Bob's Track Friends Chat

[OldAIMGuy]

Hi Bob, Here's an interesting question from a friend of mine. Ever heard of this being done?
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Hi Tom,....Moth Balls to boost performance??

You're a racer....is there any truth to dropping a few moth balls in the gas tank?

"Yeah actually I've heard that from a few of my old school racer friends too. They say it ups the octane level or improves the power and fuel efficiency of the fuel. They used to drop a whole bunch in the tank before hitting the tracks or when they knew they'd be drag racing."

Don
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and my reply................


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Hi Don, Re: Moth Balls.................

I always thought that was a disease one got from dressing in wool underwear!!!!!

I've never heard of this being done. Napthalene is the main component of moth balls and that should be soluble in plain old gasoline. However, I'd have to look at the combustion characteristics to see what it would do. A quick look shows it to be a very dense fuel. It requires an Air/Fuel ratio of nearly 58:1. That compares to about 13:1 for street gasoline. So if your carbureted car was set up a bit on the lean side, this might "enrich" the overall A/F ratio giving you more potential power.

In modern cars with fuel injection the A/F ratio is maintained by a feedback loop from an oxygen sensor in the exhaust to the computer that controls the fuel injection. If it runs a bit rich, it meters back on the fuel and visa versa. So, adding something like napthalene would just get added into the equation being monitored by the oxygen sensor and A/F computer. If the napthalene raised the apparent "octane" rating of the fuel, then the computer might allow the timing to advance a bit more giving a boost to maximum power output.

"Octane Rating" is a funny thing. Almost more alchemy than chemistry. If you run high octane gas in a lower compression motor, it usually just goes through as unburned or partially burned hydrocarbons. That will "soot" up one's exhaust pipes in the days before cat. converters. If you run low octane fuel in a high compression engine it will usually be all right under light loads. Under heavy loads the engine will have problems with detonation and eventually self destruct.

Adding ethanol to gasoline improves the apparent octane rating. Natural gas is a very high octane fuel. One can run very high compression with natural gas as the fuel. That makes for greater specific output for an engine so designed.

I'll have to ask some of my race buddies about this. It's an interesting idea. If they didn't dissolve, then it might be a bit annoying listening to the little marbles rolling around in the tank!

Where's the quote from?

Best regards, Tom
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