Octane Booster, such as "Outlaw" or "NOS Brand" , what do you think?
 

Me and some of my fellow motor heads at work were discussing, and then fighting, over if any of the octane boosters on the market actually do any good. Now I'm curious, what do the S2k guys think?

I cannot speak for the brands you've posted but I've used "104 Octane boost" in my "ex-Viper" when I put in a tank of crappy Shell gas once. The 104 stopped the pinging and bad idle so I could get through that tank of gas.
Now, the question remains: Does the S2000 actually need octane boost and will it benefit from too high an octane in the tank? :confused:

I've heard that octane boosters damage oxygen sensors? Any truth to this?

Only if they use lead as one of the active ingredients.

The only reason to use higher octane gas or octane boost is to prevent detonation/pinging. All things being equal, the is

1) no reason your engine should be detonating with 93 (unless you have mods)

2) if there is no dentonation/pinging with 93, you *could* make more power with the 93 than the 94.

Simply adding octane to the fuel will do nothing (given you are not detonating). Octane is simply the resistance to detonation or pinging.

Actually, by increasing the octane, you may even lose power. The complete burn of high octane is longer than lower octane, and the peak cylinder pressures will be later, the only way to recover this, would be to advance your ignition timing.

__________________
Mase Tuning

[QUOTE=mase1,Apr 26 2004, 03:12 AM] Simply adding octane to the fuel will do nothing (given you are not detonating).

95% of the octane boosters use MMT (Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Tricarbonyl) in some concentration or another - which will damage oxygen sensors in high concentrations (due to deposits common with MMT) and/or when used for extended periods - and will also foul spark plugs under the same conditions.

The Octane Number used in the U.S. [((M+R)/2) also know as the Anti-Knock Index or AKI] is the average of the Motor Octane Number (MON - used to determine octane number for aviation gasolines (AVGAS)) and the Research Octane Number (RON - used in most of the rest of the world for automotive gasoline octane ratings).

The absolute ratio of Iso-Octane and n-Heptane is the Motor Octane Number (MON). Therefore 100% Iso-Octane has a MON of 100, and 100% n-Heptane would have a MON of 0.

For comparison, a RON of 95 Octane is the equivalent of 91 AKI in the U.S.
A RON of 102-103 is the equivalent of 97-98 AKI and a MON in the range of 91-93.
Any fuel with a MON greater than 100 has additives artificially boosting the number.

Several "racing" 100+ Octane fuels are measured using the Research Octane method (or badged as such) and are not "true" 100+ octane fuels.

Several additives such as TEL (tetra ethyl lead), MMT and alcohol are used to artificially inflate the octane number. All three most common octane boosters all have bad side-affects. Alcohol has a lower energy content (despite the higher octane number – 129 RON, 102 MON, 116 AKI) which can drive the combustive process to the lean side in certain circumstances when used in higher concentrations (above the max recommended concentration).

so is the 91 octane we get here in Arizona good for our cars?

Meh I wanted 93 to be on the safer side, 91 seems kinda shitty to me for boosted cars without a full blown EMS