Has anyone tried putting octane boosters in their tank?
Does it help or increase the performance of our coupe? Or hurt it?

Any advise?

 

off the shelf octane boosters will not net you much increased
octane. You'll only get less than 0.5octane increase from
those little bottles.

If you want real octane improvement, go to a paint store
and buy pure toulene and mix 2 gallons+ per 15gallons of
93 octane. Here's the formula for octane:

(__ x 93 + ___ x 114) / Total gallons = octane

Toulene is 114 octane.

On NA motors, you won't notice much increase in performance unless you are running aggressive ECU settings per something like a Unichip or any piggy back computer.

If you start running FI, then octane increases will net you
some serious margin for your boost.

2004 G35C 6MT Bright Silver

 

I don't know about our G's, but on my other car, (Pontiac GTP), people on the boards were saying that there was something in the octane booster that was leaving a red residue in the combustion chamber. (Turned the spark plugs red). Granted, its a completely different motor with a supercharger, but someone said that they talked to the manufacturer (Both GM and Octane Booster Company). GM recommended against using that octane booster, and the booster company said it was normal/harmless... FWIW, if you are running forced induction, on the Pontiac boards, we are getting better performance with water injection and intercooling, than octane boosting.... Some of the guys didn't even install water injectors in the manifold, they just tapped the sprayers directly in front of the supercharger intake [img]/w3timages/icons/shocked.gif[/img]. Some people thought it was crazy, as they weren't sure if the compressor fins would like that, but apparently some guys have been running that way for 2 years or so without problems.

Not sure what to think.... [img]/w3timages/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

 

i use redline fuel cleaner and thats about it...dont see how a few octane points is going to help a stock setup

 

and in some engines it is bad for the O2 sensors

2003.5 G35C 5AT
Premium Package
Tire/Wheel Package
K&N Filter, Z-Tube, EGK

 

owners manual says not to use any fuel additives at all

2003 BLK/BLK 6MT Injen, clear corners, Eibach sways and springs, tint
My G on a photo shoot. More to come!

 

When LEAD was banned many searched out replacement molecules and current Manganese formulations, MMT (methyl cyclopentandienyl manganese tricarbonyl), appear to work best.
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/72498/

Think about your expensive O2 sensor that won't be covered under warranty IF they fail and you used the red residue leaving products..........proof you contaminated the O2.

If you must use additives find something that doesn't leave proof..............now that MTBE is being phased out it will become the additive of the future, if you can find gasoline without Ethanol.

A good article:
http://www.idavette.net/hib/fuel/

 

If Methyl Benzene (Toluene) works, I wonder how Nitro Benzene would React?... /:-I

The stable aeromatic Benzene ring increases octane.
Whereas
The competing Nitro group should decrease it.

Q,
You have access to a ton of auto documents. Has this stuff been tried.


2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust

 

I don't think adding NitroBenzene would be do any good. The reason Toluene is so effective is because of the nature and strength of the C-C and C-H bonds & of course the Benzene ring. C-C and C-H bonds are both extremely covalent (equal e- sharing). So adding a stable methyl group to the already extremely stable aromatic ring essentially extends the electon cloud of the ring over the methyl group that has more covalent bonds and a 17% increase in mass. What does this crap mean? well for combustion to take place you need a source of fuel, oxygen, and heat right? Well Toluene increases your fuel source somewhere around 17% per volume/per volume.
Why you DONT add Nitrobenzene to gasoline: besides it being extremely explosive and hazardous (including death) if inhaled or absorbed through the skin, it's also a precursor to tri-nitrotoluene. Extra e-'s around the 2 O's could easily rip off some methane (CH4) e-'s creating +CH3 which would love to bond with any C on the electron rich benzene ring. Add a fre more and you've just synthesized tri-nitrotoluene just 3 feet in front of you. tri-nitrotoluene is more commonly referred to as TNT.

 

well you would surely get a bang out of that

2004 Sedan -- 3M Clear Bra - Bought on eBay and DIY -- Rocky Mounts bike racks!

 

G3nui5,

"I don't think adding NitroBenzene would be do any good. The reason Toluene is so effective is because of the nature and strength of the C-C and C-H bonds & of course the Benzene ring. C-C and C-H bonds are both extremely covalent (equal e- sharing). So adding a stable methyl group to the already extremely stable aromatic ring essentially extends the electon cloud of the ring over the methyl group that has more covalent bonds and a 17% increase in mass."

I agree. What makes it so good is the ability of the molecuel to be attacked by radicals and take it without reconfiguring the ring. This is what makes me think Xylene or even a Napthalene or Di-phenyl soln would have a considerably higher octane. Albeit, so high, it may be too high. Combustion may be too slow or inefficent.

"Why you DONT add Nitrobenzene to gasoline: besides it being extremely explosive and hazardous (including death) if inhaled or absorbed through the skin, it's also a precursor to tri-nitrotoluene. "

Can't agree here. 1-Nitrobenzene isn't any more explosive than gasoline, propane or toluene. You must be thinking of the higher nitrations. Trinitrobenzene is detonable but is highly insensitive. Any isomer of Dinitrobenzene is weakly explosive and extremely insensive. Enough to the point that DOT does not classify it as an explosive. Plain Nitrobenzene just isn't explosive at all. Nitromethane which is much more energetic and sensitive isn't even considered an explosive by DOT or practical standards.

Additionally, nitrobenzene is not a precursor to synthesis of trinitrotoluene. Methylation of nitrobenzene would simply reduce the nitro group. Possibly reducing it to a dimethylamino benzene. The only practical way to make trinitrotoluene is through direct nitration of toluene with mixed acids or dinitrogen pentoxide.

And methanes are never easy to rip off in any reaction short of outright combustion or a red hot Pt sponge. CH3+ is at much, much to high an energy state to be easy. And even if it did, adding methyl groups is not a path to nitration.

And your description of Nitrobenzene being very toxic is 100% accurate.

So what do you think the octane of Hydrazine or propyleneoxide would be? I'm sure some of the TOP fuel dragsters of the 1980's knew what it was at the time. I guess these fuels were all banned because it makes nitrobenzene look like a vitamin supplement. Accidents involving a release of fuel weren't good for the driver or the spectators down wind. =O

2004 G35 6MT Blk/Blk Sedan Stillen Air, Stillen Exhaust