Dingleberry

Hey all! I have 1/5 scale FG C-291 with a G2D 96 engine. I've added the hot coil, carbon ring and lightweight fan and they've really made a difference in performance. I've also cut about 1/2 inch off of the stock pipe where it mates with the header - don't know what (if any) difference it made because I never ran it with a completely stock pipe.

My question is this...

Does anyone have any information on using Toluene as an octane booster for these engines? Or does anyone have any experience with using Toluene as an additive in these engines?


Thanks in advance!

JRexA

You only need to boost octane if you increase the compression to more than what your pump gas can handle.

I have no experience with Octane boosters, but I only think it is neccesarry if you are looking for the last 2% of power you can squeese out of the engine.

If you don't change the Compression, then High Octane fuel is wasted.

If you want a boost, then why not try adding 5% nitro to the petrol mix?
(No, I have not tried that either, I already have more power than I can handle with my 27cc standard engine )

2pock

My Feedback: (4)

JRexA ive never heard of that adding nitro to a 2 stroke gas mixture. Are you for real or is that a joke ??????????

Acs_guitars

My Feedback: (3)

Octane booster does nothing for a stock set-up motor. Octane simply controls combustion to prevent detonation (combustion before TDC) in high compression engines. It actually makes the fuel less explosive in high heat and pressure. Nitro is more explosive... has a lower flash point than gasoline, much like alcohol in a race engine. The only problem I see with this is that it could cause detonation in the wrong engine.

daytona7

Try a small bit (1/4) of a Mothball in the fuel filler.

Dingleberry

So do any of you guys know about Toluene?

...and what's with the mothball...???

jimbo1890

What exactly do you want to know about toluene?

Yes it can and is used as an octane booster but you have to significantly increase compression for it to do any good

My understanding is that raising the compression is what gives you a performance increase not the toluene as this has less energy per volume than petrol. Toluene is there to make the fuel harder to ignite because when you increase compression beyond a certain point the engine starts working like a diesel and the fuel spontaniously combusts (pre ignition) before the spark plug fires which is not good. Toluene raises the combustion point and lets the spark plug fire the charge.

Therefore my understanding is that raising compression increases the power not the toluene. As for the mothball I am less sure of this but it seems logical. Mothballs are made of napthalene which is in the same family of organic compounds as toluene and would probably do much the same thing to a fuel's octane rating.

A word of advice if you really want that last bit of power why not consider one of those small nitrous oxide kits I have seen on a previous post rather than stuffing around with compression and toluene etc. You will get to the point where the compression is so high it won't start at all or you will keep breaking starter ratchets.

JRexA

A friend tried using something like 10% Nitro with the petrol on his old Moped(50cc Puch Maxi), It was faster than a Bat out of hell, but the engine burnt out in less than a quart of fuel. This was something like 25 years back.

I have never heard of anyone using Nitro + petrol on a RC Engine, but I will be very surprised if it hasn't been tried.

JRexA

Here is a link to a FAQ about Toluene as a Octane Booster

http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html

daytona7

Why not try Nitro Blast. Same thing as toluene.
The main problem with adding a booster to the gas, is that most if not all add way too much, causing engine failure. That is where the difference between adding nitro or toluene and a 1/4 or 1/8 piece of a mothball comes in. What percentage of nitro or toluene do you mix to a small tank of gas? Do you mix it at 25:1, 50:1 or maybe 100:1? Do you mix it to a gallon of gas or just to the gas tank on the RC? Any one of these methods could be too much. A SMALL piece of mothball placed in the in fuel line to the tank allows the gas to draw out just a small percentage of the active ingredient of the mothball. Since the 1/4 scales use a filler tube and bottle to fill the gas tank instead of a wide mouthed gas tank like on the 1/5 scale, it is easy, but if you use a bottle with a long neck to fill the tank and place the mothball in the neck of the bottle