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The 2-Stroke Garage => General Chatter => Topic started by: TPR5 on May 03, 2023, 10:36:43 PM

Title: Octane booster
Post by: TPR5 on May 03, 2023, 10:36:43 PM
 Anyone use it ?
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: SoCal250 on May 03, 2023, 11:45:13 PM
Never used it. I've always heard it's not good in a 2-stroke.
If you need it, it's a sign of another problem. Buy better gas or adjust timing.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: m in sc on May 04, 2023, 11:16:32 AM
never.

Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: soonerbillz on May 04, 2023, 01:01:18 PM
Your better off buying av gas.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: m in sc on May 04, 2023, 01:08:04 PM
not to spark the fuel debate, but for the nth time, pump fuel is fine. I just did a very spirited lunch ride on my TZR, and its just running 93 pump fuel, with a fresh motor and 145 psi compression readings between 7-9500 most of the 30 min ride.

:olaf: :gentleman:
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: LMS on May 04, 2023, 01:33:28 PM
I had a 320whp Saab viggen, ran torco for a bit, turned plugs orange, but it did help some when I lived in cali with crap ass 91 oct. Moved to Chicago where there is 93, prob solved when running 21 psi of boost.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: 1976RD400C on May 04, 2023, 05:45:12 PM
If you read the VP container it says to use only enough to raise the octane 1.5-2 points otherwise it can leave a coating on engine parts and do damage.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: TPR5 on May 04, 2023, 10:27:08 PM
Ran it it in my yz dirt bikes years ago, just wondering ...
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: automan on May 05, 2023, 05:04:08 AM
Orange is from MTBE. Used for a while until new catalyst rules forbade it.(durability/poisoning) and ground water contamination

My old favorite was made in Flint,Mich. called Dura-Alt it was the second best octane booster at the time.
ANALINE.

cliff

Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: kramdua on May 05, 2023, 07:28:38 AM
what is octane? is it an additive the oil company adds to the fuel or is it already part of the fuel? if it is already part of the fuel i can't see how an additive can raise the octane level. i do know that at the gas station they actually only have high test and regular. if you want mid grade they blend the 2 together to get 89 or 91. correct me if i am wrong because i am a lot. :huh:
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: m in sc on May 05, 2023, 01:15:38 PM
different octane ratings can be achieved by additives and usually just composition of the fuel.
octane the stability of fuel under pressure situations. the lower the octane rating, the less stable it is to combust under pressure. this is why high compression motors need higher octane fuel typically, to keep them from pre ignition under the increased pressures or a combustions chambers heat before the spark event. (pinging)


fwiw, the usa and europe use 2 different methods for measuring octane.

toluene and xylene were once common octane boosters, but they will def 'wash' lubricants from parts and are hazardous, bad, to humans.

:twocents:

Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: kramdua on May 05, 2023, 01:50:02 PM
great info. learn more everyday.
thanks,
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: 85RZwade on May 05, 2023, 04:17:06 PM
Also, octane is a simple hydrocarbon of 8 atoms of carbon and 18 of hydrogen. This little bit of trivia made Organic Chemistry far more interesting for me, as did a young lady named Liz. Like some of our bike parts, Liz was made of unobtanium. Alas.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: ~JM~ on May 05, 2023, 06:19:26 PM


See that orange coloration on the exhaust turbine? That's from MTBE.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: kramdua on May 05, 2023, 06:33:28 PM
way over my head. the easy way for me is just hit the 93 button. :umm:
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: SoCal250 on May 05, 2023, 06:40:13 PM
We don't even have a 93 button here. :rolleyes: Our crappy swill tops out at 91 (R+M/2). And it still costs $5/gal right now
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: m in sc on May 05, 2023, 07:56:46 PM
yeah, cali, fla and texas are 'locale non grata' for me to live. ya'll can keep all that.  :dawg:

Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: Brad-Man on May 05, 2023, 11:56:19 PM
I can understand Cali, but FL & TX?
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: m in sc on May 06, 2023, 07:44:10 AM
ive been to fla enough to not want to be there, and texas is just weird
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: The Red Scourge on May 06, 2023, 10:33:45 AM
Quote from: m in sc on May 06, 2023, 07:44:10 AM
ive been to fla enough to not want to be there, and texas is just weird

I lived in Florida for 5-1/2 years.  It was about 5-1/2 years too long.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: Jspooner on May 06, 2023, 08:29:49 PM
I also just run straight pump gas in my TZ. I just buy the highest octane that is available wherever I happen to be. FWIW, with new rings my motor has 160 psi readings and the head still has the original design combustion chambers. I would not use octane booster either.
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: teazer on May 07, 2023, 12:58:06 PM
What it comes down to is whether there are signs of detonation.  If not, pump gas is sufficient.  I ran the phat trakka at 165-170psi on 91/93 octane with no problems.  In a TZ or TD race motor that gets heat soaked at full power, 100 octane was more than enough to keep it safe.

You can mix two lots of gas with different octane ratings to get something between but it's not a straight average.  Octane rating is simply a measure of resistance to detonation. Higher octane does not equate to more power until the motor is at the limit of detonation.  On a street motor that's rare unless timing or jetting are way off. And if they are, fix it...
Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: m in sc on May 14, 2023, 03:07:21 PM
Quote from: teazer on May 07, 2023, 12:58:06 PM
What it comes down to is whether there are signs of detonation.  If not, pump gas is sufficient.  I ran the phat trakka at 165-170psi on 91/93 octane with no problems.  In a TZ or TD race motor that gets heat soaked at full power, 100 octane was more than enough to keep it safe.

You can mix two lots of gas with different octane ratings to get something between but it's not a straight average.  Octane rating is simply a measure of resistance to detonation. Higher octane does not equate to more power until the motor is at the limit of detonation.  On a street motor that's rare unless timing or jetting are way off. And if they are, fix it...

exactly. ^ best explanation yet.

Title: Re: Octane booster
Post by: IR8D8R on May 19, 2023, 01:13:56 PM
The only thing I ever used was toluene 10%. The commercial stuff is useless. Toluene is the most common major additive in most racing fuel. You can smell it. F1 spec fuel has been as high as 84% toluene which by itself has a MON of 121 octane.

I have no idea how a 2-stroke reacts to it. My cars always ran fine and stopped audibly pinging. I think I would want EGT sensors in place to experiment.

There is quite a bit of data online about the use of toluene as an additive in gasoline. Most of it is positive. It's not $3.99 a gallon anymore and not on the shelf at ACE hardware and Home Depot like it used to be.

This article is interesting:
https://nyet.org/cars/info/toluene.html

The author of the article made an error in calculation where he projects the expected octane numbers. According to an SAE whitepaper, the effect of toluene addition is not linear by %. The author assumed that it was.

IR8D8R