Just wanted to know if anyone here has tried Toulene yet in their car. If you are not aware of what it is, you can read intesting info on this link. My friend is running it in his WRX and I'll probably try it this week in my 350..... Since SCC got a 4hp gain with higher octane gas, this might be a cheap mod..... Any negatives for all you chemists out there????

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

 

Hell yeah dude. I love that stuff. I added 3 gallons to my half tank on my way to the track. Didn't get to run but damn the car felt strong. The negative to running extra toluene (extra because gas already contains toluene) is the benzine biproduct which is bad for the environment and can foul your cats faster.

 

Have not tried it personally, but I've been reading about it since back when I owned the Supra and the guys were using this or Xylene with a mix of Marvel Mystery Oil (which acts as a lubricant) to cheaply increase octane and reduce detonation at high boost. I say cheaply because race gas at a pump usually runs for $3.50/gal, if not more.

Got a friend that works at a paint store? You can pick up your mixture even cheaper.

 

I personaly used Toulene in my 94 TT Supra I had before the Z. Toulene and Xylene are pretty much the same thing. I had marginal effects using it compared to race gas. It seems to evaporate out into the charcoal cannister fairly fast and becomes ineffectice. With the Z, it is totally not worth it unless running boost or nitrous where detonation is a problem. It will deteriorate internal seals more than normal gas will, so the 2hp you may gain in the Z is not worth it.

I also used alcohol injection in the Supra which worked unbelievebly well! Gave me the full effects of race gas when boosting up to 18psi. If I ever install a supercharger on the 350, I'll definitely be running alcohol injection. With alcohol injection you're only burning it when under WOT, so you're not cruising to the grocery store on $2 per gal worth of gas.

Dan

 

McDan,
Did you keep track of you EGT's when you were using alcohol injection?

 

Xylene is less volitile than toluene so it ignites slower. That's the main difference. With your water injection, did you run alcohol as well? I ran an aquamist kit on my S4 and i ran 70% water 30% methanol and I saw incredible differences in EGT, intake temp, timing advancement.

 

chem teacher said he doesnt know taht much about fossil fuels but he thinks that since it has the smae structure as benzene it wouldnt burn particularly well in gasoline

 

All I remember about tolulene and benzine from chem labs is that they are both very carcinogenic and had to be handled carefully under a ventillation hood!

 

Toluene is already in gasoline. any aromatic, toluene or xylene, produces benzene as a biproduct after ignition. So yes it is not environmentally healthy for the same reason why you can only get 91 octane in cali. the additional benzene will also foul your cats faster but if you are running straight pipes then that isn't an issue.

For stock applications, it's not a worthwhile thing to do. the stock
ECU will not be really utilize the higher octance due to static value mapping. and since higher octane fuel burns slower, without appropriate timing advancement, the gain is minimal at best. however, if you're spraying or FI it's a great thing to do. Also once the aftermarket ECU's come out with dynamic mapping it will be worthwhile.

 

No I didn't. Didn't have one at the time, but my trap speed increased from 111mph to 118mph with the only change being alcohol injection (denatured) on or off. Me and another Supra owner experimented with reagular windshield washer fluid and found it worked pretty well too. I also tried an Aquamist water injection system but found no positive results. Maybe it couldn't spray enough water to support 460bhp.

Dan

 

The only thing I remember about toluene from chem class is that it is a variant of TNT...tri nitro toluene.

 

Well its in the car... I started with 2 gallons to my full tank to have the computer start learning of the higher octane. This should be benificial to me in the long run once I receive my wide band O2 sensor to start tuning the car..... Its hard to say if I feel a power difference after only a couple of hundred miles but you can smell the difference...... Reviews to come in the near future with the new secret projects....