Octane Booster

[two40]

I'd like to resurrect this thread if that's ok.

First of all, what's the standard compression ratio for a R33 T? How come no one mentioned their compression when asking about running higher RON fuel?

so from the general consensus here the octane boosters are crap to run all of the time but good incase of emergency eg, you can't get to a 98RON pump and when going to drags to prevent detonation.

What about the race fuels then? what would you guys recommend to use? there is this guy in the nsw section just mentioned something about being the new distributor for Sunoco race fuels in NSW. have any of you guys used it (esp in VIC)?

Which race fuel has been tried and proven and is consistent? looking for something up to 110 RON and street legal.

cheers

[arelh]

whoops im gong to show my age - but - in th late 60's and early 70's shell garages all had drums of toluene(methyl benzine) so guys like me with their Cooper 'S' could actually get the car to run without pinging or run on - i still buy it from shell depots (still have the 'S'

[R31Nismoid]

Originally posted by Ozzy

use one of the commercially available 98ron fuels (BP Ultimate,  Shell Optimax or Mobil Synergy 8000 (only available in NSW/SA & Vic I think

Optimax is not 98 ron.

BP is the only company to gaurantee (sp) that the fuel will be 98 ron 100% of the time.

not like the others who don't gaurantee (sp)

optimax can be anywhere from 94-96 apparently.

but i makes some cars run nicer as it's more dense.

[giz01]

I thought i remember threading on here that BP & Shell were the same thing except for an additive because it was easier for BP to use optimax in QLD & add there extras to it & the same with Shell in NSW because of transport delays or something.

[JimX]

Originally posted by R31Nismoid

Optimax is not 98 ron.

Err, what? Who told you that? Look at the Shell website. If they're lying, someone's gonna get sued for false advertising.

[Sydneykid]

Hi Guys interesting thread this one, there is another on fuel that is like 20 plus pages, worth a read as well. Especially when the chemists started beating each other up.

We use BP Ultimate or Shell Optimax on the street and Elf Turbo Max for the circuit, no mixing, no guess work. If you are serious about achieving power increases from fuel and want to stay legal (ie; use unleaded) then Turbo Max is the go, at 101.7 octane and designed for high RPM use, it makes a 12% difference in torque.

We have two distinct fuel and ignition maps, one for Elf and one for Ultimate, there is quite a difference particularly in the amount of ignition advance you can run.

Hope that adds to the discussion.

[two40]

Sydneykid, what is the price per litre for the Turbo Max and where do you buy it from?

Cheers

[GTS-t VSPEC]

I was planning on using VP103 fuel. Has anyone tried this? It's about $5 per litre I think.

See'ya:burnout:

[predator]

Optimax is not 98 ron. BP is the only company to gaurantee (sp) that the fuel will be 98 ron 100% of the time.

After using a bunch of different fuels on high boost... From my experience I'd probably rank them:

1. Mobil 8000

2. BP Ultimate (not so easy to find in melb often )

3. Optimax (can vary, sometimes i've had knocking on this )

4. Other "premium" fuels (caltex, lower grade BP premium, 96RON fuels, etc)

Anyway, this isn't really a fuel thread. Back to the fuel additive stuff. The problem with all these fuel additives is that is there any point unless u have a dedicated racer tuned fully for the increased octane?

If you're tuning your car up the point where its almost about to detonate anyway, and relying on an octane booster to keep it running safely, aren't you treading a fine line??

Will there be any advantage in power if your car isn't tuned up for say 102RON (with booster) and say tuned for 98 ? Basically what i'm asking is, will it be useless unless tuned to that rating?

[GTS-t VSPEC]

Fuel additives can give you that extra bit of insurance, especially on hot days where the intake temp might be up a few degrees from when you had it dyno tuned.

See'ya:burnout:

[Sydneykid]

Hi GTS-t VSPEC, I would have chosen VP Performance Unleaded over VP Motorsport 103 as it is oxygenated and has a higher SG. Have a talk to your local VP agent, but I think the oxygenation will help the turbo engine more than 3 points of RON.

Hope that helps.

[EPOCH]

just one question for me. most of the local servos only have pulp which is 95ron or so would it be ok on a line if you used toluene all the time to get it up to ~98ron or would it be better to get a line detuned for 95?

[GTS-t VSPEC]

Thanks Sydneykid,

I have spoken to the VP reps a few times, and most come from a V8 superchrager background, so don't have alot of knowlegde on turbo cars like ours. I hear there planning on a VP109 fuel too.

I want something that won't damage the rest of my engine, like spark plugs, oxygen sensor etc.

See'ya:burnout:

[GTS-t VSPEC]

EPCOH, It's cheaper to buy 98RON. Can't you get it in Kal?

See'ya:burnout:

[R31Nismoid]

Originally posted by JimX

Err, what? Who told you that? Look at the Shell website. If they're lying, someone's gonna get sued for false advertising.

there was an article somewhere where they took all the top 'premium' fuels and anaylsed them and unless shell have now changed it used to not be gauranteed 98ron for optimax.

when i read this article the only fuel that came with the gaurantee was the Ultimate

[JimX]

Originally posted by R31Nismoid

there was an article somewhere where they took all the top 'premium' fuels and anaylsed them and unless shell have now changed it used to not be gauranteed 98ron for optimax.

when i read this article the only fuel that came with the gaurantee was the Ultimate

Who did the article? Where is it? When was it done? What testing methods did they use? How old was the fuel they tested? Maybe it was just a dud batch of fuel? Did they do regular testing of several batches over a period of weeks or months to make sure that it wasn't a one-off?

I would think that Shell would have something to say about this article if its claims were unconditionally true. Not to mention that as I said originally, Shell would be in a lot of trouble for false advertising.

I'm sorry, but if I have to listen to 2 claims about Optimax, one from Shell themselves that Optimax is minimum 98RON, and one from "some guy" who remembers "some article" saying that it's less, then I'm more inclined to believe Shell. Until I see evidence to the contrary I'm not going to change my opinion either. I really hate FUD.

[Sydneykid]

Hi guys, what we do is tune the engine for Elf, we then drain it and fill it up with Ultimate. We then apply master correction to the ignition timing (mainly) and the fuel (little). These 2 correction factors are both what I would classify as "safe settings", ie not optimised. The ELF settings are the optimised ones.

So when we run it on Elf, I simply remove the 2 correction factors. This is a couple of button pushes on the Commander. When we run it on Ultimate, I just apply the correction factors again (another couple of button pushes).

This is what we do on the R32 GTST and the R34 GTT with the Power FC's, we have no Datalogit for them (yet). On the R32 GTR we have Datalogit, so we just download from the laptop. That way we can have 2 fully optimised sets of maps. On the R33 GTR we do the same with the Motec, just download the different maps.

Hi GTS-t VSPEC, to get over the "especially on hot days where the intake temp might be up a few degrees from when you had it dyno tuned".......

We run ambient temperature compensation on the PFC's with Datalogit and the Motec. Can't do that with the Commanders though.

Hope that helps.

[GTS-t VSPEC]

Sydneykid,

I have temp compensation through my Wolf Ver4 now, so I don't need to add the octane booster anymore. But we seem to have varying qualities in our Ultimate98, so I have my car tuned on the safe side, don't want any detonation.

See'ya:burnout:

[two40]

what's the best way to store octane booster in your car?

i've bought a 4L can of the stuff and now need to store some in my car. last night i used a plastic water bottle because i knew i'd be filling up right away. would the booster eat through the plastic over a certain amount of time? i'd be inclined to think so but i have no idea how quickly this can happen.

for the future i'd like to leave it in my car in small doses so what is the best way? in a glass bottle? would the sun damage it if it was a clear bottle?

cheers

[GTS-t VSPEC]

Most plastic containers will melt. I'd recommend using a proper metal screw-top container. Sunlight can cause the chemicals to break-down.

See'ya:burnout: