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

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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!

you may not want to work on your engine any but a few times iv`e had to run double head gaskets to get out of a too high of compression problem ..

Hoss, once I find out about the compression that idea might be a winner!!!

Did you ever have any other problems as a result of the double gaskets? Same torque on the head bolts right?

Reading through this thread makes me wonder if you might have too much/too fast mechanical (centrifugal) advance internal to the distributor - wrong, weak or broken spring or maybe someone before you decided to elongate the slots or maybe they are just worn. I used the wrong spring pair arrangement in my MSD distributor and did it rattle under low speed load -

Hmmmm, there is another thing that I hadn't thought of Dave...I had only considered this as a by-product of high compression. or perhaps an advanced timing (from other comments) But this would have the same effect wouldn't it? Thanks for the idea!!!

I need to get in touch with the folks that built the engine and get more info on the engine, see how high the compression is, what kind of cam etc.

Thanks for all the help!

Don't know the Gates brand, but Techron is Chevron/Texaco's detergent additive. Great for keeping valve deposits down (big potential problem for port injected engines), but not intended to do anything for octane rating. Techron used to be the standard of the industry, probably still is, though the Shell detergent looks to be very effective as well.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Shell detergent looks to be very effective as well.

Now I'm, again, disillusioned - that they have something else? Shell has been saying for the past couple of years that their big cleaner/upper is .... nitrogen !!! Both Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch said so.

Originally Posted by IC2

Now I'm, again, disillusioned - that they have something else? Shell has been saying for the past couple of years that their big cleaner/upper is .... nitrogen !!! Both Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch said so.

Yeah, my guess is they have a detergent that contains nitrogen molecules.......whoopie......but it makes for a marketing differentiation perhaps. Sorta like the old Pennzoil promotion of Z7 which was essentially the same/similar ZDDP anti-wear that any quality/qualified oil had, but they found a "clever" way to promote it. If you're interested in reading a bit more about detergents in gasoline look up "top tier detergent gasoline".

I like the BP and add MM oil, I remember Sunoco 260 wish they would bring that back to the pumps. The good old fun days.

Seeing as how this 'ol thread was about fuel, anyone tried, heard about, or ran the "oxygenated race gas". Couple guys said they were running it at the digs end of last summer, anybody have anything on it or was I just being told a tale?? Their story was they used much less per pass and it still had a 108 octane.....

Just read about this stuff when I was looking for E-85 around Vilano Beach I think they had a leaded one too, seemed a bit spendy for my needs but racing???Hmmmmm...vpracingfuels.com

VP100 (aka StreetBlaze 100)
Oxygenated with ethanol, this CARB-legal fuel is specifically engineered for high-performance street cars including sport compacts, muscle cars, street rods and more. It's environmentally friendly and street legal throughout the U.S. In applications with anything from 4- to 12-cyclinders or engines equipped with a turbocharger, supercharger or nitrous oxide system (NOS), VP100 will generate optimum power and performance. In turbocharged or supercharged applications, it allows an increase in boost without fear of detonation. NOS users can also leverage their higher octane ratings to step up to a more powerful nitrous oxide system. Dyno tests with a turbocharged application proved VP100 generates up to 14% more horsepower compared to premium grade 91 octane unleaded gasoline. Designed for use in cast-iron head engines with CRs up to 13:1 and aluminum head engines up to 14:1. Works well on the latest generation of electronically-controlled turbo engines. Contains no metal compounds and won't harm catalytic converters or oxygen sensors.

Yeah Eric, I read that deal on the VP site.... Doesn't really say what they're doing to it, got to be more then just dropping in a big shot of ethanol though, isn't it???? We've ran everything from 10% to 100% ethanol, blended it with everything from pump gas regular to VP race gas.... Trying to figure out what the heck they're adding that they give it the "oxygenated" name??

Where the heck are all our on site chemists, anyway???

Eric, what did you end up running in yours for the street?

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

.................got to be more then just dropping in a big shot of ethanol though, isn't it????

No, probably not. Without actual tech data can't say for sure, but ethanol is an oxygenate. So is NOS, and nitromethane, so was MTBE before being banned by EPA for fuel....................but the term oxygenate must resonate with some catagory or other of consumer. Could be a way of boosting or regaining sales lost to E85 to street driven muscle guys.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Eric, what did you end up running in yours for the street?

Now I'm down to 89 octane from my friendly Gate dealer, not so sure that I could use the Chevron 89 though...

Whatever, at least I'm not sneaking down to Oviedo to buy cases of snake oil

But after reading the vp racing stuff ("oxygenated with ethanol"?? isn't that what I get at the pump with up to 10% ethanol?)and noticing the difference between suppliers, it sounds like it is all snake oil!!!!

Originally Posted by Hot Rod Surfer

Now I'm down to 89 octane from my friendly Gate dealer, not so sure that I could use the Chevron 89 though...

Whatever, at least I'm not sneaking down to Oviedo to buy cases of snake oil

But after reading the vp racing stuff ("oxygenated with ethanol"?? isn't that what I get at the pump with up to 10% ethanol?)and noticing the difference between suppliers, it sounds like it is all snake oil!!!!

I don't believe the 10% does enough to help anything--no science behind this other then drag race and street time, but it seems to me that the "oxygenated" benefits of ethanol blended with gas didn't do much good performance wise til we hit about the 30% to 35% level. We used to blend off the E-10 you get at the pump, but now that we can buy E-85 around here we've been blending with that up to 100% ethanol, and that takes some substantial carb mods.... Got to go find me some of that VP stuff and take it up to my buddies at the college and have them test it.... Meanwhile, guess we'll just keep stumbling along....