"Toluene can be used as an octane booster in gasoline fuels used in internal combustion engines. Toluene at 86% by volume fueled all the turbo Formula 1 teams in the 1980s, first pioneered by the Honda team. The remaining 14% was a "filler" of n-heptane, to reduce the octane to meet Formula 1 fuel restrictions. Toluene at 100% can be used as a fuel for both two-stroke and four-stroke engines; however, due to the density of the fuel and other factors, the fuel does not vaporize easily unless preheated to 70 degrees Celsius (Honda accomplished this in their Formula 1 cars by routing the fuel lines through the muffler system to heat the fuel). Toluene also poses similar problems as alcohol fuels, as it eats through standard rubber fuel lines and has no lubricating properties, as standard gasoline does,[citation needed] which can break down fuel pumps and cause upper cylinder bore wear."
"Toluene is a pure hydrocarbon (C7H8). i.e. it contains only hydrogen and carbon atoms. It belongs to a particular category of hydrocarbons called aromatic hydrocarbons. Complete combustion of toluene yields CO2 and H2O. This fact ensures that the entire emission control system such as the catalyst and oxygen sensor of your car is unaffected. There are no metallic compounds (lead, magnesium etc), no nitro compounds and no oxygen atoms in toluene. It is made up of exactly the same ingredients as ordinary gasoline. In fact it is one of the main ingredients of gasoline.
Toluene has a RON octane rating of 121 and a MON rating of 107, leading to a (R+M)/2 rating of 114. (R+M)/2 is how ordinary fuels are rated in the US. Note that toluene has a sensitivity rating of
121-107=14. This compares favorably with alcohols, which have sensitivities in the 20-30 range. The more sensitive a fuel is the more its performance degrades under load. Toluene's low sensitivity means that it is an excellent fuel for a heavily loaded engine.
Toluene is denser than ordinary gasoline (0.87 g/mL vs. 0.72-0.74) and contains more energy per unit volume. Thus combustion of toluene leads to more energy being liberated and thus more power generated. This is in contrast to oxygenated octane boosters like ethanol or MTBE, which contain less energy per unit volume compared to gasoline. The higher heating value of toluene also means that the exhaust gases contain more kinetic energy, which in turn means that there is more energy to drive turbocharger vanes. In practical terms this is experienced as a faster onset of turbo boost.
Toluene has a (R+M)/2 rating of 114 octane
Modern vehicles now use computerized engine management systems that can react to engine knock and retard ignition timing if low octane fuel is being used. Consequently cars are now being manufactured with very high compression ratios that appear to give good fuel economy and at the same time good performance. This combination does assume that fuel of adequate octane is being used.
For a high compression engine to run on low octane fuel, the engine management system will need to retard the ignition timing to prevent pre-ignition or pinging. Retarding the ignition timing means that the firing of the spark plug is delayed until a later moment in the compression stroke. It does not take much to see that a later onset of combustion means that the combustion is less complete, which in turn mean less power and poorer fuel economy. It is possible that the casual driver will still come out ahead in terms of saving money by using low octane fuel, but the retarded ignition advance also means a rougher running engine and a much duller throttle response. Thus octane boosting is not necessarily of interest to all motorists but rather the enthusiasts. For turbocharged or supercharged engines, insufficient octane will also lead the engine management system to curtail the amount of boost which in turn defeats the purpose of these engines. Toluene is such an effective anti knock fuel that it takes a smaller quantity to achieve the same octane boost compared to 100 octane racing gas.
"Toluene is such an effective anti knock fuel that it takes a smaller quantity to achieve the same octane boost compared to 100 octane racing gas."
Aviation gas is less dense than most racing gasoline. Instead of weighing about 6.1 to 6.3 pounds per gallon like racing gasoline, it weighs 5.8 to 5.9 pounds per gallon. The racer must compensate for this by changing to richer (larger) jets in the carburetor when changing from racing gasoline to avgas. Most types of aviation fuel have very high lead content, which would rule out cars equipped with catalytic converters. Most piston-engined aircraft burn leaded fuel. Also aviation fuel has a very different hydrocarbon mix to optimize volatility properties at high altitude. Avgas sometimes has a high level of aromatics, which can contribute to lazy throttle response.
The other major difference is octane quality. Avgas is short on octane compared to most racing gasolines. Many racing engines with "quick" spark advance curves or with no centrifugal advance have more spark advance at low rpm than avgas and some racing gasolines can handle. The result is detonation, especially during caution periods in circle track racing because all of the spark advance is "in", rpm is low, and part throttle air fuel ratios are too lean for the operating conditions.
If the driver does not "work" the throttle back and forth, pistons can be "burned" which melts away part of the aluminum piston material. Inadequate octane quality is one of the quickest ways to destroy an engine. Pistons can be severely damaged during acceleration where detonation is present and the racer may not know what is happening until it is too late."
Aviation gas is less dense than most racing gasoline. Instead of weighing about 6.1 to 6.3 pounds per gallon like racing gasoline, it weighs 5.8 to 5.9 pounds per gallon. The racer must compensate for this by changing to richer (larger) jets in the carburetor when changing from racing gasoline to avgas. Most types of aviation fuel have very high lead content, which would rule out cars equipped with catalytic converters. Most piston-engined aircraft burn leaded fuel. Also aviation fuel has a very different hydrocarbon mix to optimize volatility properties at high altitude. Avgas sometimes has a high level of aromatics, which can contribute to lazy throttle response.
The other major difference is octane quality. Avgas is short on octane compared to most racing gasolines. Many racing engines with "quick" spark advance curves or with no centrifugal advance have more spark advance at low rpm than avgas and some racing gasolines can handle. The result is detonation, especially during caution periods in circle track racing because all of the spark advance is "in", rpm is low, and part throttle air fuel ratios are too lean for the operating conditions.
If the driver does not "work" the throttle back and forth, pistons can be "burned" which melts away part of the aluminum piston material. Inadequate octane quality is one of the quickest ways to destroy an engine. Pistons can be severely damaged during acceleration where detonation is present and the racer may not know what is happening until it is too late."
***** Maybe I'm the only one wondering, but WTF does all this mean? Are you saying dump tulenol or whatever in your gas tank, or are you saying never ever pour tulinol into your gas tank. Or are you saying dump denatured alcoloh as an addative in your gas tank?
70 degrees celcius is pretty friggen hot, wont it make the tulenol combust?
Dood....are you spewing wisdom here about what powers our car? if so, please be more clear. I once poured a soda can full of water directly in my carburator as hard as I could squeeze the can. It was a tiny 4 cylinder with a giant 1950 2 barrell off a truck. It never stalled, and things came out of my tailpipe that defied explanation. I havn.t laughed that hard in a while. The effect was a tiny rattle sound forever, and about a 50% increase in how fast the engine reacted to punching it. It ran more like a japanese car than an american car after that,
I again am driving a piece of fun crap, and any experiments needed to be done in the name of humanity I'm ready for! How many miles to the gallon do you think milk will get me? Or maybe silk? Who knows whats in that crap? Maybe tulinol.?
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