Octane booster?

[cwfehr]

The marina on our lake only offers 87 octane fuel. It is a pain to pull the boat out to go fill up on land. Two questions:
1. If the boat requires 89 octane and I use 87 is there any long term issues that may arise? Performance variance is negligible if any at all.
2. The octane booster I have seen doesn't provide a ratio to increase the octane rating. They all say treats x amount of fuel, but does no say what increase in octane that achieves. What are you guys using for ratios?



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[larry_arizona]

Be careful with octane boosters, most only give you a fraction of a point in boost, their point is actually 0.1 octane.

Torco accelerator is legit, but treating 60-80
gallons is $$$, it’s catalytic converter safe but turns your spark plugs orange. But it works.

There are a few other good boosters out there.


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[brad460]

Using 87 won’t harm the engine, but you could see a reduction in performance under heavy loads (such as surfing)....This is because the engine’s control system will pull back timing if it detects knock.

I personally would never add octane boost....


That being said, if you had a supercharged version of the Indmar I would be more cautious when it comes to octane as an engine under heavy boost can move into knock much quicker than natural aspirated engines.

[Josh828]

I’ve always wondered about how much of a difference can 87 and 89 be
I could see if your engine calls for 93 and you use 87
But 87 to 89? How often will you need to use the dock fuel? Every time or just occasionally

[sandm]

brad is spot on. it'll retard the timing to compensate for the missing octane. force fed motors are where you want to stick with premium. used to play with import 4bangers and when running 25-30psi boost you have to make sure your gas is 100%.

octane boosters are a complete waste of time and money as larry mentions. if you truly want to raise the octane rating, get some sunoco race gas and add a gallon or 2 every fillup. there's formulas on their website to guide you through how much to add if you really feel the need but frankly we have ran 85 thru our first tige that called for 89 with no ill effects.

*disclaimer- ymmv

[cwfehr]

Good info. Thanks. I fill up every time at the marina. Maybe once or twice at another place if the boat is out of the water already. Then I use premium.

If the ECM retards the timing if needed due to lower octane what impact does that have on fuel consumption? Any? The SL is a bigger boat than my previous Max, but fully weighted both boats are nearly identical. Max had the 400, SL has the 450. Max ran at about 3700 to 4000rpm. SL 3400 to 3700 rpm. SL seems to be using more fuel, but I haven't confirmed that by checking consumption over hours yet. Could just be the price of fuel this year over last has me thinking about it more often!





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[larry_arizona]

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t the 450 require at minimum 91? If you are running 87 you are losing some significant power.

The 450 is tuned for 93, 91 with 10% ethanol will have power loss but 87 is a huge drop in timing. Each degree of timing retard is 2-3 hp. I would conservatively estimate you are losing 25-30hp running 87 in a engine tuned for 93.


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[Holdmybeer]

Your 450 is going to burn more fuel just because of tuning and fuel mapping curves to gain the extra power over the 400. Weighed down the Max and SL are about the same, but the different RPM's made the Max burn more fuel only when surfing. Empty both boats and the Max will do better, then add the 450 fuel maps into play and the SL will never be more efficient.

Now running 87 over 89, 91,93, etc. is going to burn more fuel also. Your 450 is going to run like a 400 yet weight more than the Max at all time other than surfing.

However, you upgraded to a more expensive boat, with way more luxury, and a bigger engine. It is your happy place and who cares about fuel consumption when you are having a blast on the lake and making memories.

As far as octane booster, that is all snake oil. Take a 5 gallon gas caddy and get turbo blue 112 octane race gas (some Sunoco stations sell it) and add it to every fill up and you will be at 89 or better. If you need 93 add 10 gallons of race fuel to 60 gallons of 87 and you are good.

[larry_arizona]

Torco, boostane and Klotz all are legit octane boosters, just verify which type you use is catalytic converter and O2 safe.

Example, boostane marine is not O2 safe, it the regular is.

Race gas is tricky too, not all race gas is the same (most near me is leaded) or universally available, plus most of it stinks and would suck surfing smelling that.

What elevation are you at? The higher you are, the lower octane you can use.


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[Holdmybeer]

Torco, boostane and Klotz all are legit octane boosters, just verify which type you use is catalytic converter and O2 safe.

Example, boostane marine is not O2 safe, it the regular is.

Race gas is tricky too, not all race gas is the same (most near me is leaded) or universally available, plus most of it stinks and would suck surfing smelling that.

What elevation are you at? The higher you are, the lower octane you can use.


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Good info on the ones you mentioned, I forgot about boostane.....most people only know the crap in the autoparts store that advertise the most.

I didn't know stations still sold leaded race fuel. All leaded stuff in Ohio has to be ordered or bought at an airport. Even then its only 100 at the airport not anything higher.
I would never run in it straight in a marine application. Race gas is too hot and would burn up the manifolds. However, mixing it 6:1 would dilute it to the point the smell and added heat wouldn't be an issue, as long as it is not leaded.