fixing crappy gas

[roadboy]

Hi everyone, just a quick question. Here in Canada (Calgary), I'm stuck with crappy gas. The best is 92 octane and that has methanol in it so I usually stick with 91 octane pure gasoline. The owners manual says this is fine but recommends 95 oct. I could use a few litres of 100 oct race fuel to bring it up, but I don't feel like carrying that stuff around with me(not that safe). The over the counter octane booster such as NOS octane boost claim 3 point boost for 60 litres but i'm a little leary because i've heard that these can harm sensors, cats etc. Anyone know whats in these boosters?

Thanks
Brad
89SE

[lotusguy]

roadboy said:

Hi everyone, just a quick question. Here in Canada (Calgary), I'm stuck with crappy gas. The best is 92 octane and that has methanol in it so I usually stick with 91 octane pure gasoline. The owners manual says this is fine but recommends 95 oct. I could use a few litres of 100 oct race fuel to bring it up, but I don't feel like carrying that stuff around with me(not that safe). The over the counter octane booster such as NOS octane boost claim 3 point boost for 60 litres but i'm a little leary because i've heard that these can harm sensors, cats etc. Anyone know whats in these boosters? Thanks Brad 89SE

Brad,

The main ingredient in Octane Boosters is often Toluene (114 octane). The clever thing is that by packaging it in 6oz. containers and using the words Octane Booster, you can magically turn a $3.99 gallon of Toluene into an $85 a gallon gasoline supplement.

Toluene is a pure hydrocarbon (C7H8). i.e. it contains only hydrogen and carbon atoms. It belongs to a particular category of hydrocarbons called aromatic hydrocarbons. Complete combustion of toluene yields CO2 and H2O. This fact ensures that the entire emission control system such as the catalyst and oxygen sensor of your car is unaffected. There are no metallic compounds (lead, magnesium etc), no nitro compounds and no oxygen atoms in toluene. It is made up of exactly the same ingredients as ordinary gasoline. In fact it is one of the main ingredients of gasoline.

Toluene has a RON octane rating of 121 and a MON rating of 107, leading to a (R+M)/2 rating of 114. (R+M)/2 is how ordinary fuels are rated in the US. Note: toluene has a sensitivity rating of 121-107=14. This compares favorably with alcohols which have sensitivities in the 20-30 range. The more sensitive a fuel is the more its performance degrades under load. Toluene's low sensitivity means that it is an excellent fuel for a heavily loaded engine.

Toluene is denser than ordinary gasoline (0.87 g/mL vs. 0.72-0.74) and contains more energy per unit volume. Thus combustion of toluene leads to more energy being liberated and thus more power generated. This is in contrast to oxygenated octane boosters like ethanol or MTBE which contain less energy per unit volume compared to gasoline. The higher heating value of toluene also means that the exhaust gases contain more kinetic energy, which in turn means that there is more energy to drive turbocharger vanes. In practical terms this is experienced as a faster onset of turbo boost.

Toulene
R+M/2...114
Cost...$4.00/gal
Mixtures with 91 Octane Premium
10%...93.3 Octane
20%...96.0 Octane
30%...97.9 Octane

You can make your own by combining Toluene with Kerosene in a 6:1 ratio and gain approx. 1.1 octane (RON) by adding 1 gal. to a 20 gal. tank of gas. You can buy Toluene in 1 gal. or up to 55 gal. from a Sherman Williams Paint store. Care need be taken when mixing it and storing it. Octane ratings can be very easily calculated by simple averaging. For example, the tank of an Esprit is 21.0 gallons. Filling it with 20 gallons of 91 octane and 1 gallon of toluene (114 octane) will yield a fuel mix of:

(20.0 * 91) + (1 * 114) / 21.0 = 92.09

That having been said, an ECU controlled car has wide variability in the fuel octane it can use. High octane fuel does not make more power, in fact, it contains less potential energy. What it does do is allow greater compression/boost without knock. You should use fuel with whatever octane rating does not produce a consistent knock. 91 octane in a later Esprit will usually be just fine. Using high concentrations of toluene may damage some of the plastic/rubber bits in the fuel system, so avoid concentrations greater than 20%.
Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE





>> Edited by lotusguy on Wednesday 8th September 22:32

[lotusguy]

P.S.

You older guys, like me, may remember the Turbo-boost days in F1. Those cars used about 73% toluene as their fuel. They ran about 5Bar (73PSI) of boost in qualifying and about 4Bar (59PSI) in the race, making between 1,200 and 1,500 HP.

The rest of the fuel composition was usually n-heptane (octane rating 0), lowering the fuel's octane rating to allow the cars to comply with F1's fuel octane limit of 102. Because of Toluene's high temp qualities, the fuel tanks had to be heated to 70°C using the radiator effluent so that it would properly vaporize.
Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE

[bojangles]

Are you sure lotus recommends 95? That seems like it is not the north american average rating.
The green gas ( the colour of the pump nozzle ) in europe is called 98 there, here the same octane is 91 min.
Sunocco Ultra 94 in Canada is top rated fuel for ocatane. I cant believe that lotus recommeds something more than that.

Bruce

[roadboy]

Thanks Jim, as helpful as always. Yes lotus recommends 95 oct. minimum on page 27 of my owners manual. I just about fell down when I read that. I spent 2 hours on the phone trying to find the highest rated gas and finally settled on a good octane booster thats more convenient. I quote from manual "Although the Lotus Esprit Turbo will operate satisfactorily on uleaded gasoline having a minimum rating of 91 octane, for increased vehicle performance and fuel economy, the use of super unleaded gasoline, having a minimum octane rating of 95, is recommended". I refuse to let anything about my baby to be just "satisfactory".

Thanks again Jim for the info

Brad
89SE

[lotusguy]

roadboy said:

Thanks Jim, as helpful as always. Yes lotus recommends 95 oct. minimum on page 27 of my owners manual. I just about fell down when I read that. I spent 2 hours on the phone trying to find the highest rated gas and finally settled on a good octane booster thats more convenient. I quote from manual "Although the Lotus Esprit Turbo will operate satisfactorily on uleaded gasoline having a minimum rating of 91 octane, for increased vehicle performance and fuel economy, the use of super unleaded gasoline, having a minimum octane rating of 95, is recommended". I refuse to let anything about my baby to be just "satisfactory". Thanks again Jim for the info Brad 89SE

Brad,

Fuel economy won't really be affected by the octane rating as much as the composition. A heavily oxygenated fuel, or octane boosters using alcohols (Methanol, ethanol etc. or MTBE) have less energy and so you will burn more of it for equal speed or performance.

Also, 91 octane is satisfactory, not just satisfactory. Power and performance will be just fine and neither you or the engine will notice the difference in most driving conditions.

If you do insist on using an octane booster, make it yourself, don't buy it. Invest in a couple good quality gas cans for storage and buy toluene and kerosene at a paint store. With the high price of fuel already, don't be sucked in by marketing hype and pay $85 a gallon for the stuff, maybe more in your country.

Also, if you are buying it in 6 or 12 oz. containers, realize that you'll need 21 or 11 cans of the stuff respectively to gain any appreciable increase in octane per tankful, you need at least 1 gal. of it per tank (5% concentration, but preferably 10%-2 gal.) to appreciably change the octane. The way Octane boosters are marketed is a gimmick, they only work in significant concentrations. The fact that there is some science behind it (but only in the quantities noted above) is what keeps these companies a step ahead of the regulators.
Happy Motoring! ...Jim'85TE

>> Edited by lotusguy on Thursday 9th September 04:50

[roadboy]

Thanks again Jim. I think I'll just run premium and maybe mix up a batch for special occasions.

[okc-esprit]

Toluene is not a benign compound. Depending on how much you mix and the ventilation, you should wear an appropriate respirator. Once in awhile it probably isn't a problem. Toluene was (is?) the primary ingredient in model airplane glue.

This link provides some additional information.
www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/toluene/recognition.html#healthhazard

[lotusguy]

okc-esprit said:

Toluene is not a benign compound. Depending on how much you mix and the ventilation, you should wear an appropriate respirator. Once in awhile it probably isn't a problem. Toluene was (is?) the primary ingredient in model airplane glue. This link provides some additional information. www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/toluene/recognition.html#healthhazard

Absolutely! Always follow the directions on the label which will call for proper ventilation, respirator and appropriate precautions when working with flammables.

Assuming these are followed, you can work with it with little thought to toxic effect. It's pretty safe and is used in a variety of applications from model glue to paint to the gas at the pump.
Happy Motoring!... Jim'85TE

[Dr.Hess]

I think it is also getting harder to aquire in larger quantities as that is what the sandies used to try to blow the WTC the first time. The primary ingredient in tnT.

Dr.Hess

[bojangles]

can anyone confirm that the manual recommends 95 using the average method?
I still dont believe that they recommend fuel that is unavailable at the pumps.. it sounds like a european manual that refers to the rating system over there..

Bruce

[roadboy]

Being a plumbing contractor, and dealing with ABS solvent cement, primer, acetelyne etc. I am probably exposed to more toxic stuff everday, and I assure you I give the proper respect in use and in storage. In Canada there doesn't seem to be the paranoia about terrorism when it comes to purchases. Although if I were to get my friend of east indian descent, he might have a problem.

[lwasson]

Hi

At LOG24 Dan Gurney responded to a question reqarding the performance of his Toyota turbo charged race car being very reliable. He said part of the trick was putting the gas in warm sunlight and removing the cap on the containers allowing volatiles that are harmful to the turbo charged engine to evaporate leaving a purer form of gasoline for the engine.

I wonder what it would do to the octane rating?

Neat trick!

louis
83 Turbo