427 C6Z

Living in CA is a pain relative to finding good gas at a gas station. My questions are:

• Other than the 76 station on Woodside road, where else can you purchase "Gas station" facing fuel in the Bay Area (Southbay)?
  
• Secondly, do others use "Store bought" octane additives/boosters and if so, which one would you recommend?

As always, appreciate your feedback...

vegasdude

Your going to get two answers. !. They work. 2. They don't. take your pick.........4 gallons of 100 octane in the gas tank will give you 93.

cbgpe

Moroso makes one that does work. It contains analine. Toxic ,possible carcinogen.... Toluene also works 107 octane lean unleaded just average the octane of you 91 with the toluene. 3 gallons will raise your octane to 93.67. Toluene is an industial solvent. You will also get better fuel economy as the over all heating value of the mix will be higher thatn the E10 you are getting now. Treat the toluene same way as gasoline. Don't get it on your skin don't breathe the fumes. DO NOT use Benzene ....it works BUT it is quite prone to produce severe liver damage

Divmat

I understand that additives will tend to gum up in the fuel lines, carb, or injectors. I have purchased classics before and had to clean out all the gunk from the carbs. I would not use them at all. Just my opinion.

Tetraethyl Lead is what you need to add to the gas. I understand the EPA banned this stuff for use several years ago in unleaded gas. There are a few people who still make it in concentrate. I was using it for awhile, but started buying drums of racing fuel to put in my muscle cars. This stuff works great. Can't remember the name of the place. I'll check my receipts and get back with you.

Divmat

Cant find my receipts, but I think this was the manufacturer.
http://tetraboost.com/info/

You might contact them to see where it can be purchased here in the USA. There was a company called ? brothers, and they carried this or their own.


You might make sure on your particular application prior to use.
Good Luck

ubnpast

Ive been told they do work, from a guy who own a shop called turbotrix up here in edison NJ.

OregonC6

It's my understanding that lead additive will destroy your cats. That would not be good if you need to pass an emissions test in the future. As far as toluene or benzine or other nasty stuff this talk reminds me of '75 to '95 during which time I owned a number of first gen camaros including two original Z28s ( 11 to 1 comp ) and a number of 396s.

Octane boosters are nasty and I finally sold all this antique iron because I didn't want to carry, store, or add these things to my gas anymore. If I got the 'mix' wrong , especially on the Zs, the engine would knock like heck. The stuff was expensive too.

So my two cents worth is that it makes NO sense for GM to be selling a car for which the recommended fuel isn't even available in half of more of the country and especially cali. Doesn't GM call for 93 in the Z06?

At least in the late 60s a person could still get the 100+ octane leaded premium for the old muscle cars at the time the cars were sold and for several years after. GM has gone that one better and is selling a car that, when new, you can't get the recommended fuel.

I know the engine adapts and I know all the talk about how the hp might drop a bit.....BUT.....IMO the buyer of a brand new top dog Corvette should not have to be adding octane boosters in order to meet factory fuel specs when the car is new. It makes NO sense.

So what, IMO, should GM have done? Tuned the car for 91 octane and set up the engine to make the advertised hp on that octane rating as nominal and recommended fuel.

I also seem to recall ( I sold my last old Camaro 12 years ago ) that it was/is illegal to add lead to a vehicle that was not originally made for it aside from the fact that it might damage the vehicle. So adding lead to an old leaded premium burning '69 might be OK but not in a car meant to run on nothing but unleaded. Like I said I believe it messes up the emission controls tremendously.

Why could GM sell recommended octane boosters for the vette? Well, I would venture a guess that would be because that would highlight the fact that they are sellling a new car for which the buyer cannot get the recommended fuel.

Another little unpleasant possibility on the horizon is that higher octane unleaded requires ( I believe ) more oil to produce that lower octane. Therefore, as international pressures and cost of oil combine we may see the gradual demise of even 91 or 92 octane and be left with only 87 or 88......and , you have to ask yourself, will your Z06 run on that kind of juice? I really doubt it.

For those of you younger than I who cannot imagine a world in which there was no gas over 90 octane let me tell you that we all could not imagine in the early 70s that leaded premium would be gone SO FAST! It was and that killed performance for many years.

It would be wiser IMO for GM to build engines with lower compression that could run on 88 octane as the nominal fuel-wiser that is it they were thinking of owners who just might want to drive the cars into the future instead of parking them because no gas was available.

As an aside I find it amazing that old vettes and other muscle era cars are going for so much money. As a prior owner of such primitive cars I can attest to the fact that they will not run, and in fact the engines may knock themselves to pieces, on current pump gas to say nothing of what kind of alcohol/low octane junk may be available in the very near future.

PS. welcome to the future.

Slim Shady

Torco Go to the C5 forum and the guy with the "worlds fastest" c5, the purple one. He runs it in every tank for like 5 years.

vegasdude

0Doug@MorosoPerformance

Moroso no longer sells octane booster

TeddyFreddy

The recommended fuel is 91 and it is available. If one wants more performance can get 93/94. As far as I know the ECU/engine can use with performance benefit up to 94 (forum tuners please correct me).

It is a grey area whether the Z06 can make the advertised 505 HP on 91 gas. Again, forum tuners and dyno users please help.

The higher octane gasoline will stay and it does not require more crude oil to make. Actually it takes less crude. The tendency is to use ethanol for increasing the octane rating and other benefits. Most of the gas today in North America contains ethanol. That is not bad and the Z06 was designed to use ethanol blends up to 10% ethanol. See below.


From 2006 Corvette Owner's Manual, page 5-5:

95jersey

Octante booster in common stores do NOT work at all. You can buy unleaded racing fuel and mix it in with 91 octane. One of the best race fuels is VP C10. This is unleaded and contains no metals. It has 104 research octane, and 96 motor octane. A couple gallons per 10 gallons may raise your overall octane a point or two. It is something like $6 a gallon.

I have heard that Torco works, but I have never used it.

stingray427

I use Amsoil 2000 octane booster. I read comparisons on the internet that showed it added about 2 octane numbers to premium gas, so is one of the most effective available in the US. We have 92 octane E-10 so I figured that would be about right. A lot of boosters make outrageous claims but don't deliver.

MyBeaches

They dont work. I read somewhere that you have to pour like 20 cans of that octane booster in your gas just to increase 1 octane. (something to that effect)

The gas stations selling pump 100+ octane are the only way to go.

haljensen

I don't know the 'Vette aplication but I used Torco in a turbocharged I4, 270RWHP/300RWTQ from a 2.4 L.


Added a Forum Vendor! http://www.jbsblownc5.net

Unleaded 6 can case for $95.50 shipped. 1 can(32oz) raises 10 gallons of 93 octane to 104 octane. I used it for a couple of years and had no problems with the fuel system or cats. Haven't needed it in the C6 yet, 93 octane is available at the pumps and I don't see a need for higher octane on a stock w/bolt ons motor.

1k

Joel (JBSblownC5) has been running Torco in his 700hp vette for a LONG time and has had no problems.
You should reach out to him.


I think he is a Torco wholesaler to secure lower prices for himself because he buys a lot of it for his daily driver.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=776542

califbiglar

Now I'm thinking ( I know that could be be a bad thing) So are the non-California cars stronger off the show room? If so them the rest of you need to be very careful - My California Z06 can still scare the be-gebbies out of you

NORTY

Whatever you do, DO NOT DO THIS! For good reason. Name one. Do you realize this is a "C6 Z06" forum? If you have olde school muscle cars, then take a trip to your local friendly airport and buy 100LL. It has 4.35 grams of tetra~ethyl lead per gallon...just like the premium gas of the 60's. You'll need an approved container as your chances of "pulling up to the pump" will have security on you big time.

The Clevite Kid

Has anyone received MSDS information on the Amsoil and Torco products?

vegasdude

Do a search on torco. You see that about a year ago we had a very lengthy debate over it. That thread should answer all of your questions..........