So were having a car discussion and the topic of paint thinner mixed with premium can bring the octane up to about 98 I'm not gonna try this of course but it was in the conversation and wanted to post it up and see what people think or ever heard such a thing

 

This sounds like a bad idea. But I just want to point out that paint thinner can be several different chemicals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_thinner

 

Ive seen paint thinner eat through alot of stuff, so I might be a little worried..

 

Toluene is the chemical you're looking for. I don,t know the pros/cons, but you can research it better now. F1 used to use it back during the turbo era, but it was the pure stuff. Good luck. .

 

As wikipedia says, paint thinner is a solvent. It's whole purpose is to dissolve petroleum based substances. Rubber seals like you'd find in the S2000's fuel system are petroleum based, I believe. You do the math.

 

Toluene works well to raise the octane level of gasoline.You don't run it straight, just as a blend with the gas. The trick is to get the right ratio in the mixture for the octane level you want. Then you will need to tune the car for that level of octane. Then when you get all that done, you will have to always mix the Toluene and gas perfect to get the same ratio again. If it is for a "race only" it may be OK. I would never do it on a street car.

 

"Works well" Take a look at the charts for blending this carcinogen, and don't forget to look at density and energy content. Please tell me how this is better than any of the commercial boosters?

 

I have used Toluene yes, paint thinner no.

Toluene works great, can be bought for 8 bucks a gallon and is a common ingredient in pump gas (just in smaller quantities)

A couple things you should know, it will eat paint and dissolve some plastics in fully concentrated form. It is best to measure how much you think you want to add to you tank and put it into about a 2.5 gallon plastic gas can, fill the rest with premium and then add to the tank that way before you fill up. Tat way there would be far less danger of eating away any paint or rubber seals in the filler neck.

Don't over do it. If you have some timing retard, add about a quart per tank of premium and see if that cures it. Adding more than you need is wasted and then you can get about four tanks out of a gallon.

I used it in a modified turbo car. If you are NA and can get 93 octane , I doubt it will do much for you.

 

Gasoline is also a carcinogen and look at the main ingredient in most octane boosters. (toluene!) You just pay more for the repackaging.

 

Honestly, you could add race gas in your car and it wont do anything unless you get it tuned for it.

the whole benefit of having higher octane is that you could advance the timing or lean out the AFR without knocking.

so... Toluene, with continual use, it's known to create rust inside your engine, especially the cylinder and valves... that's what I've been hearing, but i would never use that.

I would just go get some VP Imports. Gotta pay to play.