Petrol Additives..Red X and RON ...???????

[Gorvid]

I can only get 98 RON at best in my locality....and often I et trapped with only 95 available.

Could or should I be using Red X or similar to get a bit more ooomph..????

[Jay Ayegees]

Depends what your car is set up for - my '92 Griffith 4.3 has a label at the filler stating '95 octane only'. If you need to bring it up a bit you could use an octane Booster such as Millers, etc.

Jay

[Gorvid]

I'm not sure what it;s set up for TBH..

If I add this:
http://www.millersoils.net/1_Millers_frame_AUTO_RE...

I assume it can't cause any probs..and should be good?

[liner33]

I've found Lucas octane booster to be good , there is a seller on ebay

[stigmundfreud]

does it have a knock sensor? If not just use the specified level. Red x and the like is snake oil at the end of the day, 98 RON or 100 is hardly any difference at all. Save your money, the car will have been designed for 95 at worse or 97 at best

[liner33]

Red X WILL clean the fuel system but it wont raise the octane, whether or not the fuel system needs a clean or would actually benefit from one is another matter.

[Cathar]

But what if my car needs 98 and I can't get any? I know I can run on 95 without damage, but for maximum performance, is there anything I can add to reach 98 octanes?

[liner33]

Like i said use Lucas octane booster

[V8Cerbera]

Cathar said:

But what if my car needs 98 and I can't get any? I know I can run on 95 without damage, but for maximum performance, is there anything I can add to reach 98 octanes?

A small amount of xylene or toluene from a hardware store works just fine as an octane booster. Be wary while handling though, it's not nice stuff. Here's some calculations:

89Octane Pump Fuel vs Toluene

90/10 Mix: circa.91.2 Octane
80/20 Mix: circa.93.4 Octane

89Octane Pump Fuel vs Xylene

90/10 Mix: circa.91.5 Octane
80/20 Mix: circa.94 Octane

Obviously you'll need to shift your calculations for 95 octane pump fuel - these were generic calculations I found some years ago on teh interweb.

[Cara Jynwyth]

Yes yes. The old aromatic hydrocarbons toluene and xylene aka brush thinners.

You can get this stuff colour tainted hence "brush thinners" not just cellulose thinners for about 50p/L. It does stink a lot, isn't that bad chemically. What you have to remember is that aromatic hydrocarbons destroy "lead response" so if you are using Tetraethyl lead to run high CR's/mega boost, it will funk with the amount of advance required.

There is only one solution as far as I'm concerned www.tetraboost.com or make it yourself.

I can't remember what cellulose thinners are octane wise but I thin it's about 102MON. It would be interesting to see how it would blend with industrial alcohol. I think it may burn hot, there is some sort of catch IIRC.

[liner33]

I notice the tetraboost stuff has lead in it that may be useful to some

The active ingredient in the Lucas stuff is MMT Methyl Cyclo Pentadenyl, it used to be used to raise the octane level of petrol in the US but was banned although its still used in Canada and Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylcyclopentadieny...