Turby

What is the safest amount to use? I dont buy anything but ultra94 from Sunoco. I checked out racerx's site, but I am not the sharpest pencil in the draw at 7am...........And where can I get some in the Boston area? <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Dave

Home Depot has it sometimes. I only use 93 octane, but I once had the idiot attendant ut half a tank of 89 in it, I topped it off with 93 to make ~91 in the tank but the car still ran poorly. When I got back down to a little over a half tank I tried adding a gallon of toluene, best I can guess, the mixture came to 93.5 octane, and the car ran great.

Turby

Hey Dave, how do ya like that euro-products chips?

Dave951M

Two sites to check out for info on toluene usage-

<a href="http://home.kscable.com/ssutton/miata/engine/toluene.html" target="_blank">http://home.kscable.com/ssutton/miata/engine/toluene.html</a>

<a href="http://www.vtr.org/maintain/gasoline-octane.html" target="_blank">http://www.vtr.org/maintain/gasoline-octane.html</a>

You can get toluene at any paint store like Sherwin Williams (where I get mine). Our local Home Depot doesn't carry it, nor does Lowe's. They both cite low volume and EPA/OSHA issues. I use it on auto-x and rallies. There is a bit of a "seat of the pants" change, one day, I'd like to dyno it and see for sure. That will happen after I finish bringing everything to spec and get a baseline for performance mods. Also, search the 951 forum, we got into this a while back. I think the thread had "rocket fuel" in the title. Good luck.

Dave

David Floyd

On track days I use 2 gallons Toluene and fill up with 93 oct.

<img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" /> <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

Dave

[quote]Originally posted by turby:
<strong>Hey Dave, how do ya like that euro-products chips?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I don't dislike it, but if I were to need another chip I'd try something else. If this chip has a rev-limit, I can't find it, found out the hard way at an autocross (7300 and climbing in 2nd
) The car is way quicker than I can justify with the mods I've done (not sure what the PO did), but I don't think the chip had much to do with it. The one thing I'm sure of is that 93 octane is the MINIMUM this thing will run on.

PorscheG96

[quote]Originally posted by Dave:
<strong>(7300 and climbing in 2nd ) </strong><hr></blockquote>


I still haven't hit the rev limiter with my chip installed either.

Turby

Ive called 3 paint stores and 2 hardware and no one even knows what the stuff is! What is this stuff exactly suppose to be used for and is it called something else?

David Floyd

It's a type of paint thinner.

I buy from Sherwin Williams Paint Store

Turby

found it, ordered some!!!!!!!!!thanks guys!!! Now, can I put lets say..........half and half without anything bad happening?

Danno

I'd start with a 25/75% mixture first to try out. Touluene is slightly denser than gasoline, potentially causing air-fuel mixture changes. It's also tougher to vaporize and ignite, possibly requiring an ignition upgrade if you use too much.

A 25/75% mixture using toluene/91-oct pump-gas would be 97 octane while a 50/50 would be 103 octane. To really maximize power, you have to adjust boost and ignition to be on verge of detonation on each blend. If your car runs fine on 91-octane, then simply dumping in toluene won't make that much of a difference.

Jeff928S4

Is this stuff called something different in Canada?? I've gone EVERYWHERE and nobody has ever heard of it. All we have is turpintine (paint thinnner).

Any suggestions? What is the difference between using this stuff or just plain ol' octane boost??

944S Boyeee

Danno

Toluene is usually packaged and sold as 'lacquer thinner'. Avoid the other thinners like 'mineral spirits'.

The difference between toluene and the other 104+ type 'octane boosters' is in the effectiveness. Those little bottles you get at the auto-parts stores typically use organo-metallics such as manganese-based compounds which are highly carciinogenic. Also they really only boost your octane by 2-5 'points', meaning 91 -&gt; 91.2-91.5 octane; not much compared to a couple gallons of toluene.