The octane booster topic

[Shoduchi]

I went to test the octane booster today. I added about 4 ml of it for each liter of petrol, BP Ultimate 98 RON.

It measured 335,5 CV, so about +5 CV compared to last year in January, at around 13ºC of ambient temp and 27ºC of intake temp.

The only graph I got today by mistake was from when I went to get the DSG tuned last July (more clamping pressure, faster shifting, no kick down on Manual mode, no auto upshift on Manual mode after hiting the rev limiter, rev limit to 7.000 rpm). Weirdly it made more power than what it measured in January.

The tuner will send me the correct graph later or I'll get it when I return there after fitting the VWR intake and GFB engine pulley.

[AJP]

I went to test the octane booster today. I added about 4 ml of it for each litre of petrol, BP Ultimate 98 RON.

It measured 335,5 CV, so about +5 CV compared to last year in January, at around 13ºC of ambient temp and 27ºC of intake temp.

The only graph I got today by mistake was from when I went to get the DSG tuned last July (more clamping pressure, faster shifting, no kick down on Manual mode, no auto upshift on Manual mode after hiting the rev limiter, rev limit to 7.000 rpm). Weirdly it made more power than what it measured in January.

The tuner will send me the correct graph later or I'll get it when I return there after fitting the VWR intake and GFB engine pulley.

Did it actually feel any stronger with the octane booster?

[Shoduchi]

Nothing really noticeable on my but dyno, unfortunately. 

The boost control worked better today,  so the torque spike was smaller. Other than that, on today's dyno the line was just marginally higher.

On my next test I'll up the dosage to 5 ml per liter, the maximum recommended.

[AJP]

Nothing really noticeable on my but dyno, unfortunately. 

The boost control worked better today,  so the torque spike was smaller. Other than that, on today's dyno the line was just marginally higher.

On my next test I'll up the dosage to 5 ml per liter, the maximum recommended.

I doubt 1ml extra would equate to any tangible difference if 4ml per litre doesn't. But I'll look forward to your findings all the same.

The science behind it seems good; there should be some benefit. Whether that simply means you get better knock protection rather than a proven increase in power across the revs, I'd imagine for certain cars with certain harware and map configurations this could be useful.

[Shoduchi]

Indeed mine is mapped very classically, AFAIK. It makes 1,5 bar of peak boost and 1,4 bar of stable boost. So I really don't know what's the best output with 1,4 bar of boost to compare with. I've seen lots of examples of Stage 2+ Ed. 30 making more boost to reach ~370 BHP. When I get the intake fitted mine will have the full Stage 2+ hardware setup.

[Dan_FR]

Timing advance has a huge impact on peak numbers, and whether the current map will take advantage of the extra octane. Thorw as much of this stuff in a car with a conservative timing map and you'll see no benefit..... until heat becomes a factor i.e. after hard driving/track use etc.

[ducman77]

Nothing really noticeable on my but dyno, unfortunately. 

So sorry to hear this Shoduci

I really am wondering why it made such a difference on my car?

I think it's the very poor quality of our Irish fuel that makes the booster shine.

For people living in the UK or Portugal or anywhere where you can buy decent fuel maybe this booster is not so useful/effective?

Also as Dan says, timing wise my car was crying out for more octane. You guys are probably closer to optimum with 98-99RON straight out of the petrol station

[pudding]

Shoduchi is in the 'diminishing returns' area with his car.  He's already +100hp over standard and without turning the boost up a lot more, he's not going to get a lot more from it, so octane booster won't make a lot of difference for him 

330 currently, +5hp gain is 1.5%.   At that level, to actually 'feel' a difference you need at least +10% gain 

It probably worked for you as your fuel isn't great to begin with, so it's probably performing like it would in England running 99 V Power 

[Shoduchi]

Timing advance has a huge impact on peak numbers, and whether the current map will take advantage of the extra octane. Thorw as much of this stuff in a car with a conservative timing map and you'll see no benefit..... until heat becomes a factor i.e. after hard driving/track use etc.

I asked this to the dyno owner but he isn't the tuner so he didn't know exactly how much timing advance the map has included. It's something I'll try to know when I talk with the tuner again.

[ducman77]

It probably worked for you as your fuel isn't great to begin with, so it's probably performing like it would in England running 99 V Power 

Exactly mate I think that is 100% correct

Not sure if I mentioned it before but; when I had my car dyno'd before it was mapped it only made 184hp and 200ft/lb.

It's a solid car. Had 68k on the clock at the time. Very well maintained. It also had new oil, air filter, coils, spark plugs, cam follower etc. etc. before it went for mapping. So there was no good reason for it to be 16hp down on factory quoted power.

After the map it "only" made 224hp and 240ft/lb.

You would expect a similar car in the UK to be making a reliable 200hp before tuning and maybe 240-250hp with a stage 1 Map.

I think a big part of the issue with my particular car is our fuel. Once I added the octane booster the car came alive!

I reckon it's probably somewhere closer to 240hp now. Which of course is very noticeable on the butt Dyno if coming from 224hp.

My tuner is a good friend and collaborator with Niki Gower and I believe they share mapping strategies. So, as mentioned by Dan, I believe my car was crying out for octane to optimise the map installed on it.

I'll probably end up being Cheryl's best customer until some brave fuel supplier in Ireland comes back the the market with decent fuel.

Our garages now have no signs on the pump (they used to) telling you what octane you're buying.

For all I know its probably 93 or 91RON fresh off the boat from the USA

[ducman77]

Timing advance has a huge impact on peak numbers, and whether the current map will take advantage of the extra octane. Thorw as much of this stuff in a car with a conservative timing map and you'll see no benefit..... until heat becomes a factor i.e. after hard driving/track use etc.

I asked this to the dyno owner but he isn't the tuner so he didn't know exactly how much timing advance the map has included. It's something I'll try to know when I talk with the tuner again.

Good luck with this buddy

I'm hoping you will see a bit more benefit after talking to your tuner.

I feel a bit bad about recommending the stuff to you if it doesn't really work! As I know it's expensive!

[Shoduchi]

Shoduchi is in the 'diminishing returns' area with his car.  He's already +100hp over standard and without turning the boost up a lot more, he's not going to get a lot more from it, so octane booster won't make a lot of difference for him 

330 currently, +5hp gain is 1.5%.   At that level, to actually 'feel' a difference you need at least +10% gain 

It probably worked for you as your fuel isn't great to begin with, so it's probably performing like it would in England running 99 V Power 

For my surprise, the tuner's and the dyno owner's my engine makes consistently at least 270 CV with the factory map. Increasing the boost to 1,4 bar and the fuelling accordingly it makes 330 CV.

I just don't know what is limiting or if anything is limiting the output at the moment. After fitting the CAI I'll know if the OEM airbox was a limiting factor and how much.

[Shoduchi]

Timing advance has a huge impact on peak numbers, and whether the current map will take advantage of the extra octane. Thorw as much of this stuff in a car with a conservative timing map and you'll see no benefit..... until heat becomes a factor i.e. after hard driving/track use etc.

I asked this to the dyno owner but he isn't the tuner so he didn't know exactly how much timing advance the map has included. It's something I'll try to know when I talk with the tuner again.

Good luck with this buddy

I'm hoping you will see a bit more benefit after talking to your tuner.

I feel a bit bad about recommending the stuff to you if it doesn't really work! As I know it's expensive!

Thanks buddy! We're both testing if our petrol is limiting our engine's output. I know my tune was made for petrol 98 RON and that my tuner can make the tune more aggressive if I use racing fuel with an higher octane level. I'm just checking if it worth using it for track days and how much is the benefit.

[pudding]

It probably worked for you as your fuel isn't great to begin with, so it's probably performing like it would in England running 99 V Power 

Exactly mate I think that is 100% correct

Not sure if I mentioned it before but; when I had my car dyno'd before it was mapped it only made 184hp and 200ft/lb.

It's a solid car. Had 68k on the clock at the time. Very well maintained. It also had new oil, air filter, coils, spark plugs, cam follower etc. etc. before it went for mapping. So there was no good reason for it to be 16hp down on factory quoted power.

After the map it "only" made 224hp and 240ft/lb.

You would expect a similar car in the UK to be making a reliable 200hp before tuning and maybe 240-250hp with a stage 1 Map.

I think a big part of the issue with my particular car is our fuel. Once I added the octane booster the car came alive!

I reckon it's probably somewhere closer to 240hp now. Which of course is very noticeable on the butt Dyno if coming from 224hp.

My tuner is a good friend and collaborator with Niki Gower and I believe they share mapping strategies. So, as mentioned by Dan, I believe my car was crying out for octane to optimise the map installed on it.

I'll probably end up being Cheryl's best customer until some brave fuel supplier in Ireland comes back the the market with decent fuel.

Our garages now have no signs on the pump (they used to) telling you what octane you're buying.

For all I know its probably 93 or 91RON fresh off the boat from the USA

I wonder what fuel VW's 200hp is based on?  Must be the 98RON they specify on the fuel flap I guess!  It should really make 200 minimum on the lowest RON shown in the user manual or the flap (95), but this is the world we live in.  Small print and lots of 'up to' services 

I think American fuel is rated a bit differently to ours.  There's RON, PON and MON.  We use RON, they use MON I think.  When I was in the states I got talking to someone about it and their 93 is equivalent to our 97, or something along those lines.  They did used to have utter garbage fuel, but it's not as bad as it used to be!  They had V Power at the pumps last time I was there 

[AJP]

Timing advance has a huge impact on peak numbers, and whether the current map will take advantage of the extra octane. Thorw as much of this stuff in a car with a conservative timing map and you'll see no benefit..... until heat becomes a factor i.e. after hard driving/track use etc.

This is pretty much the bottom line. For the majority of cars (mapped to 97-99) we won't feel a benefit.

It's that 105 map we want.