Octane Booster That Works as Advertised!

[CaptainInsane-O]

Been doing some testing over the last couple of months on an "off the shelf" octane booster that caught my eye. This company also makes Marvel Mystery Oil which is the lube additive I've been using in my homebrew race gases for 10+ years now.

After running a couple of dozen blends of varying concentration through the octane engines at work and several tanks through my Lightning with ZERO ill effects I figured it was safe to share....

CD-2® Off-Street Legal™
High Performance
Octane Boost

They advertise up to a 20 point (2 octane numbers) gain when blended as per the bottle directions. I've found this to be a very accurate claim & when going a bit higher on the concentration (one bottle into 10 gallons of super unleaded) the gain has consistently been between 2.5 & 3 octane numbers. Here is where it gets interesting.......

When added to a 1:3 12 gallon batch of xylene / 93 pump gas homebrew this product kicks the final blend up from a 99 R+M/2 rating to 102.5 ~ 103 octane! I've run ~10 tanks of this through my Lightning and 2 tanks through my Buick so far. I checked the plugs in the Lightning at 5 tanks & 10 tanks and have seen NO extraneous residue (orange goop) like the MMT in 104 Octane Boost will leave & were actually a little cleaner than norm.

This product also contains an effective fuel system cleaner that works very well at dissolving any old varnished fuel residue in the tank/lines/injector tips & carbon buildup in the combustion chamber.

Doug C.

[Steve Wood]

Amazing, one that actually works.

Doug, do you know what the ingredient is that makes it work, and, how about the economics?

[CaptainInsane-O]

Unfortunately I can't say much of anything about what's actually in this stuff. It's a propietary blend & these companies have lawyers that are foaming at the mouth for a chance to sue someone!

I can say that it does not contain any methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl aka: MMT which is the component in 104 Octane Boost that leaves the orange-red powder all over the spark plugs, injector tips, combustion chamber & catalytic converter.

Cost is about $4.50 a bottle & I've found it at the local Wal-Mart most of the time.

Doug C.

[Steve Wood]

so the economics are pretty good.

[Blown & Injected]

I was gonna say how do know for sure? But then reread your OP; octane engines at work!

Sounds like you work in an interesting place, what goes on there?

Also, how much difference, as in how much more boost can one add with 2 - 3 more (R+M)/2 in octane?

[CaptainInsane-O]

Sounds like you work in an interesting place, what goes on there?

Also, how much difference, as in how much more boost can one add with 2 - 3 more (R+M)/2 in octane?

I work in the quality control lab at a gasoline production plant / refinery. We also make alkylate (the main base chemical for quality gasolines, it usually runs around 93~95 RON & 91~92 MON), toluene, xylene, benzene, 2 oil (diesel), light cycle oil (marine diesel), etc....

The operators out in the units run the machinery that does the crude oil refining & product blending and we make sure those products are within specification. If an in process or finished product is out of spec we'll do some hand mathamatizing & formulazatin ;) to try and help bring them within tolerances.

In my Buick I was running 22~23 lbs of boost on a low timing street chip (18°) & the basic 1:3 xylene blend. By adding the CD2 booster to the blend I've been able to run 24~25 lbs of boost on the same chip OR the same 22lbs of boost with a more aggressively timed chip (22°). Haven't been to the track with these changes yet but SOTP meter tells me it's definately making more powah.

Doug C.

[CaPPY]

Do the instructions mention anything about the effects on a catalytic converter?

If it's catalyst OK...might try some!

Thanks for the tip!

[Captain Mark]

Here's what it looks like.

http://midwayautosupply.com/detailed...ption.asp?4614

Doug, how much marvel mystery oil do you add per gallon of Xylene/gas mix?

Let's say I have a 15 gallon fuel tank with 5 gallons of xylene and 10 gallson of 93, how many ounces of MM oil should I add...


....from one insane Captain to another!

[CaptainInsane-O]

CaPPY, don't have a bottle handy (at werk) but as far as I can remember it doesn't warn against using with a catalytic converter. If it's worth anything I've run 10+ bottles through my Lightning (has 4 cats) & have had no problems.

Capt Mark,

I make my homebrew up in 12 gallon batches (3 gallons xylene / 9 gallons pump gas) and add 1 1/2 ~ 2 ounces of MMO per batch. Roughly 0.5 ounces of MMO per gallon of xylene is plenty to bring the lube level to where it should be. Also, adding more than a 1:3 ratio of xylene to pump gas isn't worth the extra cost IMO, the car's driveability goes down pretty quick (hard cold start, idle and/or slow cruise to WOT hesitation) & you'll foul the plugs faster (rich @ idle & slow cruise.)

Doug C.

[Captain Mark]

That's what I needed. Thaks bro'.

[Bob Avellar]

Wow! Was this an informative thread for me. Not only did I get some REAL data on a good octane booster and race gas mixture but i used the link to Steve Wood's website. Steve, man that is an awesome site you have been working on. Everyone should check it out if you haven't seen it yet. I do a lot of surfing but hadn't seen it (at least recently). Steve put together some great technical guides, clear troubleshooting scans, links to more data, and above all, real clear and detailed explainations of topics he covered!!!!! I haven't been that impressed by a tech site in a long, long while. Even the info I already knew became clearer just by the great way Steve explains things. Ever notice when you read a tech explaination you get some good answers but they always seem to cause a new question in your mind? Well, Steve writes like the way my mind thinks. It's like I read a sentence and say wow- that's good- and then I get this new question beginning in my head about what that might mean. Sure enough, the next sentence answers the question before I even had a chance to ask.. Real nice work Steve. Thanks for all that effort!! I'll bookmark that page for sure.
Didn't mean to hijack this thread. Doug that was real good info on octane and your job sounds pretty cool. I think I may try some of that booster when I finish putting my GN back together. Full resto. Doors are on now but still some parts to put on and then prepping the body for painting. At least I can burn rubber in the driveway.

[Steve Wood]

Thanks, Bob, you must have a rambling mind like my own! LOL
I am sputtering along with the site. I am not very organized so it is really messed up in order.

I saw your name on the other page and hollered at you. Are you still playing with alky? You, Steve Hill, and Steve Monroe are the alky experts to end all. Do you have a page these days? I was looking for it and it was not there under the last address that I had.

[Blown & Injected]

Very solid Doug! Good to know info.

Originally posted by Steve Wood
You, Steve Hill, and Steve Monroe

All these Steve's here; please allow me to introduce myself: I'm Steve Sober. We Steve's should get a volume discount on turbochargers

Since you mentioned it Bob, my very last post was thanking Steve W for a link to some good oil pump stuff - the cat is on the ball!

[Steve Wood]

Steve's are blessed with brains and good looks, not to mention charming personalities!

[ULYCYC]

It's getting deep in here