Petrol pellets?

colm_mcm

Eh?


Octane boost?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/modifiedcars-for-sale/japanese-performan-import-octane-booster/4763839

mullingar

ninty9er

Isn't most petrol 98 these days?

Mycroft H

Was there not pellets for classics that claimed to be a lead replacement? Seems like the same thing but being sold for a different (and equally as useless) purpose

Del2005

ninty9er wrote: »

Isn't most petrol 98 these days?

AFAIK it's all 95 here.

Dartz

Del2005 wrote: »

AFAIK it's all 95 here.

Depends on how much kerosene's been mixed in to it.


A surprising amount of people swear by them, which is peculiar.

Sobanek

It's actually 93-95. Depressing stuff.

ironclaw

Sobanek wrote: »

It's actually 93-95. Depressing stuff.

It is. While not overly scientific, the difference between a higher end model running on a full tank of premium from the UK and a full tank of sludge here is actually fairly interesting. Had a few cars here for a week or so, and gradually, at least to us, there didn't seem to be the same 'umph' out of them when they were fully on Irish fuel.

corktina

Absolutely . My mpg shot up in the UK

Sobanek

Try 102 Octane in Germany.

Higher range, and my 320Ci was probably as fast as a 325Ci that runs on the sludge here.

Imagine an Irish M5 on that fuel.

If I lived near the border, I'd probably fill it up at least once a month with V-Power Racing.

Eric Cartman

Dont audi r8 drivers have to use dipetane here with every fill because of this ?

Donnelly117

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Dont audi r8 drivers have to use dipetane here with every fill because of this ?

Yea, all 3 of them :P

woody33

Fifth Gear, or was it Top Gear, tested several of these sort of things a while and found, sadly, that none of them worked.
In another test Redex was found to restore some lost horsepower to an older car.

ironclaw

woody33 wrote: »

Fifth Gear, or was it Top Gear, tested several of these sort of things a while and found, sadly, that none of them worked.
In another test Redex was found to restore some lost horsepower to an older car.

Its not about restoring power. Its having the Octane rating in the fuel in the first place so that the engine can performed as tuned. Remembering a block tuned in Germany for example will be running on stock fuel which will have a higher rating than here to start with. So you are getting shafted at both ends really.

I heard Maxol used be the only solution for Jap imports but I don't think they sell it any more. It was an ethanol blend or something? Not my area of expertise.

HandsomeDan

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Dont audi r8 drivers have to use dipetane here with every fill because of this ?

eh the R8 is an NA car.

HandsomeDan

Sobanek wrote: »

Try 102 Octane in Germany.

Higher range, and my 320Ci was probably as fast as a 325Ci that runs on the sludge here.

Imagine an Irish M5 on that fuel.

If I lived near the border, I'd probably fill it up at least once a month with V-Power Racing.

Both NA cars. Higher octane would make zero difference.

jimgoose

I have no faith in metal pellets dumped into a fuel-tank, or in the filler neck, to boost octane or anything else. There are a couple of well-regarded liquid products out there, like the NF range: http://www.nfadditives.co.za/products.octanebooster.php

...and Silkolene ProBoost: http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/fuel-additives/silkolene-pro-boost-octane-booster

By the way, has anyone tried 100LL avgas in one of these here JDM ricerockets, for the shits-and-giggles?

Special Circumstances

HandsomeDan wrote: »

Both NA cars. Higher octane would make zero difference.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but high compression petrol NA still needs high octane to get the most power - may be more applicable to pulsar vzr than an R8 but...

Can anyone else confirm or destroy my opinion here? Interested to know

jimgoose

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but high compression petrol NA still needs high octane to get the most power - may be more applicable to pulsar vzr than an R8 but...

Can anyone else confirm or destroy my opinion here? Interested to know

Yes, you're right. Back in the day before electronic management, knock-sensors and so on, a compression ratio of 9:1 or over would mandate use of the old four-star "Premium" petrol with its octane rating of around 96-98 RON. Nowadays most production petrol engines run a compression ratio of around 10.5:1 and run just fine on Unleaded 95. This is partly to do with the knock-sensors keeping the show under control, but also to do with the clever squish designs that mix the fuel/air thoroughly very fast as the pistons rise. Anything running much over 11:1 would need a higher octane rating to get the best out of it, right enough.

Special Circumstances

Mazda skyactive petrols (up to 14to1? According to a quick Google) must be running well below full potential on less than 95ron, even with whatever jiggery pokery they have come up with to reduce knocking.

jimgoose

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Mazda skyactive petrols (up to 14to1? According to a quick Google) must be running well below full potential on less than 95ron, even with whatever jiggery pokery they have come up with to reduce knocking.

IIRC the 14:1 ones do require premium high-octane. There's a version of the SkyActiv in the pipeline running 18:1 that'll pull it off using homogeneous charge compression ignition.

Special Circumstances

It'll be compression ignition one way or another alright...

Joe 90

As the man said, back in the days of carbs and mechanical ignition controls you could not use a lower grade of petrol than the engine was built to use. If it needed 4 start or even 5 start, yes 5 start, 101 octane did exist although I only ever remember seeing it sold at one place in Dublin a long time ago, you did not have any alternative. If you wre forced to use lower grade fuels your only choice would be to retard the ignation and possibly even disconnect the vacuum advance.

These days he management system can twiddle around with the engine settings when you use a lower grade of fuel, provided it is a reasonably smart system. The thing is, on anNA engine all that can be played with is mixture and ignition timing. On a turbo the boost can also be reduced. In either case the result is going to be less power and almost certainly more fuel used for each horsepower produced.

Same with high alcohol fuels. More fuel will have to be burned for a given amount of power.

In the case of 100LL Avgas, if the engine can make use of 100 octane fuel it should make more power than on the normal pump fuels. It will of course wreck the cat, if you have one.

Incidentally, once upon a time formula 1 cars, amongst a lot of other race cars, burned wierd and wonderful fuel mixtures. Think fule dragster. At a meeting of the meeting of tha FIA it was decreed that the new formula 1, whichever new one that was, could have been the 1.5 litre NA in the early '60s, should run on pump fuel. Immediately a certain Mr. Chapman asked 'From which pump?' The fuel requiremnet was changed to 100 octane Avgas. Not 100 octane Avgas, not 100LL Avgas which only appeared on the scene much later.

Something I've been meaning to ask. What do people who need decent petrol do in the South these days?

jimgoose

Joe 90 wrote: »

...Something I've been meaning to ask. What do people who need decent petrol do in the South these days?

Texaco Unleaded 95 is quite decent, thank you for asking. But if high-octane is needed, I believe Maxol E5 is as good as it gets around here at about 99 RON.

tossy

jimgoose wrote: »

Texaco Unleaded 95 is quite decent, thank you for asking. But if high-octane is needed, I believe Maxol E5 is as good as it gets around here at about 99 RON.

I've only ever run all my performance petrol cars (All of 2 lol) on Maxol E5 in Ireland while in the UK and on the continent i've used the higher octane fuels always got better mileage but i think that's more a result of the greater amount of time spent on motorways/Autobahns etc, can't say i've ever noticed a power increase i'd say even a dyne would only show minor gains.

I think i had these pellets or bouquets in the tank of m Bora, put in by the previous owner to improve economy, i can 100% say it did nothing for the economy

ianobrien

My engine builder insists I use Miller CVL in every tank of petrol as the fuel is so poor. The engine is an old one running dizzy and carbs so no fancy electronics to compensate for any knock (the only transistor in the car is probably in the radio). The rebuild started off as a simple rebuild and unleaded conversion but it mushroomed out if that. The fuel was so bad that that governed piston choice and compression ratio.

As for that metal bar, you might as well stick magnets onto the fuel line for all the good it would do.