Thread: Octane Booster Fuel Additives - Opinions/Facts Needed!

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Thanks for all the replies, I guess that Roger and I must have posted at the same time cuz I just saw his reply.

That may be the deal though, I hadn't thought about it before. I guess that a couple of degrees might do the trick without losing too much HP or torque.

Lamin8r have you tried setting your timing back a mark or two?

Thanks all! I'll let you know how it works! But for the time being I'm heading back to my "snake oil" supplier and get another case

Thanks Roger, I guess that it's time to get the timing light out and put it too work!

Kind of wish I had one of those handheld calibrators though...

Originally Posted by rspears

Eric,
On my 347 I can simply use my handheld calibrator to do a global timing adjustment, backing out two or three degrees of spark across the board until I get back to a known, consistent fuel..

Showoff!

Originally Posted by 34_40

Showoff!

Hey, just one of the benefits of EFI!! I was just trying to reinforce that it should be easy and effective to back down the timing a notch or two, at least per the Edelbrock tech's...

One thing I've learned from this - I chased the story on ethanol octane rating based on Dave's statements about using E85. From what I read, pure ethanol has an octane rating of ~110, and Dave told us that E85 is ~106. The problem I have is that ethanol blends have a "shelf life" of around two weeks before they go into a phase seperation from absorbing water, and when that happens they lose four or five numbers on octane rating - if you buy 91octane that has 10% ethanol it starts absorbing water from the atmosphere immediately, and if you park for a few weeks or months you'll have 85 to 86 octane fuel, with water laden alcohol which may not be really good for your performance engine looking for 91 or better. Not a problem for your DD that gets refilled regularly, but for a car sitting all winter I'd worry about what's happening in the system. Not sure how this applies to E85 - maybe Dave can educate us?

Originally Posted by rspears

Hey, just one of the benefits of EFI!! I was just trying to reinforce that it should be easy and effective to back down the timing a notch or two, at least per the Edelbrock tech's...

One thing I've learned from this - I chased the story on ethanol octane rating based on Dave's statements about using E85. From what I read, pure ethanol has an octane rating of ~110, and Dave told us that E85 is ~106. The problem I have is that ethanol blends have a "shelf life" of around two weeks before they go into a phase seperation from absorbing water, and when that happens they lose four or five numbers on octane rating - if you buy 91octane that has 10% ethanol it starts absorbing water from the atmosphere immediately, and if you park for a few weeks or months you'll have 85 to 86 octane fuel, with water laden alcohol which may not be really good for your performance engine looking for 91 or better. Not a problem for your DD that gets refilled regularly, but for a car sitting all winter I'd worry about what's happening in the system. Not sure how this applies to E85 - maybe Dave can educate us?

And right you are Roger! I guess it is one of the perks of going electronic.. I've been curious also what may/will happen to our cars with the newer fuels. I've added stabilizer but am not sure if it's enough? Let's see what others think!?!?!

Don't they also make sbc head gaskets in various thicknesses? I know they do for Olds engines because we were looking at them in Summits catalog.


Don

Originally Posted by Hot Rod Surfer

Thanks for all the replies, I guess that Roger and I must have posted at the same time cuz I just saw his reply.

That may be the deal though, I hadn't thought about it before. I guess that a couple of degrees might do the trick without losing too much HP or torque.

Lamin8r have you tried setting your timing back a mark or two?


Thanks all! I'll let you know how it works! But for the time being I'm heading back to my "snake oil" supplier and get another case

Yes,Eric..we did..still ran harder with the booster,,hauled some serious a$$,as you would expect with 451 inches of mad Mopar...and a fair bit of fruit stuffed inside it..

Hey, just wanted to let you know how things went with my snake oil!!!

I did get another case, but felt like I was sneaking power additives in the dead of the night!

So the next time I tuned it (needed it pretty badly too) I just retarded the timing a bit, cleaned up the carb, and reset the idle.

Yahooooo, now I'm running on 89 octane without a hint of a knock and just a little bit milder than before!!!

But when I was messing around (before the tune up) I came up with another question...

I used to use Chevron 93 octane, thought techron was the cats meow, and had to use octane adder to get rid of the detonation. But for other reasons, I changed over to Gate gas and was able to run their 93 octane without any knocks?? Tried the 89 octane and the knocks were back...before the tune up anyway.

So there must be a difference between Chevron and Gates fuel!

Anyone else notice any difference between any fuel? What is your favorite?

Inquiring minds have to know!