I'm going to the drag strip for the first time (with this car) this Saturday and I want to use the 93 octane tune from steeda that is loaded on my diablosport tuner. I know I could do better, but the tuner came with the car, I'm not buying another tuner when I already have one, but I digress.

Problem is the best gas I can buy is 91 octane, unless I go with ethanol blended gas which I can get in 94 octane. I've been advised by a local Saleen owner and all round Mustang expert to, and I quote, "DO NOT USE ETHANOL BLENDED GAS!!!!!!!!!".

I was thinking of picking up a bottle of octane booster for this occasion. NOS makes one that boosts octane 3 points for about $10 bucks. It's the "street" formula.

Anyone used this product?

The former owner of my car also suggested to manually increase fuel and timing using the tuner. Is this a good idea for someone not all that experienced? Any suggestions for settings?
Thanks

 

Do not run octane booster, you will ruin your spark plugs. Buy a Bamachips race tune, they're only $50 and they are much MUCH better than the canned Diablosport tune. I upgraded from a canned Diablosport tune to a Bamachips race tune and the difference was very noticeable.

But, once again...

DO NOT RUN OCTANE BOOSTER.

 

just run the 94 oct with 93 tune...you will be fine, i run that **** any chance i get

 

So you run 94 octane that is ethanol blended?

 

So I can buy a BAMA tune and load it onto the Diablosport? Good to know. I was just aware that I could not use a brenspeed tune as they use the SCT tuner.

 

ethonal blend is common.....its nothing special. across the midwest almost all gas is 10% blend it think. I have never had any problems with it.

 

Well first off, Most all fuel has ethanol in it already! Where most people get scared is Ethanol has a rating of about 129 in close to pure form so it would not work in most street cars. There have been idiots who try to do a 50/50 mix of Ethanol and Gasoline in stock cars and this is were the horror stories come from.

Second, The octane boosters that you are refering to raises your octane by up to three points. A little missleading. What they mean by points is (0.1) So one bottle would raise 10 gallons of 91 octane to 91.3 octane. Not very impressive. you would need about a dozen bottles to bring it up to 93!

The best way to increase your octane would be add Toluene to the Gasoline. Pure Toluene has a rating of around 121 so if you add 1 gallon of Toluene to 9 gallons of 91 octane you will end up with about 10 gallons of a 94 octane brew! I use Toluene all the time in many vehicles including a boosted 100k mile S2000 and my boosted 06 stang with no trouble. Be sure it is toluene and nothing else like paint thinner or distiled alky. You can get it from most hardware stores. i get mine from ACE hardware for about $12 a gallon.

Always use common sense when playing with fuels and do the math. Dont just pour stuff in the tank without meassuring or knowing what it is?

 

Yes when I was driving in the US I saw that most gas had 10% ethanol and I used it without problems. In Canada most fuel is straight gasoline.

About the octane booster, it actually raised 30 points or 3 total octane units. I should have been more clear. I'll go look for some Toluene. thanks

 

DO NOT USE OCTANE BOOSTER!!!

 

If this is the stuff you are refering too..... http://www.autobarn.net/xx12002.html?site=google_base
Trust me. It is only 0.3 Do some research, many labs have tested this stuff and it does not raise the octane much. The only real benifit to this stuff is that it is a coktail of cleaners and lubricators that may help clean the fuel system but have also shown to cause harm to plugs and cats over time.

As a side note.... The chemical they use in octane booster to raise the octane level is Toluene! But they usully use less than 4% per volume in their concoction. The highest I have heard of was Berryman's. It had 8% I think. Still not much though!