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Toluene is nasty stuff !!
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Anyone actually use Toluene? If so, what kind of ratio? I can still buy a 5 gallon can at the local paint store. Don't remember the price, but last time I checked seemed very reasonable. I was even thinking of putting it in my old BMW turbo as I have modified the boost levels and thought I might squeeze a few more grins out of it.
When I build my engine for my 69 Z, I plan on having the pistons cut down slightly to lower the compression and cc the heads just a bit bigger, shooting for 10.25:1 compression. Still figure I will need some help on the octane and was planning on about 10% toluene.
Just for the sake of discussion, here is a guy that really likes the stuff.
http://www.elektro.com/~audi/audi/toluene.html
As for using thicker head gaskets, that is a huge losing propostion in my opinion. Anything that kills your quench will only make detonation worse, especially below 3,000 RPM, even though compression will be slightly down. Yeah, I would like to say I was a genius and figured this out by just looking at the physics of the situation. Truth is, about 25 years ago I had a 302 with original 11:1 compression that was pinging ever so slightly. I put on double headgaskets, and it was 10 times worse. Did some research and discovered how critical the quench is to combat pinging. So when building from scratch, go for the lowest piston to head clearance the piston manufacturer recommends.
Just my opinion.
Lynn