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Are There Any Reputable Octane Boosters?

Mulkers

By Mulkers,
in General Automotive Discussion

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Mulkers Proficient

Mulkers

Posted
Posted

As above, as I have heard different things.

Have any of you had experience with octance boosters that was positive/negative, and if so, which ones?

Because the other day, I was travelling through a one horse town, and got $10 of premium (95) to get me to the next BP.

I have also seen places with just unleaded, and fear getting to one of these places and I need to fill up.

Anyways; tell me some stories ;)

Guest DIRTgarage

Guest DIRTgarage

Posted
Posted
bp ultimate is fuel of choice in qld and i run nulon pro strength octane booster it seems to be the best

We swear by Mobil synergy 8000 mixed with Nulon Pro strength....spent nearly $3000 in research and this was the best combination we found. If you cannot buy synergy then the next best is BPultimate.....you can buy Nulon Pro strength in a 4 litre can for about $110.....much cheaper than by the bottle.

Duncan Grand Master

Duncan

Posted
Posted

what octane difference does the Nulon pro strength claim? at $27.50 per litre!

Most octane boosters increase octane by 0.1 ron so 95 premium + 2 bottles of booster would give you 95.2 = bugger all difference

WazR32GTSt Grand Master

WazR32GTSt

Posted
Posted
what octane difference does the Nulon pro strength claim? at $27.50 per litre!

Most octane boosters increase octane by 0.1 ron so 95 premium + 2 bottles of booster would give you 95.2 = bugger all difference

really is that all??

i got the impression that they increased octane rating by 1-2RON?

djr81 Grand Master

djr81

Posted
Posted
really is that all??

i got the impression that they increased octane rating by 1-2RON?

The Nulon Pro claims to boost the Octane number by about 8, but obviously it depends on how much booster gets put in how much fuel.

Some of the octane boosters talk in terms of points. These seem to be a tenth of the RON, eg boosts octane by 50 points actually only means an increase in 5 on the RON.

About half a bottle is sufficient for a Skyline tank - this will get you back up over the 98 mark on a base of 95.

By the way, you can happily drive your car on 95 Octane. Just drive gently and don't give it full boost etc etc.

Also, the easiest way of getting the brown sh!t off the back of you car after using the octane booster is with a rag & some CRC or WD40. Then give it a wash.

dezz Grand Master

dezz

Posted
Posted
The Nulon Pro claims to boost the Octane number by about 8, but obviously it depends on how much booster gets put in how much fuel. 

Some of the octane boosters talk in terms of points.  These seem to be a tenth of the RON, eg boosts octane by 50 points actually only means an increase in 5 on the RON.

About half a bottle is sufficient for a Skyline tank - this will get you back up over the 98 mark on a base of 95. 

By the way, you can happily drive your car on 95 Octane.  Just drive gently and don't give it full boost etc etc.

Also, the easiest way of getting the brown sh!t off the back of you car after using the octane booster is with a rag & some CRC or WD40.  Then give it a wash.

so is optimax 98RON? if not, what is? and if u use 98RON, do you need this booster stuff?

WazR32GTSt Grand Master

WazR32GTSt

Posted
Posted

98 RON comes in the form of:

- optimax (shell)

- BP ultimate

- synergy8000 (mobil)

- vortex98 (caltex)

if you use 98RON do oyu need octane booster?

technically, yes, as the stock ECU was programmed for 100RON petrol. But, i think about 15 years of evidence has shown that 98RON is pretty close to not cause any damage (providing the timing isn't rediculously advanced), and its a little more economically pleasing than adding a $15 bottle to every $50 tank of petrol - that's $15 per week * 52 weeks = $780 per year. if you have no problems with using 98RON for a year then the money you save from not adding octane booster equates to a second-hand rb20 :D

I wouldn't risk any lower than 98RON though.. 91RON + 7000rpm + 14psi doesn't provide a nice result i would think...

CEF11E Veteran

CEF11E

Posted
Posted

I used to add 5 litres of tolulene to a tank of BP ultimate to my cefiro to make up 55litres of fuel. at a ratio of 10:1.

Tolulene has a ron of 120

BP ultimate has a RON of 98

In australia bp ultimate has a low level of aromatic hydrocarbons and it is safe to increase that level by 30%.

to if you mix a ratio of 10:1 you get 100.2 octane fuel.

you can mix up to 30% tolulene and you will get an octane rating of 112!!!

I never mix a ratio this high though.

at 100.2 I could run .2 bar more boost and 5 degrees more ignition timing resulting in 24 more RWKW.

all this was tested in an rb20 on a dyno.

I did a lot of research into this last year and here is one of the more informative articles i found.

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octaneexplained.html

BTW you can buy tolulene from paint stores and it is called High aromatic thinners. just check its content is 100% tolulene.

a 50 litre drum was costing me $104.

to to get 100.2 octane fuel it was only costing me about $9 more per tank!

PHATGTR Collaborator

PHATGTR

Posted
Posted
BTW you can buy tolulene from paint stores and it is called High aromatic thinners. just check its content is 100% tolulene.

a 50 litre drum was costing me $104.

to to get 100.2 octane fuel it was only costing me about $9 more per tank!

That is some very interesting information!

My brother is a painter, so I can get this stuff at trade prices :)

Why the price difference between paint shops and automotive shops?

djr81 Grand Master

djr81

Posted
Posted
That is some very interesting information!

My brother is a painter, so I can get this stuff at trade prices :)

Why the price difference between paint shops and automotive shops?

Fellas, be a bit careful when handling toluene. It is not very nice stuff. Here is a link to a Material Safety Data Sheet for it. These data sheets are prepared for most chemicals that are, in some form, dangerous.

http://www.temarry.com/MSDS/Toluene_msds.htm

Best advice is:

Don't breath in the fumes.

Don't get it on your skin.

Keep it well away from your missus/kids.

PHATGTR Collaborator

PHATGTR

Posted
Posted
Fellas, be a bit careful when handling toluene.  It is not very nice stuff.  Here is a link to a Material Safety Data Sheet for it.  These data sheets are prepared for most chemicals that are, in some form, dangerous. 

http://www.temarry.com/MSDS/Toluene_msds.htm

Best advice is:

Don't breath in the fumes.

Don't get it on your skin.

Keep it well away from your missus/kids.

Surely it's not that bad if painters use it on a daily basis?????

kimbod Collaborator

kimbod

Posted
Posted

Be VERY careful with Toluene. It's used as a solvent.Nulon says 8 points , but actually it adds point 8. eg 98RON plus nulon =98.8 if you are lucky. Different refiners increase octane using different processes. They are all pretty good although some like Optimax , other say it has caused trouble. Working for Caltex and making the stuff ,I tend to use Vortex 98 and 95 if no 98 around

maccattack Proficient

maccattack

Posted
Posted

This article may assist.

http://aus300zx.neuralmotion.com.au/tech/octane.htm

I have also seen the Fast4's article - but can't seem to find it now.

Compares about 10 different octane boosters (including Toluene).

PHATGTR Collaborator

PHATGTR

Posted
Posted
This article may assist.

http://aus300zx.neuralmotion.com.au/tech/octane.htm

I have also seen the Fast4's article - but can't seem to find it now.

Compares about 10 different octane boosters  (including Toluene).

I couldn't see any specs on toluene there???

Was it called something else?

djr81 Grand Master

djr81

Posted
Posted
Be  VERY careful with Toluene. It's used as a solvent.Nulon says 8 points , but actually it adds point 8. eg 98RON plus nulon =98.8 if you are lucky. Different refiners increase octane using different processes. They are all pretty good although some like Optimax , other say it has caused trouble. Working for Caltex and making the stuff ,I tend to use Vortex 98 and 95 if no 98 around

Actually they claim 80 points which gives a change in the RON of 8, ie 98 + 8 = 106. I use about half a bottle in my GT-R's tank to ward off any hint of detonation on track days. Works a treat.

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