Gary P

Nasty - Actually, high octane fuel burns slower/longer than lower octane! That's one reason why you can run more advanced ignition timing or higher compression ratios. Here's an example that was done at a clinic I attended years ago. I think it was sponsored by Champion Spark Plugs.

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!

KAAMA

iTrader: (1)

Just trying to make a helpful suggestion, and I can't say I don't blame you for being skeptical----but knowing the person who developed Boostane, I highly doubt it would be worth his effort to develope and market an octane booster that only increased the octane numbers from 91 to 92.5 (in 10ths) as you have indicated---or as other companies have in the past, but there are companies out there that would try to capitalize on such a small gain or claim and I know that is where the skepticism comes in.

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.