I've heard that MMT is used as an octane booster. WHat about buying
MMT directly from a chamical supply house and adding to your own gas?
How much MMT is used in the boosters?
MMT is effective at low doses but at higher levels will foul your plugs, shorten the life of your
cat converter, and slow the burn-rate of the fuel (no, it's not a false wives tale ...bracket racers
notoriously used MMT-laced fuel AFTER achiving their dial-in numbers for the event in order to slow
their cars just enough to avoid "breaking out").
It works synergistically with other forms of octane enhancement. The trick years ago ('77) was to
mix premium leaded and premium unleaded at a rate of 50/50. The result would be a fuel with a
higher octane than either alone. I think you could probably do the same using toluene & MMT
together.
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Here, learn about MMT:
http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jk/040310.htm
http://www.redflagsweekly.com/poisonwind.html
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/fuels/additive/mmt_cmts.htm
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"How can I increase the fuel octane?"
"Not simply. You can purchase additives, however these are not cost-effective
and a survey in 1989 showed the cost of increasing the octane rating of one
US gallon by one unit ranged from 10 cents ( methanol ), 50 cents (MMT),
$1.00 ( TEL ), to $3.25 ( xylenes ) [108]. Refer to section 6.20 for a
discussion on naphthalene ( mothballs ). It is preferable to purchase a
higher octane fuel such as racing fuel, aviation gasolines, or methanol.
Sadly, the price of chemical grade methanol has almost doubled during 1994.
If you plan to use alcohol blends, ensure your fuel handling system is
compatible, and that you only use dry gasoline by filling up early in the
morning when the storage tanks are cool. Also ensure that the service station
storage tank has not been refilled recently. Retailers are supposed to wait
several hours before bringing a refilled tank online, to allow suspended
undissolved water to settle out, but they do not always wait the full period."
