North American Turbocoupe Organization



Octane boosters - yes or no?
AZTurbo Offline
Member
#1
With premium gas prices through the roof is an octane booster + regular unleaded worth it? Everyone join in.
88 Turbo Coupe, Silver, 5 Speed. Original owner.
Reply

KentCT88TC Offline
Senior Member
#2
I use octane improvers. I believe they add to the gas mileage. I got 26 MPG on a recent trip and believe it helped. I use it along with premium gas and 16-17 lbs of boost. -Kent
-KentCT
-'88 Turbo Coupe, K&N, Gillis valve @18 lbs., 2.5 " exhaust.
-2000 Mustang GT 373 gears, Diablo computer chip, cold air intake, Typhoon intake manifold.
-2001 Jeep SE 2.5, AEM cold air intake, Gates headers & exhaust, throttle body spacer, Jet Stage 2 chip
Reply

riisitas Offline
Member
#3
My TC is totally stock. I never use octane boosters. I just use the standard premium gasoline. I currently average 24.5 MPGs in city traffic and the TC can pull down 28 to 30 MPGs on longer road trips depending on conditions.
1988 TC 5 Speed Stock
Reply

Pete D Offline
Administrator
#4
More octane isn't going to help if the engine can't use it OR doesn't need it, as driven. And if you are driving for mileage, you are not needing extra octane.

Another way to look at it. How much are you saving after factoring in the cost of regular and the cost of the octane booster. Yeah you might come out a couple pennies ahead but it may not be enough to be worthwhile. I haven't run the math so let us know what you come up with.

Kent, my silver one gave me 26 on a trip stock. It gave me 26 on a trip mildly modified and it gave me 26 mpg trip mileage with all it's current mods
I have never used booster except for the drag strip. Try it without and see what you get.
Pete Dunham


Reply

86XR7auto Offline
Moderator
#5
Damn.....
86XR7 in pieces...old time [email protected] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGsz7PdEqTI 88TC stock Red RHSC [email protected], 01 Z71=Nice winter ride, 01 CVLX w/HPP wifes ride!
Reply

Matt S Offline
Posting Freak
#6
Once my Dad was just FLOORED I am paying for premium. He talked about mixing regular with premium, driving nicely with regular, and using octane boost to save a few pennies. Using today's gas prices and the price of not using premium at all here is how the numbers run for me.

Regular $3.85(9), Premium $4.15(9) at the local Chevron (always about the 9).
18 gallon fill-up.

Regular fill up @ 3.859=$69.462 (btw 3.850=$69.30 Wink that 9 is a killer )
Premium fill up @ 4.159=$74.862

Bottle of 104+ octane booster: $8.99+tax

Cost of a blown head gasket trying to get around a slow person up a steep hill in hot weather with $5-$8.99 in my pocket; with the switch in premium and boost turned back up "just a pound or two" because I got tired of how much of a dog it was and I trusted I'd remember to go easy on it. Sad

The $5 a tank is head gasket insurance to me.

A round trip ticket to the same place (Sacramento) is now about the same price as the 4 tanks of gas I use in a round trip drive.
Sold it Sad*
Reply

georgechard Offline
Senior Member
#7
Thats a great scenario.Hope it didn't give you a headache. LOL....
Reply

deadbird Offline
Posting Freak
#8
Looks good. To ensure that my motor dont go bye bye I have meth. It turns on aroun 10-15 psi and improves my octane. I am running about 60 meth 40 water and I run premium. I used additives in my 06 Mustang. That turned out very very bad becasue the car didnt like it. Destroyed the plugs. So if it is a new ford it will trash your car. But I commonly used them in my bird. I can't tell a diffrence.
1987 5 sp.
- 4.6 2v swap.
Reply

xcrunnerbd Offline
Posting Freak
#9
I always run premium. The way I look at it there's a smaller difference now than there was back when I first bought the car. 20 cents a gallon is easier for me to swallow at $4 / gallon than it is at $2/gallon. I'm actually surprised that difference hasn't changed with the rising cost of fuel. If the extra refining justified those 20 cents when gas was $1 / gallon it would seem to me that the difference would be greater as the price grew higher....
Project 13 sec. / 30mpg in '88 TC 5Speed : 15.91@89mph / 32+ mpg

On The Car: KN cone, 2-stage Gillis@ 15psi wired to fuel switch, Kirban AFPR @ 39psi, Walbro 255 HP FP, 130A 3G Alt., Full 3" Stinger Exhaust incl. cat. no muffler,

Shelf: .48 T3, ported E6, BPV
Reply





Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)



Theme © iAndrew 2018 - Software MyBB