I copied the following from one of the car news groups a few months
back. I haven't tried it yet so can't really say whether or not it
works. If anyone reading this decides to give it a try, I'd be
interested in hearing what you think. In fact, I'd be interested in
anyones informed opinion whether they try it or not. Does this
concoction sound like anything you would want to put in your gas tank?
Roland Dudley
cobra@hpcilsn.HP.COM
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Tim
From: landman%hanami@Sun.COM (Howard A. Landman)
In article <1585@wasatch.utah.edu> haas@wasatch.utah.edu (Walt Haas) writes:
>Well by cracky when I was a boy :-) they built high compression V8s that
>needed gas in excess of 100 octane. The oil companies got octane that high
>by, among other methods, adding lots of tetraethyl lead.
Yes. In a previous job, my boss's boss had a car that seemed to require
about 103 octane to run well. He had been buying aviation fuel at the
local airport out of desperation. I found a recipe for antiknock compound
in a book in the local library, mixed some up, and gave it to him. It
worked well enough to solve his problem with only "super" gas. The Formula:
66% Benzene
33% Methanol
1% Hydrogen Peroxide solution
IMPORTANT NOTES! (1) Benzene is carcinogenic. As such, it is a little hard
to get if you're not in a chem lab. I used toluene instead. Toluene is
much less carcinogenic and also easier to buy. (2) Methanol is poisonous,
as are its vapors. Mix this up where there is excellent ventilation.
(3) Benzene, toluene, and methanol are all flammable. Don't smoke, especially
when mixing this up. (4) The formula didn't specify the concentration of
H2O2, so I just used the normal household variety (3%?). If you have
access to stronger stuff it would probably also be OK. (5) Mix the peroxide
into the methanol first, then mix the methanol solution into the toluene.
If you add the peroxide last it will not mix with the toluene solution.
Amount to use: 1 tablespoon per tankful.
Cost per gallon of gas: maybe a penny.
I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who decides to try this,
since I may need to do it myself someday. My guess is that it somehow
supplies free radicals, catalyzing better combustion. The biggest problem
I had with this was that it wasn't possible to buy less than a gallon of
toluene, so it took a LONG time to use it all up.
Final hint to the environmentally conscious: Many cities have businesses
which specialize in recycling solvents. Recycled toluene and methanol are
just fine for feeding to your car; you don't exactly need reagent grade.
Howard A. Landman
landman@hanami.sun.com
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