.
Ya, went searching for Toluene today at a local hardware store to no avail. I gotta call some paint stores when I get a chance.
Regardless, I think I still gotta buy a bottle or two of the Torco since I'm pinging on really hot days. "Supposedly" I only need 1/3 the can per tank, but that seems like it wouldn't be enough.
hotmustang331
Active Member
A freind of mine would run straight Xylene in his eagle talon...depending on what boost he wanted to run. But he would almost always mix a few gallons in with every tank. Never heard of any problems from his car....and it moved pretty good to boot!
San- Try Sherwin Williams, if you have that on the islands
I don't know about that Torco sh1t. It seems to good to be true. It's like they are saying "JUST ADD THREE CAP FULLS TO YOUR TANK AND GET 100 OCTANE INSTANTLY!!!!!"
GREENBIOCH
Founding Member
I'm a lab tech and when i work in the histopathology lab we use xylene, it will eat away rubbers, waxes and plastics. I wouls say your fuel lines would take a beating over time even in small doses. We use it to remove water/formaldehydes from organs and and replace with alcohols. its a good middle man between the two.
but as a fuel additive, good by to any rubber tubing.
but as a fuel additive, good by to any rubber tubing.
San- Try Sherwin Williams, if you have that on the islands
I don't know about that Torco sh1t. It seems to good to be true. It's like they are saying "JUST ADD THREE CAP FULLS TO YOUR TANK AND GET 100 OCTANE INSTANTLY!!!!!"
Well, I bought 2 cans of the Accelerator today. $49.XX and change
I'm thinking that 1/3 the can should get me to the point of non-pinging. If so, it woudn't be that bad (works out to about $8 a tank).
We have a Benjamin Moore for sure here, but I gotta check for a Sherwin Williams. The guy where I got the Torco at (a local machine shop) hadn't heard of Toluene before
your post makes no sense whatsoever.
Race Gas (C16, etc) > 97 octane. why would nascar benefit from downgrading? Nascar doesnt run pump gas and sure in the hell doesnt run glorified pump gas.
i did toulene a few times in my 97 Eclipse GST (same as a talon in case some are wondering, eagle talon, mitsu eclipse, plymouth laser = DSMs for the most part). some equation to figure out your desired octane level based on your starting octane (my buddy was all into it), how much toulene / gasoline mix was needed (i think it was 1 gallon toulene with 6 gallons in the tank made 91 octane around 96-97 octane, and 2 gallons with the rest full was around 100 octane). found it was easier just to go the two minutes out of town and spend a few bucks more for a true 100octane fuel than try some homebrew less-than-accurate method.
however there were benefits. i was able to raise the boost another 2psi to a max of 22psi, pull my fuel trims down and add 2-3 degrees of timing before i started to see knock again. raised my airflow from 39 to 41lbs/min which equates to roughly 410hp at the crank (airflow x 10 is a rough estimate but pretty close, that would do around 350 to the wheels). however once the mix started to die off by either filling up with 91 somethwere, or just stop going to the 100octane station, knock returned, and i had to revert back to 91 octane tune and drop my boost back down to 20psi.
another thing to remember is all those products contain lead, which is enemy of catalytic converters. so unless youre running catless exhaust, its not recommended.
I wasn't inferring that nascar would benefit from downgrading, that's idiotic. I know c16 is more than 97 octane. I meant to say that torco sounds bogus because if anyone could add just an once of "XX brand booster" and magically raise the octane to 100+, every one would use it with 87, including nascar.
Xylene doesn't have lead in it
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