Toluene? anybody playing with it?

[cri_ag]

well ever since zoom did a bit of a story on the stuff ive been curious about it. i think about 15 or 20% mixed with pump 98ron takes you to 110 octane? the more you mix the more powerfull it becomes, and the more resistance to detonation youl get. ill dig the article out, they had a nice little table on how much to mix to get a certain octane rating.

so has anyone had any experience with it at all?

[oldcorollas]

some fuels are maybe 40% toluene anyway..
the chimcal makeup of some fuels was posted ages ago (BP? mobil?) and that showed the toluene contents.

the zoom article is a bit naive... i'll leave it at that

[MR22ZZ]

I play with Toluene all the time. It's an awesome solvent, especially in the polymer and coatings industry

[fixeruperer]

you should put a lil bit of atf or a lil bit of that performance 2-stroke oil in it aswell for upper cylinder lube about 3-4% i think (for atf).
if you use to much of it tolulene will eat all you rubber hoses and seals and cuase badness to happen , dont use it all the time becuase of this reason flush it thru with normal petrol.
its good to run down the drags or events but not good for everyday, get 2 maps one for hi octane and the other for 98.


oldcorolla, they dont use toluene here anymore in fuels they use diffrerant methanolbenzines (spelling) to up the octane levels.

[cri_ag]

its good to run down the drags or events but not good for everyday, get 2 maps one for hi octane and the other for 98.
.

that was the plan!

[SillyCarS]

my older brother used to run it in the high comp rg i had in the celica before i bought if off him

he used to have basically no overlap in the cams and used the toluene to stop it from pinging from such high comp, i think he said cyl pressure was up to 190psi, which correct if im wrong is similar to some stock turbo setups

its very similar to paint stripper/thinners is it not?

[MR22ZZ]

it's often a component of various paint thinners/strippers yes... but don't go dumping thinners into your fuel tank as there are other things in there that the engine may not agree too well with. It's also tended to be phased out for most paint based applications these days in favour of ester/ether/alcohol based solvets due to possible heath risks.

[SillyCarS]

so thats why he put hardened valve seats in it

yeh im pretty sure thats how he rolled, super cheap thinners FTL!

[fixeruperer]

its in glues aswell, i was gonna buy a 20lt drum from a glue company.
av gas is pretty cheap (compared to bloody fuel prices these days) im just gonna run avgas all the time go halves with a mate in a 44.

[Billzilla]

It's great stuff, turbo engines love it.
As Stuart mentioned, regular petrol already has a fair amount of toluene in it.
The F1 cars of the 80's - led by BMW - found that they could run up to 80% toluene with high boost and still keep it all under control.
The only hassle is that it's a very 'sooty' fuel, so you need a good spark to make sure it burns well.

[Norbie]

I know a guy who runs a 50/50 mix of 98ron petrol and toluene (with a bit of 2-stroke oil) in his 800hp Supra. He's been doing this for years with no ill effects, although his fuel system is now 100% aftermarket so I can't comment on what it would do to stock components. Anyway it seems to work well for running stupidly high boost!

[wa5]

It is known to be carcinogenic. (cancer causing) so take appropriate precautions

[Sam_Q]

a bit of a side note but is it possile to get fuel lines out of something a little more resistant to the effects of tolunene or ethanol? silcone?

[MR22ZZ]

It is known to be carcinogenic. (cancer causing) so take appropriate precautions

suspected of being... not known...

[oldcorollas]

dare you to drink it

toluene is very close to benzene.. which IS a carcinogen.. but to be honest, most of the stuff in petrol is very bad for you over time...

it would be good if car ppl wised up and used gloves when handling it.. as opposed to getting hands covered in it ..