Going to the track Thursday...Need octane booster comments

[OneLethal87GN]

I've been researching the home brew octane boosters and i have a few questions. Is 3 the maximum amount of gallons recommended to add to a tank? Does it hurt your oxygen sensor? How harmful is it to your fuel pump? Ay and all comments, stories, and good/bad experiences are greatly appreciated. I want to run the typical 100 oz. toulene, 25 oz mineral spirits, and 3 oz of tranny fluid in my car when go to the track Thursday. One last question... what's the best mix to run for maximum and safe results? Thanks.

 

[Fred 86 GN]

C-16 race gas is the best "mix" to run for safety. By mix, it will be 2 gals of whatever was in the tank plus the C-16 you add...if you pump the tank out with the fuel pump.

Too much of the *lene additives will damage the rubber and plastic parts in the fuel system...or so I have been told.

 

[strikeeagle]

The best mix is 10 gallons of C16 and 5 gallons of water. Pour the C16 in your gas tank and give the water to the track for their water box.

 

[blackbuick87]

Originally posted by strikeeagle
The best mix is 10 gallons of C16 and 5 gallons of water. Pour the C16 in your gas tank and give the water to the track for their water box.

 

[FJM568]

Originally posted by OneLethal87GN
I want to run the typical 100 oz. toulene, 25 oz mineral spirits, and 3 oz of tranny fluid in my car when go to the track Thursday. One last question... what's the best mix to run for maximum and safe results? Thanks.

Huh?!?!? Mineral spirits??? Where'd you hear that one??? Don't use mineral spirits!!!

Use Xylene, it has a higher octane rating than toluene, but either is fine...Mix it in no more than 30% ratio to the gasoline...i.e. 3 gal xylene to 7 gals gasoline = 10 gals mixed...

If you don't plan on running your homebrew all the time, but just once in a while, don't worry too much about adding anything else(like tranny fluid(?) or Marvel Mystery Oil, etc)...I've run a lot of xylene through my fuel system, and haven't had a problem with the fuel system yet...

addition...Aha!!! I see where you got your mix info(w/mineral spirits) at!!! Was going to refer you to that page on www.gnttype.org...Personally, I wouldn't use mineral spirits...The xylene or toluene itself is a cleaning agent anyway, and will help clean your injs...I would think that the mineral spirits would tend to lower the octane rating...I've heard of people using Marvel Mystery Oil for lubricating purposes, but generally about a capfull or two of the cap on the Marvel Mystery oil can...

From what I've read, xylene and toluene is what gives race gas their higher octane rating...but by adding it into unleaded fuel, you're doing it w/o adding lead...So your mix shouldn't hurt the o2 sensor...

Just my opinion...

 

[tim87tr]

I used 5 gal Xylene in a tank, around 100 oct mix, for the times below. I did add 6 oz of MMO. No, it did not hurt the O2 sensor since there is no lead. I liked the mix and did not get any kr at those boost levels on a stock turbo. And its just my opinion, since you need to add the Xylene to a full tank of gas to know what the "actual" octane is, the extra weight will help with traction during a hard launch. I had air bags on the T, but not on the GN.

I am going to use straight 110 next time out, and just change the O2 sensor to an old one when I get to the track. If you are able to leave the line at WOT, the O2 is ignored during WOT anyway. Otherwise, not leaving at WOT you can have bad 60's with that old O2 sensor (This was recently posted). I did use the 110 mix first time out with the cars, and that did work also, but killed the O2 sensor.

 

[dconnor]

That mineral spirits mix from gnttype.org is good for cleaning the fuel system, but as an octane booster Xylene with a bit of Marvel Mystery Oil will work MUCH better! I use ~2 oz MMO per 12 gallon batch of homebrew, (3 gallons xylene + 9 gallons pump gas)

For those with the C16 blend comments, Xylene is 117 octane so if you are running a BLEND anyways WHY use a leaded gas that has the same ocatne rating?!? You end up with the same octane final blend, but DON'T have to worry about killing sensors / catalytic converter!!!

Doug C.