Maybe a Real Octane Booster!
#31
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Hey All, I was wondering whether the motor manufacturer would treat any damage due to the fuel additive as a problem. I have no experience with any of this but is it possible to damage the motor because the octane gets to high. Scorch or burn any internal components. I thought the fuel burns hotter with higher octane but once again I have no experience with Boosters of any kind and have never used them.
Guy took a 3 foot long plexi-glass or lexan tube, sealed on one end. He placed a small amount of regular octane (maybe 1-2 oz?) fuel in the tube, followed by a small rubber ball. He then capped off the open end with his hand and rocked the tube, gas, and ball combo back and forth to atomize the fuel. Then, taking a lighter, put the flame near the open end of the tube and BOOM! . Scared the heck out of us..... LOL Big flash, loud boom. That was REGULAR gas.
Next was premium, HIGH TEST fuel. He loaded the tube with the fuel and the rubber ball, only used premium instead of regular gas. He then asked for a volunteer from the audience! No one wanted to volunteer until he pleaded with us and called us "wusses". Finally a guy that was up front stood up and took the lighter. The instructor did the same thing to atomize the fuel and had the guy from the audience put the flame to the open end of the tube. I must say we were shaking in our boots when he did that. Well.... nothing as dramatic happened with the premium. What it did was light off the gas in a very slow, controlled burn. You could actually watch the flame travel down the length of the tube. Instead of a big boom, you got a long WHOOOOOSH.
And that helps explains why regular fuel will detonate in an engine with advanced timing or high compression, but premium fuel will not. Regular fuel bangs hard and for a short duration, and premium fuel burns "softer" for lack of a better term, but PUSHES for a far longer duration. You can start your spark sooner, or use higher compression, and the fuel will still be burning as the piston reaches TDC, and continues to push the piston down on the power stroke.
It really was a cool demo, and ever since I've understood that it is a waste to use a higher octane than your engine requires. (Unless you are buying a premium fuel to get more of the cleaning agents that are more frequently used in the more expensive fuels.)
On the drag cars we run, we usually use VP fuel, C12 (112 octane), but that gets expensive.... About $11.00 a gallon at the end of last summer!
#32
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Each can of Boostane has the mixing ratio tables printed on the label of each can. If you're truly curious about octane boosters, then you really need to at least visit the Boostane website even as others besides me have previously suggested.
Also, I don’t really know how old the info is, but the Youtube link you gave was uploaded in 2007. One of the other links you gave is from 2002 (as best as I can tell)….both kind of old/outdated info and Boostane was not available at that time.
Last edited by KAAMA; 01-27-2016 at 04:00 PM. Reason: I accidently skipped a word