Have to agree with Japan8 here.

*oversimplified interpretation of what I've read*

Unlike a piston engine, the rotary does not benefit from higher octane fuels. From what I've read here, toulene and xylene are the only readily accessible fuel additives that boost performance.

However, the emission system (cat converter) is reliant on 92+ octane. I'm fairly certain your RX will run "stronger" on Regular cheapo gas - there are tons of threads to support this.

The only problem lies in cat care...

 

Its not any faster guys, my car runs cleaner IMHO. Because I tried using 91 octane gas and my 8 would backfire, there are probably no performance gains that you can feel, just less gunk build up on the rotors. Boost on the 8 lies in nitro methane, due to its characteristics of needing less air to combust better. This setup would be even better with a turbo or a supercharger and upgraded fuel injectors. 1 problem though, it’s expensive: 5.25 a gallon.

 

That's not bad when you're used to paying 108 JPY per liter of REGULAR unleaded and 123 JPY for high octane.

 

Japan8,

What is the RON numbers for Regular and Premium Unleading in Japan? Or don't they use the RON?

Our regular unleaded (ULP) is 91 RON. Premium Unleaded (PULP) is 95 RON. Some companies offer 98 RON a well, which is what I run my 8 on. It is about 7c/L dearer than ULP.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

I just found this very interesting article. I think it somes up a few things that have been said on here.

http://www.superchargersonline.com/content.asp?id=105

Take note of the paragraph "What's the benefit of higher octane?"

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Hymee,
Very interesting link, thanks for posting it!
rx8cited

 

No worries mate.

Always glad to help!

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

agreed thanks for posting the link on the ocane reading....

 

For some real life info I posted yesterday - based on my "experiment" with lower-than-specified-octane-fuel, read this thread.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Alright, so far what we have established a few things,
1. That xylene does not harm your motor.
2. That it works great for boosted vehicles
3. It increases detonation period.

I have also read a lot of debate. There are a lot of opinions and alot of experiences with this fuel.
Let's end this debate. If anyone out there has access to a dyno,
TEST IT

Test the RX-8 (nobody on this site cars about piston motors) with 91-94 octane. then test it withXylene. We want torque and horsepower numbers.

Also, if anyone is running a canzoomer upgrade, I would love to see the dyno numbers with and without xylene on your 8 as well.

Because really, if xylene runs safely in my 8, then the only other thing I give a rip about is the power.

 

You can find some pretty good deals on both Xylene and Toluene in your neighborhood Lowes as well. It comes in convenient one gallon cans. The price is a little lower than at a specialty paint store. My local Lowes was running a sale on the stuff for a deal as good as regular gas...

 

wow, pretty interesting, all this talk of how great xylene is. As soon as a dyno is demanded, the thread becomes quiet. Can anyone step up and get a dyno. this is ridiculous. You can't tell me this whole thread was wasted for nothing.

 

Bump. I hear there is a type of alcohol that is good for mixing with gasoline. Anyone know what it's called? It's not xylene or toulene.

 

The only kind of alcohol approved for gasoline formulation is ethanol (chemically dried drinking-type alcohol), up to 10 % by volume.

The 'reason' it is added is to add some oxygen compounds to the mix, to reduce smog, but the real reason is the lobbyists of big agri-business companies and the grain lobby. Keeps grain prices higher than a free market would. But I rant.

Though not an alcohol, you may have heard of methyl tertiary butyl ether, (MTBE), the 'oxygenate' of choice of the oil companies......cheaper and more effective than 'booze', but less "green."

Neither does much for power or mileage, they have decent 'octane' ratings, but they weaken the mixture, being less dense and having less calories/energy to contribute.
.
.
.
doc

 

Or up to 3% Methanol.

 

hmmm so running an 87octane on our cars is bad huh?