Those formulae printed by Ed are chemically and mathematically correct, but
don't do it.
Xylene is, in fact, an octane booster. I worked in a refinery for a
short time after I retired the second time and BSed with one of the
engineers there since both he and I were into older cars. I commented
that we had all the stuff needed there to mix some really good fuels.
He explained that all gasoline comes from the same place, and is the
same when it is purchased by a distributor. What makes Shell
different from Exxon which is different from Mobile and 87 octane,
from 91 octane, from 100 octane racing gasoline is not the gasoline -
- it's the additives. I used to watch trucks loading gasoline from
the same tank. Each company had a private "additive" tank at the
distribution dock. The driver used a swipe card and pressed in the
number of gallons of gasoline he was getting. Based on his swipe card
code, about five gallons of his company's special additives were
pumped from his "private" tank into the truck, then umpeen thousand
gallons of gasoline were pumped in and mixed with the additives. When
that truck was full, the next truck in line, maybe from an entirely
different company would put his five gallons of addidive, then umpteen
thousand gallons of the same gasoline. One truck ended up being 87
octane Shell, and the second one ended up geing 93 octane Exxon.
An ounce or two of additive in a car's tank might be ok, but by mixing
your own recipe with toluene or xylene, you are greatly reducing the
additives that the gas company put into the gasoline. Pure gasoline,
without any additives, is not a very good fuel, and if you put 30% of
your own additive in, you are losing 70% of the company's additives.
Not good. Ever buy gasoline in Mexico or a third world country - -
that's what you get with minimal addives. Also, adding your own mix
to one company's gasoline will not have the same effect as when you
add it to another company's product. You're messing with some pretty
sophisticated formulae that they spend zillions of dollars developing,
and adding a gallon of paint thinner ain't gonna give you 110 octane
racing fuel.
Dick J In East Texas
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