Octane question

[cucooman]

I live in Alaska (that should be enuf said there) My problem is the oil and gas refineries here seem to think that 90 octane is enough for the people in Alaska. Yes I said 90 is our super/premium unleaded. So for those DSMers here and there are alot, the options are limited. Now we could go to the refineries and buy race gas in any octane levels for $10-15/gal. I know that theres a link on homemade octane boosters (toulene and xylene mix).My question is has anyone ever tried making a homemade octane booster with decent results. I dont need racegas yet, but I would like to have at least something to put me into the 93-95 octane range. Thanks for the replies.


Dan Rice

 

[doug]

What altitude are you at? Higher elevations can use lower octanes safely. I first found out about that when I took a trip to Colorado years ago. They had gas with octanes in the low-to-mid 80s up in the mountains.

"for every 300 meters increase in height above sea level, the octane number can be reduced by one"

 

[cucooman]

im about a 3 minute drive to the "beach" so im really not that far away from it. Thanks for the info on the altitude. That definitely could be a reason why. BUt I know in anchorage which is about 160 miles north of me. Theyhad a few places that had 92 octane but then they just all quit selling it. Something about not enough interest when I kow there is. We have a website. Use to be ak dsm.com. Now theyve called it alaska motorsports.com with the introduction of the WRX and other modded cars i.e. stangs, camaros.

 

[doug]

There was a thread here a while back on homemade race gas. Do a search in the Fuel Tuning section for words like xylene, toluene, and race gas.

Never mind-- here it is:
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9476

There was also a big thread or two at DSMtalk a few months ago too, if you want to search there.

 

[RallyxDave]

Install a water injection system and you'll get the same results as higher octane gas - big reduction in knock and cooler intake temps.

Since you're in Alaska you'll need to use that blue wiper fluid instead of water so you don't have any freezing problems.