Technical > Spud Miller's Cave
Toluene and % Nitro
mike cioci:
what will it do if I add it to alcohol
Spud Miller:
It won't do much for you. It doesn't act as a stabilizer on methanol to my knowledge.
Nitromethane is shock sensitive...as pressure rises it'll decide to explode without a spark. The toluene helps stabilize its shock sensitivity. Makes it settle down and wait for the spark.
Spud
ricardo1967:
Thanks all you guys, I'm always learning interesting stuff here...
Just wondering, are the Top Fuel guys allowed to add toluene? Or their tuning is some much in control that they don't need or care for toluene? Does toluene hurt power?
mike cioci:
how bout fire out the pipes...will toluene increase that if I add it to methanol
Spud Miller:
Top fuel guys can't run anything but the approved fuel. Toluene would fail a fuel check.
Toluene doesn't seem to hurt power when replacing methanol.
The Surfers (Top Fuel back in the 60's) knew about toluene. They ran very high percentages of nitro (compared to everyone else) and hardly ever worked on their car between rounds...no damage. Every one else was fixing their melted parts and they'd skate board around in the pits and watch them all work. It annoyed the xxxx out of everyone :)
An interview I read years ago with one of them said someone on the team knew a chemist and got turned on to toluene as a way to stabilize the fuel. I think they were running 97% nitro and 3% toluene (or something like that) and had amazing results. That was one of their big secrets to success. Maybe someone on here knows of that interview and can point us to a link to read. That's where I learned about it and I've used it for years. Only in the last two years have I done away with toluene and methanol altogether (100% nitro). It always worked well for me!
I don't think it'll make any more or less flames...
Spud
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