I have been curious about the addition of octane boosters in Minis. Anyone having sucess with some - what brand and where bought?

 

Bumparooni

 

You're better off buying good gas, i.e. Sunoco GT100, or Rockett Brand 100.

 

They aren't available in California as far as I know. If so, where?

 

I've tried NoS and Outlaw octane boosters, and neither was particularly effective (even when added to just a quarter of a tank of gas). The "points" ratings on those octane boosters are just tenths of an octane - for instance, a product which claims to boost your octane by as much as 5 points means you're basically going from 91 octane to 91.5 octane.

There's a fantastic thread about timing retard from earlier this year, if that's what you're interested in. But with your mods, I don't see a reduction supercharger pulley listed - are you running at the limits already, and having timing retard issues? If no, it's unlikely that higher octane will be particularly beneficial to your MINI - it'd just be a waste of money.

 

http://www.rockettbrand.com/dealers/...htm#california

Looks like there's plenty of outlets in CA to me, way more than here in MI!

 

Yes it is. Sunocco 100 octane racing unleaded is available at selected 76 stations. Another option is to call the raceway just north of town and ask where they get their unleaded race gas.

Using octane boosters is a plan to fail:
1. The booster will only increase the octane number by tenths of an octane number (3 points increase claimed by octane booster equals going from 91 octane to 91.3).
2. To get even 1 increase in octane number would require 3+ cans of booster at what cost?
3. Depending on what is in the 3+ cans of booster, you could be doing serious damage to the emission control system. MMT is the best octane booster but the worst for the emission control system.
4. Any damage that occurs to your emission control system is on your nickel to repair. Alternatively, if you go with blending Sunocco 100 race gas, and there is any problems with the gas, the distributor is on the hook for the repairs.

Net, net, you should really make an effort to find some 100 octane racing unleaded gas to blend with the 91 octane swill.

 

You have all given great advice - thanks so much!

 

Those cans of octane booster are nothing but xylene and or toluene. And as stated above, there is not enough in a little bottle to make much of a difference at all.

Instead, buy bulk xylene/toluene at a paint supply store.

This page will explain it better than I can this late at night:

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/misc/octanebooster.html

When I worked in a pharmaceutical research lab, I had the responsibility of disposing of expired chemicals. When we had about 15 gallons to toluene and xylene, I save our company a lot of money on their hazardous waste disposal bill that month. . . .

 

Definitely options in Santa Maria itself. Don't even need to go outside of town. Although Santa Maria Speedway isn't that far out of town.

 

I use Chevron 91, seems to be working fine so far.

 

Cool, thanks to everyone!

 

If you haven't made any changes to the stock configuration, Chevron 91 works fine. However, the moment you change the ignition timing map (such as with an ECU upgrade), you could experience the ignition timing retard. Basically you expect the engine to respond to your throttle input and instead, you get a tiny little ping. Immediately the ECU (in repsonse to the knock sensor) retards ignition timing and the engine seems as if its power has been cut by half and response to the throttle dives into the toilet. When you get that experience, you have two choices: 1.) Remove the modification that resullted in the engine knock or 2.) Use higher octane gas to avoid the knock and resulting drivability problems. The only problem with having to resort to using higher octane gasoline is that it is addicting and you are tethered to service stations that sell it. Not unlike life for a heroin addict - they live life from fix to fix.