Octane Boost

[acbrooks2]

Does anyone use any kind of Octane Boost additive such as AMSOil in their chipped cars? In CA we only get 91 so am interested to see if this improves things.

Thanks

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

Not really, some people mix +100oc gas with 91 to make 93.

However this has been covered in previous threads.

[Phrost]

I don't think that octane booster junk you can buy really does anything to be honest...

IMO just run a 91 octane program and stick with that

[socaljoe]

^^ agree...just go to a station that has 100oc pump and mix it

[acidrome]

how much do u mix? I usually put in 3 gallons of 100oc tho I have quattro soo.

[VZWalex]

our tanks our 16.6 gallons ... if you put 2 gallons of Toulene (114 octane ) and the rest 91 octane you will get 93.7 octane. here is the link if you want more info .. and some quick notes bellow

http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html

here is a Mix breakdown with 92 octane from the pump
Toulene
R+M/2...114
Cost...$2.50/gal
Mixtures with 92 Octane Premium
10%...94.2 Octane
20%...96.4 Octane
30%...98.6 Octane


and here is some more cust and paste regarding toulene

Q: How much toluene should I use per tank of gas?

A: Octane ratings can be very easily calculated by simple averaging. For example, the tank of an Audi A4 1.8TQ is 15.6 gallons. Filling it with 14.6 gallons of 92 octane and 1 gallon of toluene (114 octane) will yield a fuel mix of:

(14.6 * 92) + (1 * 114) / 15.6 = 93.4

The Audi A4 1.8T is a good example of a car that has very high octane needs if it has been modified to produce more turbo boost. The base compression ratio of this car is a very high 9.5:1 and when an additional 1 bar (14.7 psi) of turbo boost is applied on top of it, the resulting effective compression ratio is way beyond what 92 or 93 octane fuel can ever hope to cope with. Most modified 1.8Ts running without octane enhancement are running with severely retarded ignition timing and boost.


Q: Will toluene damage my engine or other parts of my car?

A: A 5 or 10% increase in the aromatic content of gas will most likely be well within the refining specifications of gasoline defined by ASTM D4814, which specify an aromatic content of between 20% and 45%. What this means is that if the 92 octane gas that you started off with had an aromatic content of say 30% and you increased it by 10% to 40% you would still be left with a mix that meets the industry definition of gasoline. So the above question would amount to: "Will gasoline damage my engine or other parts of my car?"

Even in the unlikely event that the 92 octane gas has a aromatic content of 45% the resulting mix would still be within the bounds of gasoline sold in other countries.

[gyroscope]

they sell a similar additive to touline at loews and home depot but it's called xylene. it works well to boost your octane rating, but it can damage your O2 sensors with prolonged use. much cheaper than buying 100 octane fuel. a quart costs roughly 5-6 dollars. you will notice quite an improvement, especially in a chipped car. all those octane booster formulas they sell at autozone and pep boys are basically a mixture of touline and mineral spirits. xylene is more concetrated though. just don't let make contact with your skin (especially your hands) it will cause you serious health problems later on in life.

[acbrooks2]

they sell a similar additive to touline at loews and home depot but it's called xylene. it works well to boost your octane rating, but it can damage your O2 sensors with prolonged use. much cheaper than buying 100 octane fuel. a quart costs roughly 5-6 dollars. you will notice quite an improvement, especially in a chipped car. all those octane booster formulas they sell at autozone and pep boys are basically a mixture of touline and mineral spirits. xylene is more concetrated though. just don't let make contact with your skin (especially your hands) it will cause you serious health problems later on in life.

Thanks for all the advice, I think I'll stick to the old 91!!

[RedS-line]

just tried out the STP octane booster. for 5 bucks I said, what the hell? Maybe its in my head, but the car feels like it has a few extra ponies that weren't there before.....

[Phrost]

Dude, just dump a bunch of lead into your gas tank. Insta 120 octane

[supamannn99]

omg so much math >_<

[Audi Juice]

just tried out the STP octane booster. for 5 bucks I said, what the hell? Maybe its in my head, but the car feels like it has a few extra ponies that weren't there before.....

Its in your head. A typical octane booster claims to increase octane by 2 to 5 points. The average consumer would assume that this would increase their octane rating on a tank of 91 to 93-96octane. However if you read the fine print on the bottle they state that a point is 1/10th of an actual octane number increase. So, in reality you are only increasing .2 to .5 of an octane point. Giving you 91.2-91.5, and you arent going to be feeling that.

If you would like to achieve a safe and effective octane boost just throw 4 gallons of 100 octane in w every fill up. Doing this you will get a tank of approximately 93.2 and it will only cost you about an extra $12.

I on the other hand fill up regularly with 100 octane and it sets me back about $108 a tank. I only use about 2 tanks a month in my car though, since its not the daily driver.

Stay away from xylene and tuluene though. I used to run them in my K04'd B5. They work, but are very corrosive by nature and like some of the other people have been saying, they can do more potential damage. I never had problems, but only ran them for a few months, and in low ratios.

[Kievskiy]

i am using NOS octane booster....the engine sound does change for more high pitch ...and on stg2+ 2.7t it does feel different expecially in hot days.

[davis449]

i am using NOS octane booster....the engine sound does change for more high pitch ...and on stg2+ 2.7t it does feel different expecially in hot days.

I read a story in Car and Driver a few years ago where they tested a bunch of this stuff and it appeared that there were only two that actually made a significant difference: NOS and Lucas. That being said, take a look at this link: http://volvospeed.com/Reviews/octane_boosters_nos.html. There they tested the actual R+M/2 rating (the method used to calculate Octane in the U.S.) and the results are pretty interesting. I personally use NOS, but ONLY when I travel out to West Texas, where I'm from originally, and have to use their shitty 91 octane gas. If you look at the label on the bottle of the regular (non race formula) they claim to increase Octane 30 points (3 full Octane numbers) which will actually push the 91 Octane gasoline to 94. Based on that claim and the results from the test I read on that Volvo forum, I feel comfortable using NOS only to boost the Octane rating of gas I get out there to the level my chip tune requires. Other than that one time a year, I stick with 93 and call it good.

[GEkido]

they sell a similar additive to touline at loews and home depot but it's called xylene. it works well to boost your octane rating, but it can damage your O2 sensors with prolonged use. much cheaper than buying 100 octane fuel. a quart costs roughly 5-6 dollars. you will notice quite an improvement, especially in a chipped car. all those octane booster formulas they sell at autozone and pep boys are basically a mixture of touline and mineral spirits. xylene is more concetrated though. just don't let make contact with your skin (especially your hands) it will cause you serious health problems later on in life.

I dont like the sound of that to much...