Here in San Diego there are no gas stations selling premium unleaded higher than 91. Has anyone added octane booster to a stock cooper and noticed and improvements?

Thanks-
Mark

 

Ummmm...Octane Boost is kind of hoakey to me. I have used it once on my Supercharged Miata and saw no improvements. I would not recommend you doing this on a new Cooper as of yet.

If you are looking for performance gains from a can, you may want to wait and see what kind of performance products come back with proven data showing an increase.

I know that I have used racing fuel (103) from the pump and while the car ran leaner at the tip in, it really made not much of a difference.

Just my .02

 

Octane boosters do work to boost octane, but that's all they do. While that statement may seem to point out the obvious, understand that the level of octane in a fuel determines the fuel's ability to supresses pre-ignition, or "knock." Knock is caused when the fuel charge ignites too early in the compression stroke. Retarding ignition timing will reduce or eliminate knock. So will increasing the octane level. But you will only notice a performance gain by increasing a fuel's octane rating if you are already suffering from pre-ignition. Once the octane level needed to prevent pre-ingnition is met, any further increase in octane levels will have no effect on performance. In other words, a car that doesn't knock on 87 octane will not perform better on 91 octane. The MINI and MINI S are designed to run on premium 91 AKI (Anti Knock Index) fuel, so boosting it up beyond that level is unnecessary.

Octane boosters were designed for high performance engines of the muscle car era. High compression ratios were a way of getting more horsepower out of those engines, and the premium fuels of the day had higher octane levels than they do now. If you have one of those cars today, you either retard the timing (which really slows them down), or boost the octane.

So, if you're thinking that boosting the octane with an additive will turn your MINI into a red light bandit, my advice to you is save your cash and skip the octane-in-a-bottle. The MINI will be plenty happy converting 91+ octane into forward motion.

 

if you want power, try to figure a way to put nitrus on the thing.... WwwAAAAHOOOOO

 

Octane boosters aren't going to help you now, or in the long run. The Cooper S engine in the U.S. is made to run on 91 octane fuel, while in Europe, and Austalia, it's 97.... Just as long as you keep pouring that premium gas, you'll be right as rain

 

yes, if that was to be a problem, Engine Knock that is, Water Injection would be the alternative I would use. Look for venders to make a unit in the distant future...
Now I do recommend a good injector cleaner peroiodically! Prevents clogging and helps with problems with reformulated gas such as the conspiracy of Ethonol and MTE.

 

Commercial octane boosters that cost about $5 to $8 a bottle or treatment allow for about 8 to 15 points increase.
This translates to roughly 0.8 to 1.5 octane boost and results do vary. It's hard to justify the cost for that sort of gain unless you add several bottles for a half tank of gas.

On the other hand you can purchase 100+ octane super racing fuel for a very high price per gallon and that would give much better performance. You can also splash a bit of racing fuel with premium. Add 3 gallons racing fuel with a tank of premium. Should be good and less expensive than a full tank.

 

When those bottles of octane booster say they boost "four points" they do not mean 4 single digits. they mean "point four" as in 0.4.

They are simply toluene and/or xylene but are simply not enough volume to make any significant octane boost.

When I was a chemist for a pharmaceutical company, I was responsible for disposing of expired chemicals. Imagine my delight when I was able to recycle several gallons of xylene and toluene by making my own race gas.

Toluene and Xylene can be bought at your local paint/hardware store MUCH cheaper than can be had from bottles of commercially marketed octane boosters.

To get a significant octane boost, you need to have 20-30% xylene/toluene, which amounts to several gallons in your MINI's full tank of gas.

Of course, I don't suggest that anyone formulate their own race gas, and if your car is not set up to take advantage of it, it will do little good.

Here is a nice web-page detailing some formulations of homebrewed race gas

http://au.geocities.com/ozbrick850/e...taneboost.html

 

>>Octane boosters aren't going to help you now, or in the long run. The Cooper S engine in the U.S. is made to run on 91 octane fuel, while in Europe, and Austalia, it's 97.... Just as long as you keep pouring that premium gas, you'll be right as rain

Europeans use the research index only which is always higher. In the US, while the number might seem lower, it really isn't as it is the average of the two methods.....that's why it is called R+M/2. Premium in europe is 97 or 98 Research.....it is the same in the US, it is just that the government does not allow its use as it can be misleading.......

Only 'slight" correection note in terms of performance.....modern cars (post 1995 or thereabouts) are equipped with "knocking sensors" particularly true of most European cars......this is a sensor that literally senses knocking (pinging) and automatically retards the ignition. I'm guessing the MINI has this so it is possible to get improved performance with higher octane to a point. Conversely you can get less performance but no knocking with lower octane fuel. Normal people cannot tell the performance difference (only us cool guys can) regardless of what is claimed.
Octane boosters from reputable companies (Octane Plus, STP, CRC, are good...it is essentially something called Toluene.....don't drink it......