Octane boosters.

[burkey22]

Hello all.

I was just wondering what the go is with the octane of fuel. I want to high flow my turbo down the track but when I mentioned to my mechanic that the stock turbo can put out 13psi he said that you need special fuel at that level of boost.

As the best fuel I can buy (and do buy) is premium I asked him about octane boosters. He said they were no good.

Does that mean I just can't put high levels of boost into my car? I checked the other octane booster threads but they didn't help.

My mates WRX runs 18-20psi on premium with no additives. I wan't my Stag to drag him off.

Any info would be much appreciated.

[Sydneykid]

Hi Zane, boost is pretty much irrelevant, we run 1.4 bar on Optimax all day every day, the tuning enables that. The race car runs 1.6 bar, also on Optimax. It's all down to the tuning, if your mechanic can't tune your car to run 13psi on Optimax/Ultimate/S8000 then I suggest you find another mechanic.

[burkey22]

I can't get any of the fuels you mentioned. The best I can get is Premium unleaded.

[geno8r]

Owww man that sucks. Well you'd want to find out the octane of your premium fuel & get you car tuned for that fuel so you can get the most power out of your car safely!

[Guerilla]

Why don't you just get premium fuel and ad some octane booster? I have used the 3 point one before, you can really feel it even though it was the lowest one.

[burkey22]

Why don't you just get premium fuel and ad some octane booster? I have used the 3 point one before, you can really feel it even though it was the lowest one.

As I mentioned before though my mechanic said octane boosters were no good.

[Yorik]

Hi

I ahve been using Octane Boosters for years, firstly because it was hard to get fuel where I was and then as I used to get it really cheap.. Now I use it as I am in the same situation, only get premium and I live in teh middle of nowhere so I don't trust the fuel..

I have tried most of them, some with good results, some with shocking results.. I now exclusively use "Nulon Pro Strength" sure it is a little more pricey than most, but it is the best in my opinion and it works well too..

Check this link, it is from the Nitrous Formula website where they compare some leading brand Octane Boosters, they say their product is as good as Nulon Pro Strength, but I don't believe it is.. I stick with what I know works well.. KMart have good prices, but Coventry's in bulk is good if you get a discount like I do as a Rio Tinto Employee..

http://members.westnet.com.au/yorik/octane...e-shootout.jpeg

Also another thing to consider is that from time to time Dyno Dynamics Dyno shops do delas where with every power run you do, you get a free bottle of Nulon Pro Strength, now most tuners will correctly recommend good fuel over an octane booster, but if they are going to recomend one, they will recomend the best.. If you are like me, you take what you can get..

Another good octane booster is Toluene, for about $35 you get about 4 Litres, this stuff has a RON of 130 and an effective MON of 122, so it is quite good fi you want to run extra pounds or advance.. In the days of Turbo F1 cars, they ran on practically 85% Toluene, do a search n the effects of Toluene on the web, you'll be surprised at how good it is.. I have used it for drag runs before to get extra pounds, but I also hit the FMIC of that car with a CO2 extinguisher and had Water/Meth injection too, was fun...

[mcnamg]

i thought that stuff was bad for pipes and whatnot in the car remember reading something about the stuff beingh added to petrol by dodgy service stations

[Sydneykid]

i thought that stuff was bad for pipes and whatnot in the car remember reading something about the stuff beingh added to petrol by dodgy service stations

That's Ethanol, not Methanol:cheers:

[strutto]

Yep I've had good results from Toluene as well...

[geno8r]

So what are the negatives of octane boosters then? We know the positives are that you can run higher boost on leaner tunes.

[strutto]

Main negatives I know of are cost and emissions...

[geno8r]

I read on the bottle of Nulon Pro Octane booster "warning: may need to advance ignition timing" or something like that... Owww & octane booster isnt good for standard spark plugs right? I got iridium ones, im thinking of getting a bottle of the Nulon Pro.

[mcnamg]

oh ok my bad but i was referring to the tolulene but thats probably cool too

[geno8r]

So whats the deal with the warning on the Nulon Pro then, about ignition timing. Somebody wana explain?

[Sydneykid]

So whats the deal with the warning on the Nulon Pro then, about ignition timing.  Somebody wana explain?

My opinion, in order to get the benefit (from the increased octane) Nulon are saying that you may have to advance the ignition timing. The "warning" is "don't ring us and complain if you haven't tried advancing the ignition timing". You could also interpret it as "just adding this into your fuel tank doesn't mean you will get a power increase".

While I am doing this post I might as well give you my 20 cents worth on octane boosters. I have no doubt that if I add an octane booster it will increase the octane rating of the fuel. That's a chemical test and easy to verify. But (there is always a but) that doesn't mean my car is going use that increase in octane rating ie; produce more power. Since my car is tuned perfectly (no, I didn't tune it) to run on Optimax, then is is very unlikely that I will get even 1 horsepower increase from simply sticking some octane booster in the tank. Yes, I have tried it and on more than one car.

Maybe if the car is tuned badly, already pings for example, I might get a power increase. The current tune has to be too far advanced, too much boost and too lean for the fuel the car is currently running, and that combination is not common in the Skylines that I have seen. They are generally exactly the opposite, too retarded and too rich.

In order to get more power I have to retune it, spend a couple of hundred dollars, a bit more ignition timing here, a bit less fuel there, maybe a bit of extra boost etc etc. The result, I have completely different ignition and fuel maps to take advantage of the octane booster. The best power increase I have seen was 18 rwkw out of a pretty highly tuned engine, not bad. But (yes, another one) that means I have to run octane booster ALL of the time, otherwise it pings its head off and feels a bit flat in certain rpm/load ranges. This is not good for engine life.

So what happens if I run out of octane booster? What happens if I forget to add it? What happens if someone else fills up the car? What happens if the shop runs out? What happens if they discontinue it? What happens if they change (improve) the formula? Do I have to carry my lapt top with me all the time to upload the non octane booster maps?

Bottom line for me is, I get the best out of the fuel I can easily buy pretty much everywhere. I stick a bottle of octane booster in the boot when going on a trip just in case I have to buy some other fuel. Although even that is becoming redundant these days.

Hope that makes sense:cheers:

[geno8r]

Cheers. SK coming in with the goods like always

[Yorik]

I might aswell pipe in here again too..

I only run Octane Booster to make up for the fact that I beliece the fuel where I live is Sh*t.. I can only get Premium unleaded and because most poeple here are tight arses I think it may have expired it's shelf life the time it ends up in my tank. I add the best Octane Bosoter I can find, Nulon Pro Strength, not only for the Octane increase and the added security it gives me, I do it because it also has some nice lubricants and other additives that clean the engine.. If I rana tank of premium and check the plugs, all black, run it with Nulon Pro, nice and golden..

My car was tuned on Premium, I just like to add security to my engines. I do go over the top in this, with larger sumps, oil coolers, rocker arm stoppers, good oil, larger radiators, but I would rather be safe than sorry.,.

Bottom line, you want the gain the extra power out of a good Octane Booster, add a psi or two to your boost, but be reasonable and wairy, don't go adding 6 psi, that would probably be too much.. If you change nothing, you'll get no better results, probably just a cleaner, smoother running engine..

[Buzzn]

I might aswell pipe in here again too..

I only run Octane Booster to make up for the fact that I beliece the fuel where I live is Sh*t.. I can only get Premium unleaded and because most poeple here are tight arses I think it may have expired it's shelf life the time it ends up in my tank. I add the best Octane Bosoter I can find, Nulon Pro Strength, not only for the Octane increase and the added security it gives me, I do it because it also has some nice lubricants and other additives that clean the engine.. If I rana tank of premium and check the plugs, all black, run it with Nulon Pro, nice and golden..

My car was tuned on Premium, I just like to add security to my engines. I do go over the top in this, with larger sumps, oil coolers, rocker arm stoppers, good oil, larger radiators, but I would rather be safe than sorry.,.

Bottom line, you want the gain the extra power out of a good Octane Booster, add a psi or two to your boost, but be reasonable and wairy, don't go adding 6 psi, that would probably be too much.. If you change nothing, you'll get no better results, probably just a cleaner, smoother running engine..

I added half a bottle of the nulon pro yesterday to about 30L of 98 point premium in my 34 GTT, and today the revs climbed about 20-30% quicker than usual..

[Checkbuzz]

All respect SK but don't the Japanese factory ECU's in the RBs have fuel maps for the 100RON fuel used over there?

In an "untuned" RB (factory ECU) I thought that running a decent octane booster with 98RON local fuel would have benefits

i.e. running the octane that the ECU is mapped for... even more so to avoid detonation with increased boost levels + hot weather?

Clearly it's a different story if your aftermarket or factory ECU is remapped for 98RON

I was about to go out and buy some but not so sure now

My opinion, in order to get the benefit (from the increased octane) Nulon are saying that you may have to advance the ignition timing. The "warning" is "don't ring us and complain if you haven't tried advancing the ignition timing". You could also interpret it as "just adding this into your fuel tank doesn't mean you will get a power increase".

While I am doing this post I might as well give you my 20 cents worth on octane boosters. I have no doubt that if I add an octane booster it will increase the octane rating of the fuel. That's a chemical test and easy to verify. But (there is always a but) that doesn't mean my car is going use that increase in octane rating ie; produce more power. Since my car is tuned perfectly (no, I didn't tune it) to run on Optimax, then is is very unlikely that I will get even 1 horsepower increase from simply sticking some octane booster in the tank. Yes, I have tried it and on more than one car.

Maybe if the car is tuned badly, already pings for example, I might get a power increase. The current tune has to be too far advanced, too much boost and too lean for the fuel the car is currently running, and that combination is not common in the Skylines that I have seen. They are generally exactly the opposite, too retarded and too rich.

In order to get more power I have to retune it, spend a couple of hundred dollars, a bit more ignition timing here, a bit less fuel there, maybe a bit of extra boost etc etc. The result, I have completely different ignition and fuel maps to take advantage of the octane booster. The best power increase I have seen was 18 rwkw out of a pretty highly tuned engine, not bad. But (yes, another one) that means I have to run octane booster ALL of the time, otherwise it pings its head off and feels a bit flat in certain rpm/load ranges. This is not good for engine life.

So what happens if I run out of octane booster? What happens if I forget to add it? What happens if someone else fills up the car? What happens if the shop runs out? What happens if they discontinue it? What happens if they change (improve) the formula? Do I have to carry my lapt top with me all the time to upload the non octane booster maps?

Bottom line for me is, I get the best out of the fuel I can easily buy pretty much everywhere. I stick a bottle of octane booster in the boot when going on a trip just in case I have to buy some other fuel. Although even that is becoming redundant these days.

Hope that makes sense:cheers: