she likes toulene
 

when I had my legacy turbo a while back, I liked to play with toulene and xylene. mostly xylene because I had to go to a paint store to get toulene, and xylene was available at any home depot. for those who don't know, toulene is 117 octane and xylene is 114 IIRC. I'd dump a gallon into the tank after putting in around 6 to 8 gallons of 94 octane from Sunoco (back when they sold 94 :( ) along with a little tranny fluid to keep things from drying up too much. I'd go on my merry way, and before too long the gas tank would homogenize and I'd have myself ~97-98 octane gas in the tank. it was enough to make a noticable difference in my legacy SS, both seat of the pants and general engine smoothness.

I remember specifically that after running just one such tank, my engine ran noticably smoother, more responsively, and generally peppier from there on out. It's like pouring in a dozen or so bottles of fuel injector cleaner. it does a wonderful job of cleaning out any kind of gunk.

ANYWAYS... I ran a tank or 2 in my SVX, and she really liked the stuff. more responsive and quite a bit peppier. I figure if she needs premium that bad, there must be some headspace in the timing map that higher octane could make use of. Since I ran the toulene she has run noticably smoother especially at idle, generally quicker, AND my emissions are down. I had her inspected just after I filled her up with regular gas, and I checked my emissions numbers against those the previous owner got. they were lower across the board. this makes sense if there were deposits reducing efficiency that I ended up cleaning out.

so that's my story. hope it's helpful.

I have been looking to experiment with such things for a while now, but was always worried about doing damage. Are there any ill-effects to this? My SVX runs a bit rough on occasion, wondering if this would help clear things up.

if you run too high a concentration it can damage things. anything 6:1 gasoline:toulene or higher is pretty much safe. adding a little tranny fluid helps keep things soft. basically it dtries out seals and whatnot if there's too much. xylene is much less harsh, and only slightly lower octane. my 93 legacy ate it up no problem. she loved it. the SVX seems to have a similar appetite. no ill effects in either car so far as I can tell.

just make damn wel sure you don't spill any on your car. If you get any on you, run as quick as you can to wash it off :D . it's far nastier than any other fluid in your car. makes gasoline look as harmful as water.

Admittedly, the first time you see yourself funneling a gallon of paint thinner into your gas tank it's a little harrowing.

only a bit O/T
 

Cut & pasted from the autopia car forum (SciGuyJim) in response to cleaning up the fuel system:

I did some googling on the subject and came up with a few articles. It seems that 10-20% is the optimal amount to add without doing any damage to the motor. I think I may adding two gallons of toluene tomy next tank and fill er up with 93 pump gas. After mixing, this should yield approximately 95.3 by (R+M)/2.

Everything I read said that toluene was 114. I am curious what the difference is going to be. You would also think there would be added fuel economy through more efficient burning. I am not sure this is worth the extra $10 per tank though. We'll see.

I might have it backwards.... perhaps xylene is 117 and toulene is 114. I reccommend xylene in any case since it's easier on the engine and produces the same effect. More importantly, it's much less toxic.

lee - excellent article. reading that reaffirms my belief that poring in a dinky bottle of "fuel injector cleaner" is useless compared to just dumping in a gallon of solvents :D. after doing that, I can't really look at those bottled cleaners and think they'll do even close to the same job.

Re: only a bit O/T
 

That was the best tidbit I've read in a long time. I'd like to see that as a sticky somewhere on this site.

Ive been using
 

Toulene for about 8 yrs now as an octane
booster in all my cars.
Even gone as far as buying it by the gallon.
Worked best in my turbo cars.

So where is a good place to buy toluene? I looked at the hardware store and home improvement store with no success.

I use to buy
 

mine at any Ace Hardware, but found it in larger quantities
for a lower cost at Home Depot or Lowes

My local Ace hardware sells it in pints, qts, and gallons under their brand name of "Toluol".

look in the paint stripper section of most any hardware/paint store.

similarly, xylene is sold under the label "xylol" at home depot and the like. sold in quarts and gallons. like 3 or 4 bucks for a quart, 10 bucks for a gallon.

Re: I use to buy
 

I checked both places and found none. :-( I'll have to try a specialty paint shop.

Re: Re: I use to buy
 

they have to have it, Im sure they are selling it under
a differnet name...

Used to use a cleaner, CHEM-TOOL, I believe it was toulene.

How is xylene easier on the engine?
Or stated another way,
Is toluene hard on the engine?