Race fuel question.

[lotusing]

I primarily race my car on road courses such as Lime Rock Park, Watkins Glenn and instead of paying $10 a gallon for race fuel I and others use toluene(paint thinner) which one gallon mixed which 10 gallons of 93 will give 114 octane. I have been using it for years and it works perfect. I even broke down the engine after 10 race events and the engine is perfect. Has anyone tried it on a 2 stoke?

[yz 125 2006]

are you crazy how would this even work

[Snipetracks]

I have never used toluene my self but, I have heard of people using it to raise the octane.

[Woody R]

Would be interesting to increase the octane so that detonating dissapears, havent tried any octane booster whatsoever...cr 250 06.

[Rodneya]

I have hear of people using it on drag banshees to stop detonation on high compression motors.

If your motor runs fine on premium gas without detonating, upping the octane will not make you any faster. It is just another toxic substance to deal with.

[CelticDude]

Here is more info than you really wanted: ?

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octaneexplained.html

[BDubb106]

Its an interesting read I guess... if I understood half the s*** they were talking about I might have gotten something out of it. lol

[spinner38]

race gas is cheap for a bike since it only takes 2 gallons to fill the tank, mix the stuff for your car and buy race gas for the bike ?

[TommyB 754]

This a very common practice in the snowmobile world, won't cause any problems but isna head ache.

[KJ790]

I've done that before, as well as Xylene (which has a higher octane rating than Toluene). Pure Toluene has an octane rating of around 114, so mixing it with 93 pump gas 10:1 will give you a rating of around 94.9 octane. It ends up being a lot cheaper to mix C12 with the 93 pump gas to get 95 octane. A gallon of Toluene will run you around $18 at Home Depot, a gallon of C12 is $9. Mixing 1.5 gallons of C12 with 10 gallons of 93 pump gas will give 95 octane for less cost.

[adam728]

I did it for a while. Previous owner gave me about 8 gallons of toloune with the bike, said it needed about 96 octane to keep from detonating. Sorted out jetting and found I didn't really need it after that, but used it up anyway. No issues, although some say it has a negative effect on throttle response. I'm not good enough to tell.

[LILBIT]

I've read about guys doing this for years. The economics work out if you buy it cheap in bulk. Know anyone at a paint store? Still probably cheaper to do race gas nowadays. The price of chemicals like this has risen alot in the last 10+ years. I used to get it and Acetone cheap when i did alot of fiberglass work but not anymore.

Might find Xylene cheaper at a pool supplier. Used to thin the epoxy pool paint/sealer. Last we bought was 15$ish a gallon shipped i think but i didn't shop around.

[bg10459]

...a gallon of C12 is $9.

Where can you find C12 for $9/gal?

I'm getting CAM2 110 for $10/gal. After mixing with 93 and premix, it still costs me $9/gal. for 2T gas ?

[SBRacing]

I have been mixing 50/50 c12/pump for awhile 5gal of c12 is up to $60 in NJ and 5 gal of super is around $20 that $80 for 10 gal of fuel plus cost of pre mix oil.. my tank on my 06 yz250 (woods set up) is 3gal and I burn atleast that much each time I ride 2-3 times a week.. its getting expensive ..alot of people i ride with mostly ktm 2 strokes use just pump gas with no problems.. my bike is stock compression am i dumb for wasting money on race fuel?

[NSF3537]

I have been mixing 50/50 c12/pump for awhile 5gal of c12 is up to $60 in NJ and 5 gal of super is around $20 that $80 for 10 gal of fuel plus cost of pre mix oil.. my tank on my 06 yz250 (woods set up) is 3gal and I burn atleast that much each time I ride 2-3 times a week.. its getting expensive ..alot of people i ride with mostly ktm 2 strokes use just pump gas with no problems.. my bike is stock compression am i dumb for wasting money on race fuel?

I would just run 93 sunoco in your bike if its stock. I run c12 in my sons kx 85 which is heavily modified and without it would melt the piston. It sets me back though, and sometimes I wish I kept his bike stock. I still run the pump 93 in my bike, but its a 4stroke. I have been told that the C12 is better for 2strokes stock or modified, but at $10 to $12 a gallon, tough call.

[NSF3537]

are you crazy how would this even work

I think you spoke to soon. You have to keep an open mind and try and learn more about a topic before bashing it.

[spinner38]

you burn 3 gallons of gas 3 times a week? man i wish i could ride that much! my bike is like a different animal on race gas, so i do not think it is a waste of money, i am only using about 2 gallons a week though for 6 months out of the year.....i also get c12 for 9 bucks a gallon, station near me has it in the pump ?

[cj_wai]

I primarily race my car on road courses such as Lime Rock Park, Watkins Glenn and instead of paying $10 a gallon for race fuel I and others use toluene(paint thinner) which one gallon mixed which 10 gallons of 93 will give 114 octane. I have been using it for years and it works perfect. I even broke down the engine after 10 race events and the engine is perfect. Has anyone tried it on a 2 stoke?

toulene has a ron of 114.it,s ron/mon divided by 2 is 104(also known as it,s anti knock index aki)

your 93 octane pump fuel is a ron/mon divided by 2 number.

so.. 10 gallons at 93 octane plus one galloan at 104 octane makes 11 gallons of gas at 94 octane.

and i have run toulene/gas blend (up to 20% )in my 2 stroke.works fine no issues.you may want to stay away from xylene as it can be harmful to rubber in highe concentrations.

toulene is already a component of gasoline.formula 1 used to run 80%toulene blends.

[NSF3537]

you burn 3 gallons of gas 3 times a week? man i wish i could ride that much! my bike is like a different animal on race gas, so i do not think it is a waste of money, i am only using about 2 gallons a week though for 6 months out of the year.....i also get c12 for 9 bucks a gallon, station near me has it in the pump ?

I wish I could get it for that. Even if they buy in bulk, they probably are not making a cent on you. I looked into buying it in bulk 55 gal. or 50 gal. can I forget which and it still broke down to around $9 a gallon. I only use it in my son's bike and it would take a while to go through it. I don't know after time if you would loose some to evaporation. Are you sure the place you are getting it from is not cutting it with pump gas. I would imagine that it would change the color though.

[djmamayek]

Gas station at the end of my road sells sunoco 110 leaded for $6.50/gal. I do half and half 110 and 91.