Toluene.
What is Toluene?
Toluene is basically a hydrocarbon and has a number of uses.
The use I am interested in, is adding it to gasoline to raise the octane rating and it is very effective at doing this. Here is why.
Toluene, 121 RON, 107 MON, 114 AKI.
Ethanol, 108.7 RON, 89.7 MON, 99.15 AKI.
E85, 102-105 RON, 85-87 MON, 94-96 AKI.
AKI (anti knock indicator) is the number you guys in the USA and Canada will interested in and toluene's numbers are very high.
Used in the Formula one turbo period during the mid eighties and allowed these engines to make very high boost numbers, up to 80psi in qualifying .
I have use toluene on and off for many years, the last vehicle I used it in was a 99 GC8 WRX. I ran it in this vehicle for around 5 years mixed at 10% with 98 RON without any problems. It allowed me to run a couple of psi more boost. Mixing it at percentages up to 30 is generally acceptable.
Negatives, I had to purchase it in 20 litre drums, then fill a 5 litre full container and add it to the tank whenever I brought fuel. Not practical for a daily driver.
It's a little expensive and not that easy to buy. I have recently started to use it again. Locating a supplier took about 3 hours of Google searching and numerous phone calls before I found someone one locale to me.
It does not like to burn in cold weather (depending on the % mix), meaning cold starts may be a problem, add a colder set of spark plugs and you may have a misfire result during cold start-up. (something I never experienced).
It is a very poor upper cylinder lubricate, but so is ethanol. You can add a dedicated high temperature upper cylinder lubricate at a ratio of 500 to 1 (lubricate to toluene) to overcome this. Something I do myself.
It can attack fuel system components in the same way as ethanol can.
It turns your spark plug and exhaust tips brown, but it does not effect plug performance. I never had any kind of misfire problems ever.
I have recently started to run it in the ST with a 98 RON Stage 2 tune. The EcoBoost engine loves it. It runs really sweet, idles better, smoother at WOT and it feels more responsive to throttle inputs.
I have no idea if toluene is even available in the US or Canada, but for those that can run multiple maps and a Pro tune, it would make be an option for say track days or just to see how much more power can be squeezed out of the Ecoboost engine.
What is Toluene?
Toluene is basically a hydrocarbon and has a number of uses.
The use I am interested in, is adding it to gasoline to raise the octane rating and it is very effective at doing this. Here is why.
Toluene, 121 RON, 107 MON, 114 AKI.
Ethanol, 108.7 RON, 89.7 MON, 99.15 AKI.
E85, 102-105 RON, 85-87 MON, 94-96 AKI.
AKI (anti knock indicator) is the number you guys in the USA and Canada will interested in and toluene's numbers are very high.
Used in the Formula one turbo period during the mid eighties and allowed these engines to make very high boost numbers, up to 80psi in qualifying .
I have use toluene on and off for many years, the last vehicle I used it in was a 99 GC8 WRX. I ran it in this vehicle for around 5 years mixed at 10% with 98 RON without any problems. It allowed me to run a couple of psi more boost. Mixing it at percentages up to 30 is generally acceptable.
Negatives, I had to purchase it in 20 litre drums, then fill a 5 litre full container and add it to the tank whenever I brought fuel. Not practical for a daily driver.
It's a little expensive and not that easy to buy. I have recently started to use it again. Locating a supplier took about 3 hours of Google searching and numerous phone calls before I found someone one locale to me.
It does not like to burn in cold weather (depending on the % mix), meaning cold starts may be a problem, add a colder set of spark plugs and you may have a misfire result during cold start-up. (something I never experienced).
It is a very poor upper cylinder lubricate, but so is ethanol. You can add a dedicated high temperature upper cylinder lubricate at a ratio of 500 to 1 (lubricate to toluene) to overcome this. Something I do myself.
It can attack fuel system components in the same way as ethanol can.
It turns your spark plug and exhaust tips brown, but it does not effect plug performance. I never had any kind of misfire problems ever.
I have recently started to run it in the ST with a 98 RON Stage 2 tune. The EcoBoost engine loves it. It runs really sweet, idles better, smoother at WOT and it feels more responsive to throttle inputs.
I have no idea if toluene is even available in the US or Canada, but for those that can run multiple maps and a Pro tune, it would make be an option for say track days or just to see how much more power can be squeezed out of the Ecoboost engine.