93 octane in San Diego

[jbone]

I don't think there is anything at the pumps in SD over 91 octane. My 9.6-1 zz502 requires 92 octane. With 91, there was some pinging at 36 deg total advance.
What is the best way to get 93, to be safe?
Will a good octane booster work, or do I need to mix some race gas? If mixing is the best way, is there a formula for making 91 to 93.
J

[poncho-pwr]

I'm not much on commercial octane boosters as I have yet to see evidence of any of them working as advertised. If you wanted to bump it up a couple points without buying a bunch of race gas you could easily do so by adding Toluene at 10% to 91 octane pump gas and that would yield an octane of a little over 93. Toluene is in most gasolines already and is perfectly safe at up to 20% or so with all knock sensors and what not. It is easily obtainable at any paint store and the more you buy the cheaper it gets. I buy it locally at a Sherwin Williams paint store for $16.00 for five gallons. I don't know how big your gas tank is but lets just say it's 30 gallons, you would need to mix 3 gallons of toluene to reach the 93 octane mark and that would cost you about $9.00 dollars or so. Much cheaper than mixing race gas. Hope that helps.

[CBadDad]

You can also swing buy Montgomery field with a couple of Gerry Cans and buy some AvGas which is (I think) 100 octane. I haven't done it, but know those who have. You'd have to calculate the percentage and all, but it would definiately up your octane. Just a thought...

[LakesOnly]

If you add about 25% AvGas 100LL to your 91 octane cat piss pump gas, you'll be fine. Just remember to put it into a can and take it away from the airport that way...DON'T put it into your passenger car because that is a federal offense and the airports will kick us boaters outta there...
LO

[FASTRAT]

What is the best way to get 93, to be safe?
do I need to mix some race gas? If mixing is the best way, is there a formula for making 91 to 93.
J
the formula i use is: take the highest pump gas & 100 or 110 av gas & add the 2 octane's together & divide by 2...giving u the total octane rating...ex: 92 + 110= 202/2=101...i mix it 50-50...12 gal pump & 12 gal av gas & put it in my 2 side tanks (12.5 each)...never had a prob...the Toulene suggestion is a great one cause it is far cheaper than AVGas...i'm gonna have to try that...just my .02 cents
Ron (fastrat)

[flspectra]

Here is a fuel blending calculator link from a previous post here.
http://www.ranney.com/~mjr/fuel_blend.html

[jmherbert]

the formula i use is: take the highest pump gas & 100 or 110 av gas & add the 2 octane's together & divide by 2...giving u the total octane rating...ex: 92 + 110= 202/2=101...i mix it 50-50...12 gal pump & 12 gal av gas & put it in my 2 side tanks (12.5 each)...never had a prob...the Toulene suggestion is a great one cause it is far cheaper than AVGas...i'm gonna have to try that...just my .02 cents
Ron (fastrat)
Heck, it may be cheaper than gasoline before this summer is thru!