This is topic Will Octane Booster Damage Your Engine in forum Tech Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by 01GT#1STUNA (Member # 7620) on :
 
im runnin a 4.6 2v with a pro charger 14to15 pounds of boost and a built shortblock. i have a 91 octane tune on it and i figured id use NOS octane booster on every fill up.i seen a post on a ZO6 website tha said octane boosters will make your engine seals prematurely crack and leak. is that true.and should i stop useing octane booster.
 
Posted by 93PONY (Member # 60) on :
 
Some fuel additives can break down oil & can cause problems IF the fuel gets into the oil... Other additives will dry out rubber O-rings in the fuel system.

Mostly, octane boosters are a waste of $$$$.

The highest natural octane of anything you can get is around 140. If you add 1 qt (1/4 gallon) of 140 octane to 15 gallons of 91 octane fuel you get 91.8 octane. & that's assuming the 1qt of octane booster has an octane of 140.....which it does not.

Torco leaded is the only fuel additive that I've *heard* of actually making a difference in the anti-detonation properties of pump gas fuel. But for the cost....I'd MUCH rather run a gallon or 2 of 116+ octane fuel than a bottle of Torco.

The way I see it..... If octane boosters worked (including Torco), we'd see professional race cars running pump 91 octane & a bottle of octane booster. Until that day....I'm sticking with Race gas & that's what I HIGHLY recomend to all of our customers.

On that note, there are MANY different formulations of race gas for specific applications. One should contact the major race fuel suppliers tech line & find out exactly what fuel is recomended for your particular application.

For the vast majority of 5.0/LSX/Modular boosted applications this would by most Unleaded fuel or a fast-burn leaded fuel like Sunoco Maximal. Mixed with pump, or run straight....depends on the setup.
 
Posted by 01GT#1STUNA (Member # 7620) on :
 
thanks shawn.ill be seeing you REAL soon.
 
Posted by Larry (Member # 5176) on :
 
Torco is not an octane booster..commonly reffered to as a fuel accelerator..the advertised increase in octane on the unleaded Torco is 32 OZ. (1 Qt.) to 10 Gal of 93 octane gas will give 104 Octane....we have tested on the dyno and it is right at 7 gal. for the advertised increase..The leaded Torco is right on their claim of octane increase.

Torco has been around for years and used by many off road racers of all kinds.

7 years ago Byron Bateman(Dr. Tune) recommended the Torco and my Cobra at the time was pulling 495 to 500 RWHP.Byron installed a switch that changed my timing for the Torco additive..we pulled an average of 25 to 30 more RWHP with the additive in 10 Gal. of gas.

Nice to have with you ..I always carry a case with me..a lot more convienant than searching out a station that carries race fuel.

last time I purchased the torco, the cost was ,with tax $13.50 per 32 0z can.This means you are adding $1.93 per gal to your cost of fuel based on 7 Gal.

[ December 24, 2007, 01:23 PM: Message edited by: Larry ]
 
Posted by 93PONY (Member # 60) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Larry:
Torco is not an octane booster..commonly reffered to as a fuel accelerator..the advertised increase in octane on the unleaded Torco is 32 OZ. (1 Qt.) to 10 Gal of 93 octane gas will give 104 Octane....we have tested on the dyno and it is right at 7 gal. for the advertised increase..The leaded Torco is right on their claim of octane increase.

Torco has been around for years and used by many off road racers of all kinds.

7 years ago Byron Bateman(Dr. Tune) recommended the Torco and my Cobra at the time was pulling 495 to 500 RWHP.Byron installed a switch that changed my timing for the Torco additive..we pulled an average of 25 to 30 more RWHP with the additive in 10 Gal. of gas.

Nice to have with you ..I always carry a case with me..a lot more convienant than searching out a station that carries race fuel.

last time I purchased the torco, the cost was ,with tax $13.50 per 32 0z can.This means you are adding $1.93 per gal to your cost of fuel based on 7 Gal.
How exactly did you 'test' the octane of pump gas with Torco?

Who in the racing world runs 91 octane & Torco in their race car?
 
Posted by 01GT#1STUNA (Member # 7620) on :
 
when you say "It has been proven" do you mean Proven by Torco themselves. Cuzz i seen the dyno charts on torco's web site. Are they accurate?
 
Posted by Larry (Member # 5176) on :
 
Ravi at speed freaks made numerous pulls on the dyno with Torco in differen,t volumes of gas.We pulled our max, increase when the cars fuel gage registered 1/2 full(which is (7 to 7 1/2 gal). on 91 octaane only,no additives pulled 742 RWHP,adding Torco to the fuel (registering 1/2 tank) we pulled 842 RWHP.

NO one said race cars would go out and run 91 octane and add Torco. Why do this when you can fill with 116 octane racing fuel.

But for the high HP street driven cars, Torco is a great alternative to traveling and having to search out a source of high octane fuel.

Just have to have a tune (in my case I break out the SCT flash tuner and change tunes to fit the case.)

Also helping my set up,I run a 75/25 mix of Methanol and distilled water,and ported heads that flow 320 intake and 235 exhaust.

Some one elses set up may not show the gains we made by just adding Torco.

[ December 26, 2007, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: Larry ]
 
Posted by Thirteen Twenty (Member # 7961) on :
 
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Larry:
[QB] Torco is not an octane booster..commonly reffered to as a fuel accelerator..the advertised increase in octane on the unleaded Torco is 32 OZ. (1 Qt.) to 10 Gal of 93 octane gas will give 104 Octane....we have tested on the dyno and it is right at 7 gal. for the advertised increase..The leaded Torco is right on their claim of octane increase.

Torco has been around for years and used by many off road racers of all kinds.

7 years ago Byron Bateman(Dr. Tune) recommended the Torco and my Cobra at the time was pulling 495 to 500 RWHP.Byron installed a switch that changed my timing for the Torco additive..we pulled an average of 25 to 30 more RWHP with the additive in 10 Gal. of gas.


I know there are some racers on here but then there are some who don't understand what their talking about either. octane is octane and the higher the octane rating the slower the burn, which allows for boost and timing advance without detonation, regardless of the brand name. Now if their being truthful in their claims is another topic. the 25-30 rwhp you claim is a result I'm sure of increased timing allowed by higher octane, not the octane itself. Now as to the original question, if you have a 91 octane tune then I'd run 91 octane. Any higher octane than tuned for should in theory slow the burn and cost HP not make it. Now if you ran say 104 race gas and were tuned for it that would be a different story. I know of people that have built very powerful 87 octane engines because they were tuned for it. Basically if your tuned for 91 then why spend the money trying to get 104 or whatever when it won't help.
 
Posted by Thirteen Twenty (Member # 7961) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Larry:
Ravi at speed freaks made numerous pulls on the dyno with Torco in differen,t volumes of gas.We pulled our max, increase when the cars fuel gage registered 1/2 full(which is (7 to 7 1/2 gal). on 91 octaane only,no additives pulled 742 RWHP,adding Torco to the fuel (registering 1/2 tank) we pulled 842 RWHP.

NO one said race cars would go out and run 91 octane and add Torco. Why do this when you can fill with 116 octane racing fuel.
are you claiming 100rwhp just by adding a "magic bottle" to fuel.
[Eek!] [Eek!] [Eek!] [BS flag]

[ December 26, 2007, 07:37 PM: Message edited by: Thirteen Twenty ]
 
Posted by Larry (Member # 5176) on :
 
We are tuned for 91 and the torco additive,,this is whers my SCT comes in ..I just plug in hit select and change the program..I run the 91 octane on the street on a daily basis..saving the Torco tune for for the strip and those special occasions when the additional HP becomes necessary,

[ December 26, 2007, 07:29 PM: Message edited by: Larry ]
 
Posted by Thirteen Twenty (Member # 7961) on :
 
wow I can see where added boost or timing can make power but the point I was making was that it's in the tune not the octane additive. So to reference the original question of this post I don't think that the octane booster helps him and his 91 octane tune.
 
Posted by Tinner (Member # 2688) on :
 
quote:
We pulled our max, increase when the cars fuel gage registered 1/2 full(which is (7 to 7 1/2 gal). on 91 octaane only,no additives pulled 742 RWHP,adding Torco to the fuel (registering 1/2 tank) we pulled 842 RWHP.
You pulled 742 RWHP on 91oct. pump gas and w/ no other changes accept Torco you made 842 RWHP? [BS flag]

[ December 26, 2007, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: Tinner ]
 
Posted by Thirteen Twenty (Member # 7961) on :
 
I was callin bs too but in his last post he says he changes his tune for the higher octane so o.k. I'll buy it.
 
Posted by Larry (Member # 5176) on :
 
This is my last post...Of course you change the tune with added octane(slower burn)

I have seen guys add higher octane to motors without increasing the timing and axctually lose HP..the 842 dyno graph has allready been posted.

no more posting .getting tired of this bs.
 
Posted by 92stangLX (Member # 3252) on :
 
Are you detonating? You can get 100 octane race gas at some 76 stations. Why not just pump a few gallons of that with your 91 octane?
 
Posted by 93PONY (Member # 60) on :
 
There is far more to the anti-detonation properties of fuel than Octane....I'll give you that.

However.... If one 10oz can of Torco is said to raise 93 octane to 104octane, why would Torco sell 104 unlead race fuel? It's a HELL of a lot cheaper for a customer to buy one can of Torco & mix it with pump crap than buy their 104 octane buy the gallon. Their 104 octane customers are smarter than they look....it's obvious Torco + pump gas is NOT EVEN CLOSE to 104 Race gas.

Lets do the math... if you say that it takes 1 32oz can for every 7 gallons, you've got to use 2 32oz cans for every 1 full tank of fuel. One 32oz can of Torco is advertised at $19.95 on Torco's website (Torco Accelerator ), so for every fillup (15gal) you're spending $39.80 on Torco to theoritically raise your octane to 104.

You can buy 100 octane at local 76 Gas stations for ~$5.69 a gallon.
You can buy 110 octane for about $2 more per gallon. (less if you buy a 54gal drum)
116 octane for ~$8.50 a gallon (less if you buy a 54gal drum)

Based on $3.50 a gallon for premium pump-crap 91 octane, you're spending $90.55 per 1 full tank of fuel (14.5gal of 91 + 2 bottles of Torco).

Straight 100 octane at the pump would cost you: $85.35 for 15 gallons.

50/50 mix of 110 leaded & 91 pump would cost: $83.92

5 gallons of 116 + 10 gallons of 91 would cost: $77.50

The #'s don't add up. Torco + pump is the most expensive & least effective Fuel for a race motor.....& lets make NO mistake, you have a race motor in a street car.

I run 116 mixed with pump 91 for this very reason + the fact that there is far more to race fuel than octane alone.
I trust what the racers with similar engine combinations use.... RACE GAS

[patriot]
 




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