Ok one store sells toulene at around 5.00/ gallon
sherman williams sells it at 16.00/gallon
is there a quality difference between toulene?

 

My assumption is that the concentration levels are vastly different.

 

5/gal...in a 55 gallon drum
and 16/gal in small rectangular tins?

 

no $5.00 per gallon
$16.00 per gallon.
big difference, since 110octane gas is $6.00 per gallon, if the lower toulene is not good stuff then shoot i might as well use race gas.

 

Toluene=Toluene. I ran my Buick GN on a steady diet of 10 gallons of 92 octane(a few years ago) pumpgas plus one or two gallons of Sherwin-Williams brand Xylene for three straight years and never experienced a hickup.

Sometimes I would blend one gallon of Xylene with one gallon of Toluene. The car loved it. Keeps your injectors clean as a whistle too.

 

I am looking into this approach here in Europe as Race gas is so EXPENSIVE, I would just like to bump my octane up a little and maybe run a little more boost. Either way, for track events I would like to use a little to help prevent knock. Anyone know of any formulas or informative threads on boosting octane with this stuff. TIA

 

I hve been testing tol and xyl for a while on my dyno on various makes of cars, and its a good replacement to boost octane as long as you dont go above 40% T&X as a ratio of the entire mix.

As it is derived from Coal, the exhaust fumes tent to be "smoky" which means you will fail emission tests. Xylene is simply resynthesised toluene, and is very agressive on rubber and plastic.

as it has a high flash point the car will also battle to start some times. But it does in the end and nce running it idles well.

In a 50/50 mix of t&x added in a ratio of 30% to normal fuel it delivers good results. Just check the injector seals and fule line rubbers often.

 

found this out,
there actually is differences between toulene, not all are alike, which explains the cost difference.
http://www.shellchemicals.com/toluen...8,1514,00.html

Currently, three grades of toluene purity are available in the market: TDI, nitration, and commercial.

TDI grade toluene is used to make isocyanates, which are combined with polyols in the manufacture of polyurethanes. In turn, polyurethanes are used in a wide variety of consumer goods, such as foams for furniture and bedding, coatings for floors and furniture, artificial sports tracks, ski suits and waterproof leisure wear.

Nitration grade toluene is widely used in the solvent market and also in the production of phenol, particularly in Europe.

Both nitration and commercial grades are used as feed in the hydrodealkylation process, which strips off the methyl group from toluene to make benzene. These grades are also used in the disproportionation process, which removes the methyl group from one toluene molecule and attaches it to another, resulting in one benzene and one xylene molecule.

Toluene is produced in very large quantities, most of which is never removed from the gasoline manufacturing streams. Most commercial grade toluene is returned to the gasoline pool as a blend component resulting in higher-octane grades.