Torco Accelerator octane booster

[KenH]

I am wondering if anyone here has long term experience with the Torco Accelerator octane booster or other MMT based octane booster, preferably in a supercharged application.

Seems to be a lot of positive comments when I do searches on the Ford forums, etc. and independent octane analysis seems to prove that it can do what it claims to do.

My main concern would be about any possible long term affects on a supercharger, etc. due to manganese buildup on rotors, cylinders, etc. or long-term damage to cats, O2 sensors or the like. I have also heard that the exhaust smell can be pretty bad.

 

[ronniej]

I just received a 5 gallon can from a distributor on the Corvette Forum. Car is not running yet, so I can't give any feedback. Do a search on Corvette Forum.

 

[Fast Freddy]

i run torco's race fuel concentrate in my viper. torco is not an octane booster. torco is actual race fuel. when applied to pump gas as advised by torco it can yeild 104 octane just like a unleaded race gas. thats because it has race fuels most important ingredients concentrated into it.

as far as octane boosters go MMT is the best you can get but it will not yield anywhere close to 100+ octane when used with 91-93 octane pump gas. in fact you will get about a 2 point increase with it.

i add one 32 oz can of torco to a tank of gas in my viper when driving on the street. since arizona only gets 91 octane this gives delivers me approximately 97 octane. when i road race my viper i run 100 octane unleaded race gas.

hope this helps.

btw, if you add torco to 100 octane unleaded you will still max out at 104 octane, because the only way you can get unleaded gas to a a higher octane point then 104 is by adding lead to it. leaded race gas can go as high as 120 octane.

 

[KenH]

Thanks for the info guys.

Fast Freddy, you lost me a little. When you say Torco race fuel concentrate, are you referring to the Torco Accelerator product? If so, that is an MMT based product, so I don't understand you comment about MMT products being limited to a 2 point increase in octane. Just want to make sure that we are talking about the same product.

 

[99 R/T 10]

I had emailed the company about their claims. On the additive bottle is says it raises the octane "20 points" which is actually 2 in the Octane rating. So you would go from 91 to 93, or so they told me. I use it on every tank regardless. It's suppose to keep the injectors clean too.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

The Torco website claims the Unleaded concentrate added to 93 unleaded "makes up to a 107 octane" fuel. Can you point me to the independent data that shows 93 octane + additive = 107 octane? It should be a very simple and inexpensive test - either ASTM D2699 or D2700, which are the CFR Research or Motor octane ratings. The tests are $500 each and are the same ones that produce the octane numbers posted in the yellow stickers on gas pumps.

The only thing you can "concentrate" from a race fuel is an additive, so I assume most of the benefit is derived from the MMT. All metallic antiknock additives have diminishing returns above 95 octane, so reaching another 10 numbers is (as we say) a "significant technical achievement."

MMT is actually quite effective, but since it was developed as lead was being phased out, it was not allowed to be used at very high concentrations in pump gasoline. It can cause deposits, as did lead, which you should be able to control with a good fuel detergent. It will leave a maroon colored deposit. The EPA will consider it similarly harmful to emissions systems as is lead, which is why it is not legal in the US.

 

[KenH]

Thanks for the response Tom.

This thread on the corvetteforum has some info in it including the analysis that was done. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=1615451

Here is the link to the actual test paper. Admittedly this could have been faked using a race gas mix, but I can't find anyone that has used the stuff that doesn't swear by it.
http://www.jbsblownc5.net/html/torco1.html

Here is a downloadable spreadsheet that calculates the resulting octane from its use. http://www.alantripp.com/TorcoOctaneCalculator.xls

 

[99 R/T 10]

KenH,
the speed sheet basically agrees with what I was told. Each bottle is 16 OZ(1 pint). A quart would be two bottles which the spreadsheet shows the octane at just under 96 octane(assuming they started with premium gas). I would be curious to see an independent test done though.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

KenH,

The "ideal" data would have been a $500 test on the un-additized fuel also. While the posted octane number is 91, the measured value will always be higher, since there are heavy penalties for selling fuel below posted.

The Corvette guy made it sound recent - the test report is dated October 2004. Some mandated changes in US gasoline (for emissions) will probably trend the additive response lower.

If there are no surprises in the base fuel used, increasing the octane by 5 numbers is reasonable, albiet with a large dose. It is not what is on the website, where they claimed 93 goes up to 107.

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This response curve of octane boost via different metallic additives is from "Automotive Fuels Reference Book" 2nd Ed. Owen & Corley. It shows all additives have diminishing returns, and while the test fuel octane is low, the other fact to keep in mind is that high octane fuels aren't boosted as much as low octane fuels.

So again, the best information would be octane measurements on the street fuel with and without the additive. There is no need to run both RON and MON, just pick one to run both fuels.

 

[Fast Freddy]

Thanks for the info guys.

Fast Freddy, you lost me a little. When you say Torco race fuel concentrate, are you referring to the Torco Accelerator product? If so, that is an MMT based product, so I don't understand you comment about MMT products being limited to a 2 point increase in octane. Just want to make sure that we are talking about the same product.

i use torco's mach series accelerator race fuel concentrate in the "unleaded" version.
it does not say anywhere on there website or on their product literature or my 32 oz. cans that it contains MMT

www.torcoracefuels.com

 

[KenH]

Everyone talks like Torco Accelerator has MMT in it, but I can find no conclusive proof one way or another. Here is the MSDS sheet if it gives anyone a clue:

http://www.torco.com/media/Unleaded%20Accelerator.pdf

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

They give no clues in that MSDS, but their "unleaded" race gasoline MSDS admits the use of MMT.

Components (things that are used in gasoline at percentage amounts) can only add to the octane via their arithmatic contribution, i.e. 10% of 100 octane plus 90% of 90 octane = 91 octane. Usually the "blending octane" value is less.

Additives (things that are used at less than a percent) can significantly add performance features; the graph above shows that tenths of gms of TEL can add many octane numbers. Additives are thick, heavy, gooey things and are typically diluted with solvent. So when you add aa few percent of the bottle, you are only delivering a few tenths of a percent.

A 32 oz can (1/4 gallon) in 10 gallons is 2.5%. To raise 10 gallons of 91 to 95 with only 2.5%, the stuff would have to be ~250 octane. Or it is an additive like MMT, or TEL. There isn't anything in the patent literature I know of that is an organic octane boosting additive.

This article is fairly thorough and technically accurate. Tim Wusz used to be at Unocal and was in charge of making the NASCAR gasoline. When the industry downsized, he went to this company. The engine you'll see is the CFR, the industry standard for measuring octane. They compare adding toluene (with it's octane of over 100) and additives (MMT and ferrocene.) Note: The two tables on the bottom contain the results; click on them once to open the new page, then click on them again to make them large enough to read.

http://www.europeancarweb.com/tech/0503ec_octane_boosters_tested/index.html

 

[Rizzo]

Has anyone tried Toluene? You can buy it from local paint suppliers. F1 cars used to run it 80 or 90% back in the turbo days. Very high octane and works as a booster as well. Havent tried it in my Viper but have on other vehicles and never had a problem.

 

[dyeguy]

I ran the Torco on a supercharged Mustang for a while. The only thing negative a will say is it really ate up spark plugs. They were always orange and corroded looking. That was when I was adding a full quart to a tank of gas. It didn't do it as bad if I ran 1/3 quart per tank.

 

[KenH]

Thanks for the link Tom. Here is another interesting read on octane boosters and MMT with input from Tim Wusz.
http://www.idavette.net/hib/fuel/index.htm