Toluene

[Damo]

I bought a drum of Toluene the other week to try it out as an octane booster and to see if it worked for myself.
Well, some mixed results:

I was at a mates workshop last Friday evening and we were re-tuning the extra testicle. It made 179kw on 23psi and 98 octane (up 4kw from last tune with a much broader peak with far less roll off) this is all due to more ignition timing past peak torque.

Then

Splashed in around 15% toluene and had a play with ignition timing. Dissapointingly it made no more peak power! So I wound in more boost and it made 190kw on 28psi!
On the surface this looks great, but in reality it only made 11kw more with another 4-5psi and 'decent' fuel.
Either way, I'm happy with the result, lights both fronts (track tyres) at around 90kmh with a bit of luggage on board. Now to get hold of a car trailer and take it to WISD.





Damo

[velardejose]

Aromatics like toluene, xylene and benzene all have high octane potential, and all are present in some racing gasolines in varying concentrations. They are also poisonous before combustion, but their combustion is not nearly as complete as the alcohols and their combustion products coming out the pipe aren't all that healthy either.

Toluene and xylene are readily available at paint and hardware stores, while benzene (the best of the bunch, octane-wise) is virtually impossible to get in reasonable quantities because of government regulations. Benzene is high on the government's list of carcinogens, as well as being a vital component in manufacturing some illegal drugs, so steer clear of this one!

Analine is another octane booster on the government's "hit list." Like benzine, it's used to manufacture illegal drugs but, maybe more importantly, it's a skin-absorbed poison and is very toxic. As 1 mentioned in an earlier article, the chemicals that you may have heard about somebody using in their fuel are, in most cases, very dangerous. As these articles continue, we'll be sure to note the critical health and safety hazards of each potential additive we talk about.

Taken from
http://www.foxvalleykart.com/fuel3.html

As much as I remember, the fabled F1 80s renault turbo engine could withstand crazy psi numbers because of this ''magic'' fuel (toluene)
Maybe more pressure?
Peace

[Callumgw]

yeah those fuels persisted into the 90's before being banned, for two reasons, $$$$ and the health and safety aspects. Read a great article on fthe fuels in a "Race Car Engineering" mag of the late 90's/early 2000's when one of the guys at shell was allowed to talk about it.

C

[angel]

I bought a drum of Toluene the other week to try it out as an octane booster and to see if it worked for myself.
Well, some mixed results:

I was at a mates workshop last Friday evening and we were re-tuning the extra testicle. It made 179kw on 23psi and 98 octane (up 4kw from last tune with a much broader peak with far less roll off) this is all due to more ignition timing past peak torque.

Then

Splashed in around 15% toluene and had a play with ignition timing. Dissapointingly it made no more peak power! So I wound in more boost and it made 190kw on 28psi!
On the surface this looks great, but in reality it only made 11kw more with another 4-5psi and 'decent' fuel.
Either way, I'm happy with the result, lights both fronts (track tyres) at around 90kmh with a bit of luggage on board. Now to get hold of a car trailer and take it to WISD.





Damo

wow thats some impressive power figures damo, let us know how your run goes

[BennyET]

yeah WOW, thats huge. expect to see you run 12's then

where's your members ride page? keen to see your mods

[raddavey]

Nice stuff Damo. Its interesting that you couldn't get more power out of it at the same boost. It could be due to the fact the e15et has a pretty low compression ratio and it wasn't on the point of detonation at 23psi (it was already burning pretty cleanly). So adding more timing did nothing but you could wind in more boost and it was fine.

Good luck at the track!!

[Timmzy]

Damo, thats impressive.

How good would it be to run that test again with some of the 'race' fuels supplied at tracks. Like that BP stuff and the 104+ Shell or whatever they call it.

You have a great asset there in being able to use a friends dyno

PS, what sort of track tyres do you have?

Darren.

[Callumgw]

Hey Timmzy, you finished and racing yet?

[thepurplepulsar]

Nice figures there Damo, will be good to hear your results from the track. When are you planning on heading out?

[velardejose]

Hi
Found this

Porsche and, later on, Honda showed up and cleaned house to the point where turbos were banned. Honda relied on a mixture of 84% tolulene and 16% heptane and ran up to 58 psi of boost to achieve up to 1000 hp. Honda did not use water injection.

Taken from
http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/waterinjection.html
Interesting data about water injection too
Hope it helps
Peace

[Damo]

Thanks for the praise guys, (makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, hang on....... that may just be the Tequlia!)


I think you are probably right Raddavey, I have run upto 25psi on pump before without detonation, so the better octane wasn't realy needed. But that fuel in general contains more oxygen and 'should' theoreticaly make more power regardless, anyway.

Timmzy, Having a friend with dyno access is brilliant, its not like I can just rock up and get his time, but if you look at the time stamps of the dyno sheets we ran past midnight on Friday! so I owe him heaps for his afterwork time.
The tyres are just a tarmac track tyre, I'll take a couple of pics soon.

TPP, I'm trying to locate a trailer as week speek for the next Wednesday meet at WSID 3rd Oct.


Damo

[etking]

how bad do you want to crack 200kw??

[The Renegade]

Hey Dude, let me know when you will be at WSID, I'm gonna bust a nut to get down there for some support.

Oh, I will be back in a town near you (well, yours to be exact) on the 5th 6th 7th & 8th of OCT. Tequila it is!

P.S. Will have a work mate with me, we have to show him how crap his Ford fetish is! LoL

[Damo]

Etking:
200kw would be gold, getting in the 200's would probably add $1000 to the asking price if I were to sell it!

Nice one Glen, catch up again for sure. Drags are on 3rd of Oct, thats Wednesday dude! Can you make it?

BTW, as per normal, I have busted something before the day! Blew out the turbo flange gasket, and everything is closed for the long weekend, Tuesday night is going to be long.


Damo

[The Renegade]

Hey dude, mmmmmmm naa prolly wouldn't be able to pull that one off.
Have to be at work Wed & Thurs, and I'm all out of "Truckers Choice"
Hope it all goes well, see if you can get someone to take some vid footage.
Give me a week or so notice next time and I'm there!