Do Octane Boosters really work ?

[ESPN8]

I live in one of those areas were all we can get is Crap 91 octane Gas . I want to upgrade to a 2.6 pully ,and maybe a lower crank pully but was told i would have to run 93 gas or higher to make safe extra HP .
Back to my question about Octane boosters.
All i can get here is NOS booster which says it raises the octane of a tank of gas by 4 to 7 points .
Would a can of this really boost a tank of 91 to 93 or higher so i can do some mods ?

 

[sfadchi]

Order some Torco from Lethal Performance!

 

[ESPN8]

Order some Torco from Lethal Performance!

Does that stuff work ? I,m not sure if it can be shipped x-border now as i,m living in Northern Ontario Canada .

 

[mblgjr]

HotRod or Car Craft did a test on a bunch of these a few years back.

NOS was the only one at the time ( the "off-road" version btw ) that would actually raise the octane level of premium fuel. Most others would not or did not exceed 93 octane; NOS did.

I've also had good luck with the Lucas Oil Products octane boost. It's in a red plastic bottle. Don't know if it works for as far as raising premium for sure, but it will raise the octane of stale/bad fuel a bit for sure.

 

[tommygun]

it ruins your plugs.

torco is the only one to show any change on a dyno locally

 

[09Troublemaker]

it ruins your plugs.

torco is the only one to show any change on a dyno locally

yep, proven:beer:

 

[ZXMustang]

Octane boosters should only be used for extra safety, not more power. Same goes with meth injection. A real tuner will tell you the same thing. These products are to protect your engine from detonating at its current octane level, not allowing you to run more timing and run your engine on the ragged edge. This is fact. You can run more timming when you up your octane, but you are asking for trouble if you are that close to running lean that you need a fuel suppliment to make sure you stay correct. Be careful, and if your tuner uses it to get you a number or to make your premium gas car run like it has 100 in it all the time, then run away and find a real tuner.

 

[mblgjr]

^ Very sound advice.

 

[svt1111]

there are plenty of tuners out there ( Evolution, VMP) who can mail you tunes for 91 octane with a pullied setup, the timing just may not be as hot.

 

[tommygun]

emailing tunes is not the best or preferred way to deal with these cars.

 

[Dave07997S]

I have seen great results with Torco but it does color the plugs pretty bad with a nice orange tint. Torco isn't an octane booster, its a race fuel concentrate. There is a guy in my neighborhood who is a distributor for them and he runs a 700rwhp C5 Vette running Torco, no race gas.

Dave

 

[EX1]

if your running the stock blower with a 2.6 upper and a lower that is fine with 90-91 octane. I have been running that for years. Just tell your tuner, now your car wont make as much as some because of the more conservative tune though.

 

[ESPN8]

if your running the stock blower with a 2.6 upper and a lower that is fine with 90-91 octane. I have been running that for years. Just tell your tuner, now your car wont make as much as some because of the more conservative tune though.

How many PSI of boost are you seeing with this setup ? Do you know how much HP and torque you,re putting down ?

 

[EX1]

How many PSI of boost are you seeing with this setup ? Do you know how much HP and torque you,re putting down ?

If you are going to do the 2.6 upper and lower i STRONGLY recommend a new throttle body and porting the supercharger. I went with the cobra jet TB and a Posi "race" port.With 100 degree heat here in Texas i see about about 14psi. Now i also have full exhaust which dropped about 1psi. HP and TQ are both 600+, i just dont have dyno numbers since the TB and port. I should have them this upcoming week.