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Toluene Cheaper Than 98 Octane , Thoughts ?

lachlanw

By lachlanw,
in Engines & Forced Induction

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lachlanw Veteran

lachlanw

Posted
Posted

i can currently get toluene cheaper than 98 0ctane petrol .

what are peoples thoughts on using it in cars ?

can anyone one tell me what happens if you put too much in a standard car ?

or any other knowledge .

cheers

JonnoHR31 Grand Master

JonnoHR31

Posted
Posted (edited)

how the hell do you get it cheaper than 98? i spent ages trying to find it cheap over here and gave up

general consensus is you shouldnt run any more than 30% in a road car, which should be more than enough to make some decent fuel when mixxed with 98

Edited by JonnoHR31
KiwiRS4T Grand Master

KiwiRS4T

Posted
Posted

Toluene used to be very popular for making racing fuels with mixes of between 10 -30% which gave an increase in RON of about 3. It is lead free and doesn't stuff O2 sensors. It will def make your car go faster if properly tuned. I don't know if there are any longterm downsides. As to toxicity - petrol and petrol fumes already contain aromatics and are bad for your health so in all cases avoid the fumes and getting it on your skin.

Piggaz Grand Master

Piggaz

Posted
Posted

I looked into it for ages. Couldnt get it just off the street. I even asked a good mate who is a professional painter to get the stuff..... no go in the volume i wanted. Cut a long sotry short.... Upgrade your fuel system to handle E85. Once that is done its cheap and getting more and more easy to get.

KiwiRS4T Grand Master

KiwiRS4T

Posted
Posted

E85 is not available at the pumps in NZ and very expensive to get. Note OP has a supply of toluene available at a good price. Petrol is not very good for you either - no-one is planning to drink the stuff.

Surely there are some old racers out there ( and we are talking 5 -10 years ago) who can advise of any downside to Toluene as a fuel?

XRATED Veteran

XRATED

Posted
Posted

E85 is not available at the pumps in NZ and very expensive to get. Note OP has a supply of toluene available at a good price. Petrol is not very good for you either - no-one is planning to drink the stuff.

Surely there are some old racers out there ( and we are talking 5 -10 years ago) who can advise of any downside to Toluene as a fuel?

I used to add a 20% mix of toluene to 98. The difference was quite noticable on the dyno over straight 98. Also added some measure of insurance when drag racing. This was back in 2004-2006.

Just wear gloves when you pour it and DON"T BREATH IT IN!!! A 30% mix is about all you can get away with.

Toluene is a little harder on your fuel lines, but who cares if you replace them every 3 or 4 years!

Cheers

Justin

TiTAN Grand Master

TiTAN

Posted
Posted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toluene Look at the list of things it will dissolve, and ask yourself what are all your fuel hoses made out of.

petrol also eats rubber, which is why you use fuel hose instead of standard rubber hoses in your fuel system.

lachlanw Veteran

lachlanw

Posted
  • Author
Posted

cheers for that justin .

on a side note i do know someone that put a couple of tanks of it straight through a nx coupe . it did go alot better up top . said nx coupe was in no way maintained or tuned properly . and it still went long enough for it to be crashed into a wall .

what happens if you run 100% in an untuned car ? will it lean out and melt some ringlands ?

  • 4 weeks later...
Nanogrip Collaborator

Nanogrip

Posted
Posted

I've ran toluene in my cars, lawn mowers, weed trimmers, etc. for years and hadn't had any problems.  Now experimenting with moth balls (real naphthalene) and carb/throttle body cleaners (ingredients appear similar to bottled octane boosters, and dissolves moth balls quickly).  I wish there was an easy and reliable way to test octane for the average person. My neighbors probably think that I am running a meth lab at home.

GTScotT Grand Master

GTScotT

Posted
Posted

Direct from wiki:

"Toluene at 86% by volume fueled all the turbo Formula 1 teams in the 1980s, first pioneered by the Honda team. The remaining 14% was a "filler" of n-heptane, to reduce the octane to meet Formula 1 fuel restrictions. Toluene at 100% can be used as a fuel for both two-stroke and four-stroke engines; however, due to the density of the fuel and other factors, the fuel does not vaporize easily unless preheated to 70 degrees Celsius (Honda accomplished this in their Formula 1 cars by routing the fuel lines through the muffler system to heat the fuel). Toluene also poses similar problems as alcohol fuels, as it eats through standard rubber fuel lines and has no lubricating properties as standard gasoline does, which can break down fuel pumps and cause upper cylinder bore wear."

In other words, it does not suit Joe Blow back yarders trying to save a buck. Engine(s) cost more than fuel in the long run.

JonnoHR31 Grand Master

JonnoHR31

Posted
Posted

Google time.

good luck, i spent a fair bit of time looking into it a while back and couldnt find any for less than ~$10/L here in perth, which is too expensive to use as a fuel. cheaper to buy e85 drums

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