Boost Octane...local marinas have 87
 

I am looking for first hand experience in octane boosters. My engine builder says 91-92 octane. As the subject line says, my local marinas only seem to carry mostly 87. After some research, I have decided to keep some BOOSTane (Marine) octane booster in the boat. According to the mix charts, I should be able to use 1/3 ounce per gallon (one ounce per 3 gallons) to boost 4-5 boost numbers (from 87 to 91/92).
Has anyone successfully (or more importantly un-successfully) utilized this product as described?
Thanks!

seen it work for some people only needing a. little bit but I like the real thing I'm surprised your marina is not using recreation no ethanol fuel it is all 90 octane in Ohio on my lakes and is called rec fuel so no ethanol

Must be state by state (or region by region). I know there is 90+ at some marinas but the ones "local" to me Perdido Key, Fl./Orange Beach, Al. have mostly 87 (non-ethanol).

I have been using Boostane for several yrs and while I will say I would rather just have 93 it has worked for me just fine. I'm running 750 hp with carbs and really need the 93 if I'm planning on running very hard.

Thanks...and I guess you mix according to there mix chart? Do you throw in a little extra for good meeasure?

Remember, when sn ictane boostet says ‘points’ it’s a tenth.

Example: raises 5-7 points means .5-.7. 87 will become 87.5 - 87.7 .

Boostane doesn`t work like that .
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I agree and learned this in my research...BOOSTane says Octane #s (not points).
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SB is correct...tenth of points, not full numbers. This has been thrashed on almost every High performance site in existence.

Don't believe the hype from the snake oil.

Just go to your local FOB airport and buy 100LL and mix accordingly.

There are websites with octane mix ratio calculators.

Toluene also works. S&F has some good discussions of mix ratios.

So you`re saying that the boostane chart is false and the company is practising false advertising? How did you come up with this? Do you have an octane tester?

Boosted or normally aspirated? Thanks for the input. I am pretty sure I will continue to use street premium but in a pinch I'm going to need an alternative

NA 572s. I'm a lake boater so I can usually fill up with 93 but we spend a few weeks in Florida each winter and fill up at the marinas so that's when I use it.

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Yes, Comrade.

Those things are garbage and not calibrated for ethanol. ( I bet all it reads is 110)
but you should definitely call Boostane and tell em their chart is wrong based on a russian garbage octane tester .:lolhit:

I've never used it myself, but have a friend that swears by it. His blower engine was setting off the knock sensor and pulling timing. I believe his sweet spot is 93 octane and he had filled up with 91. Added the right amount of Boostane all good.
And it is by the point not by the tenth point, I've researched that too.

I have used the Boostane. It works as advertised. the parts store octane boosters are 1/10th of a point, but not the boostane.

Grazie

Thanks! I appreciate the inputs from EVERYONE!

Get some toluene. That is what they use at the refinery.__PRESENT

Good point...I would like to hear first person experience about mix ratios and long-term affects of adding toluene to 87 gasoline to make 91-92 octane gas for my big blocks.

I was told by Mike Danniballe at Sterling that the only way to boost octane of pump gas is to add high octane race gas. Advertised "octane boosters" absolutely do not boost octane of any levels of fuel. If you need 93 octane for your motors, but can only get 87 octane at the pumps, you will need to cut the fuel 1/3 with 110 octane race gas to end up at 93 octane. I only need 91 octane for the Merc 700s in my 36, so when I know I can only get 87 octane, I need to cut my fuel 20% with 110 race gas to end up at 91 octane. The octane level of race gas you buy depends on the percentage you need to cut the fuel by. It's simple math, and leaded race gas is always recommended over low-lead 100 octane av-gas.

I went the 110 route a few times but that can be a real challenge if your traveling on the water. I have even stationed cans where I'm going but that is a real pain in the as .

More food for thought...Thanks!

Down here that is one reason I do not want anything that needs more then 90, its what you find on the water and a lot of times we go through more then a tank in a day. At least with a boosted injected motor you could have it pull timing or try to stay out of boost but what fun is that?

Boostane is by far the best

I have tried Octane Boosters, But the Best was To buy TRICK FUEL is 110% ( 10 % ) in the tank with you 87% Octane Worked Great, In My 28' Bertram Baron Special.
350 Mag. Eng, squared out 350 hp.each.

Octane
 

I run a Donzi Blackhawk with a supercharged 502 with good heads and bottom end it's carbureted and running Boostane allowed me to advance my timing when I went to more pitch. It seems to do a good job.

Good idea! I am reviewing this as an option. Ideally, I am looking for a "concentrate" that I can carry in the boat to add to 100-150 gallons of 87 (from a marina) during refueling in order to get ~92 octane.
My basic math calculation says that I would have to carry/add ~28 gallons of 110 to 100 gallons of 87 to get 128 gallons of 92.

Do you have knock sensors or was this "by the ear"?

I would not risk blowing an expensive engine using octane boosters. Hard to believe less than an ounce of something can raise the octane of one gal of gas. This has been debated for years on many forums and the general consensus is octane boosters are not what they claim.

I read that drag racers from years ago used diesel as an octane booster. I did a test with an 80 to one mix with regular car gas and felt a small boost. sorry no charts with this method.

Above from Power Nation advertising Race Gas fuel concentrate. Similar to Boostane?? Use your own best judgement.

I am still thinking about options.

Fill it on land or buy 5 gallons of race gas good luck!

You "felt" a small boost?
Do tell!
About a point or a couple tenths of octane?

interesting that you asked, here is the info. I did the test in my rv6 airplane. it runs an 180 hp lycoming engine. on take off there is a noticeable difference of power on a 90 degree day and a 50 degree day. I decided to add a quart of diesel to 20 gallons of regular gas and took off on a 90 degree day. the result was that if felt like the usual power of a cold day. those old time drag racers knew a thing or two.
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That’s what I thought too.

Perhaps the diesel created a change in the mixture and that’s where the extra “power” came from?

I just don’t see diesel being beneficial.

Not to step into the whirlwind of expertise contained here, but I just watched Engine Masters Sunday, and they did a myth-busting episode on Octane. Now to avoid boost and turbo and other variables blah blah, they had a 540hp LS3 NA engine on the dyno. They tested 87 and 91 pump, 110 and 116 Sunoco, and E85. For each grade, they completely drained the engine between each run, did 'calibration' runs for each octane, (timing, AFR, etc) before hitting it for the official run.

(Surprised me!)

Oddly, the engine liked 29-degree timing for max power on all fuels. Cranking timing up and down didn't help power. For each to make max horsepower, they fiddled with the AFRs. In the end, the best run from 87 octane to 116 octane, the engine horsepower/torque difference between them all was just 1-3 points. (91 pump did the best of gas, but E85 topped them all by a smidge)

Their conclusion was timing for max power is about what the build of the engine wants, not the octane. In a controlled environment, 87 was as good a anything else, but all noted they would not run it on the street with a good motor because of extended load, underhood heat, etc.. Octane level was only a matter of where the engine detonated, if it detonated, not horsepower, and the old myth of raising the octane and cranking in timing to get more horsepower was totally unfounded. Use of 110 and 116 was a waste on a NA street rod as they couldn't make is make more power out of it with anything they did. The E85--made the most torque and horsepower, but they had to crank what would be 'gas' AFR to around 8.5, burning more fuel compared to gas. They noted under boost, E85 made significant gains over gas-based fuels because of its cool charge and high oxygen content.

It shed some light on a lot of my old beliefs and theories. I like octane, so don't kill the messenger, but I feel a little better knowing if I'm on fumes and have to splash in a little 87 octane dock gas to get home, it's not the end of the world.

Pretty cool episode! I love those guys!