Octane Booster..
 

Hey all,

What's the best octane booster out there these days? And where's the best place to buy?

Thanks in advance :)

ScoobyDoo69

i use millers ecomax.its a cleaner/octane booster.i have a 97 uk car so meant to run on 95 from factory(wait for all the comments saying it cant run on 95 fuel) but run mine on 97 with the extra octane booster.good stuff and only a tenner from halfords.

Nitrous Formula Octane Booster

There was a test published a while ago and this one won. Most of the rest hardly made any change

+1 for nf race formula

not sure of the best place to get it from though, think rcm do a crate of it if you want it

If your car is mapped on 97ron, and lets say on the 'average day' in a world that the weather never changes I have 330bhp. What can Octane booster do for me?

Remember the car is mapped at 97ron, I have switchable maps if that helps?

Rob

good point.if the car is mapped for 97 ron why use octane booster???just put super un leaded in it.i only really put extra octane booster in if im doing a run up country.

If you have a OEM ECU with ign adv/ret control, or an aftermarket one with it, then, in theory, it should alter to give you a bit more adv and more power. How much, don't know - 5%??

If you have non-adj ECU, like a PFC, nothing will change... just that you will have introduced a bit of protection should, for any reason, det occur. The added octane that the OB provides will alleviate said det.

For me it will be used in conjunction with a remap, meaning I can get more from my car :)

Indeed. if you're going to that trouble, I take it it'll be mapped on V-Power 99 + the OB (rather than 95, or 97, + OB)?

Not really.

Not unless your mapper has mapped it relying on the ecu's knock protection to remove timing from the maximum allowable. Putting extra octane in at that point would give back some of the timing removed. This is not normal practice and is pretty risky IMO.

If the ecu is mapped properly for 97 and running well - then putting 99 will add no extra timing and thus no more power. (just a bit more protection as below)

Sure. I was coming from the angle of an OEM ECU from the factory though, with its non-optimised, 'conservative' map i.e. with decent headroom for ign adv. when using higher octane. Although I didn't make that at all clear :( - especailly as I nulled that thought by mentioning another "aftermarket ECU" (implying it would be optimally mapped! :Whatever_).

Sorry about that - I must learn to be more succinct in future... :brickwall

On the OEM ecu if (with the advance multiplier at its maximum, which it should be IMO) it calls for 20 degrees of timing - there is no ability for extra timing to be added on its own even if running 150 octane super dooper fuel.

If the advance multiplier is at 8 and mapped to that (or 0.5 on 06+ cars) then there is additional timing that can be added if the ecu doesnt see det. However, it would be a very dangerous game to map in that way in my view - relying on the ecu to see all det to protect itself when octane is low. Recipe for a trip to an engine builder.

Oh really?! I had no idea that the max IAM = a max. of ONLY 20deg adv!!! I assumed it would be 45deg or so. Fair enough then.

And I agree with you that it's ludicrous to map it within an inch of its life, therefore leaving bugger all adj against any possible det scenarios ...

I'll shut up now lol

the 20 degrees was an example. ;)

If base timing is 10 degrees and there is 12 degrees in the advance timing then if the IAM is 16/16 then it will add all of the 12 degrees in the advance timing to the base timing (with some other corrections aswell before some pedants get in here ;) ) to give 22 degree.

If the IAM is 8 out of 16 then it will add 50% of the 12 degrees and run a total of 16 degrees of timing.

I would be very brave/foolish/etc to map for normal unleaded at this 16 degrees level (just an example timing figure for the purposes of showing) on the premise that better octane fuel may be added and the full 22 degrees could be put in.

In short - octane booster is adding almost nothing but potential protection against det.

Got it! Nice one. :thumb:

Thanks guys, I see what your getting at and it has answered my question thoroughly.

Strange to read that some people especially the lower budget TOTB competitors are running on Shell V power and they add ocatane booster just to compete only. This sounds very odd unless running some very sophisticated ecu?

I think it's simply to guard against det, rather than atempt at gaining power (as it won't, as outtlined above by Duncan).

I remember some specialist mentioned to me that some of the rally brigade chuck whole bottles in prior to setting off on a stage for that very reason (whether that's actually true or not, don't know?).

So without Hijacking the thread further, any combustion engine that is receiving octane booster out of the ordinary (ie for sprint and hillclimbs) the engine will not gain anthing exciting other than a little more guard aganst det. So how would a shot of nitrous work in a scoob then?

Without going to far into detail surely a combusion engine receiving the three triangle elements, igniition, fuel and air would run normal, but if an additive was shot into the chamber such as nitrous, aviation fuel or higher ron the ignition providing its a good one would light all the same and demand more air to compensate for the additional burn?

I know my terminology is a little basic but i think i make sense?

Rob

nitrous (as in nitrous oxide) is a different kettle of fish altogether.

NO2 super cools the the inlet charge and so a great big slug of extra power can be made. Also the nitrogen element in NO2 just happens to possess a handy side effect of cushioning against the increased combustion pressures. But it has to be carefully metered using 2 solenoids: one for the NO2 and one for the fuel. You don't just throw it in the motor willy nilly like you can with OB.

Just to clarify - I intend to run V-Power 99 + octane booster + remapped on this. Thus I should net more power than being mapped on just V-Power..right?

Also what about meth? Better or worse than octane booster? We've all seen the extra power 10% meth adds..

Yes - you will almost certainly get more power.

Octane booster is expensive.
Methanol is cheaper than the fuel it is replacing so it ends up saving you money.

You will get better results with Methanol but there is the extra hassle of sourcing it and storing it.