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TOLUENE as a Octane Booster

Sekred

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#1
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.
 


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#3
I remember looking into toluene about a decade ago with my 1.8t gti. I simply could not find it at any store in my area.

How does toluene affect O2 and catalytic converters?

After looking into fuel additives like Torco, it still seems that running a e30 blend is still the best option. If only I had a ethanol station closer than 100 miles.
 


OP
Sekred

Sekred

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Thread Starter #4
No problem with O2 sensors, toluene has no lead content. No problems with Cats either from my experience with it.
 


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#5
I remember looking into toluene about a decade ago with my 1.8t gti. I simply could not find it at any store in my area.

How does toluene affect O2 and catalytic converters?

After looking into fuel additives like Torco, it still seems that running a e30 blend is still the best option. If only I had a ethanol station closer than 100 miles.
I was just gonna mention Torco. It's a pretty big premium, will turn your plugs orange and will sometimes foul them altogether. Any reports of Toluene doing the same thing?
 


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Sekred

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Thread Starter #6
I never had a problem with fouling plugs or heard of that happening from using Toluene. I never exceeded 15% myself.
We don't get Torco in Australia, so I have no experience with it.
What is its octane number?.
 


RAAMaudio

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#7
I ran Toluene in my 1zz turbo Matrix and loved it but it was only available in paint stores by the gallon and not sold in CA now unless you have a special license, need for business, probably have to get the place inspected....it was also very expensive and a hassle carrying a can or two on road trips in a hatch, not a great solution overall.

I just got a can of Torco in the mail but have not tried it yet, I thought I would be tuning with it right away so paid $28 for it and two day shipping. Buying by the case of 6 qts it is around $20 a can shipped, buying by a 5 gallon can it would be around $10 a qt. It would be around $0.50 a gallon for a +4 Octane boost, $1.00 to make it race gas, a very good deal. I bought some race gas at the track to deal with a bit of timing issue to bring my 91 to around 94 and it was $10.49 per gallon which made the total in the tank around $6.60 a gallon just to get to 94 or so Octane.

I was going to get a tune with it and buy just a case of 6 qts as only use it for the track, etc...but reconsidered, I will be traveling around and finding E85 is pretty easy in many places and I can carry some in my tank in the trailer which has a fuel pump and two 30 gallon tanks but I only carry them partially filled as to much weight as under the car which sits to far back past the axles....using a toyhauler to haul a car has some compromises.




It has rave reviews, hundreds upon hundreds of them from many years of use.
 


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#8
Yeah, Torco is a well researched product and when you crunch the numbers, it will run you ~ $11 per tank + a tank of 91 = 94 octane. Volume wise, it's pricey but you only need a bit more than half of a can to get to 94. It's concentrate race fuel so it's a little different in composition than a regular octane booster. I wouldn't use a super high ratio of it though. I think that's when people have fouling issues.

The interesting thing with Toluene is not the RON or MON but the really high AKI number. You could probably run a relatively low concentration and still be protected from knocking and timing retard. Not sure how you could tune for those perimeters though.

For most of our applications, E85 is probably the best bang for buck.
 


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The only major issue people report is the coloring issue you get with MMT. Some say it causes hot spots with Manganese deposits. Lots of information on it out there though and no one is saying it doesn't work.
 


D1JL

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#10
I have used Torco before and never had any issues.



Dave
 


RAAMaudio

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#11
To bad you cannot get the Torco, it would probably take a big order and some serious time to import it, some race shop or race parts company should look into it for you guys.
 


D1JL

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#12
It is available on Amazon.com.
Won't they ship to you?


Dave
 


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#13
I never thought I would recommend an OTS octane booster but the "Nos" brand (even sold at Walmart for ~$10) works very well. I tried it in my FiST and it corrected a -5 deg timing retard to +5 deg timing advance. One bottle to a full tank. It is simply a high level of the standard MTBE fuel additive. If you're having issues at higher boost levels you should at least try it and see.
 


OP
Sekred

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Thread Starter #14
It is available on Amazon.com.
Won't they ship to you?


Dave
I just had a look on Amazon, eek its expensive. I wonder what type of compound it is. Its octane number must be very high.
I will do the maths, but I will probably stick with Toluene.
 


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It uses MMT, which is why it will turn the sparkplugs orange. C16 will also do that though, because it has MMT. It is race fuel concentrate. I mixed 3 gallons of unleaded 100 octane in my tank at the track, @ 9.50 a gallon. Torco is a much better deal.
 


OP
Sekred

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Thread Starter #16
Arrr, Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Tricarbonyl . Now I get it..........[crazyeye]
 


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#17
Toulene is different kind of octane booster all together. Its easy for you to get, but banned here in Cali. I will try torco, and skip e30.
 


OP
Sekred

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Thread Starter #18
Not surprised its banned in Cali, probably banned in a few other US states as well. Also has a use in illegal Meth labs I believe.
 


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What kind of gains can we expect out of 100 octane stage 3 setups? Coming from 91 working on a panda tune. I will post a vdyno. What can we expect? Skred do you have some logs to compare?
 


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Thread Starter #20
You will probably need a pro tune to take advantage of the higher octane and run more timing advance. Do Panda offer a 100 octane tune OTS?.
I don't have a AP so my data logging is restricted to my phone app and a excel spread sheet. I am running a Pumaspeed OTS tune so my max timing advance is restricted to what the map allows under ideal conditions. I have just installed the latest stage 2 map and have no data for that yet. Previous tune I was seeing +8 cyl correction and 23.4 psi boost at WOT. Running the Toluene just allows me use all the timing and boost available. A pro tune wold allow me to run more timing to really take advantage of the higher octane.
 


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