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BMW M2 Forums 2023+ (G87) Engine, Exhaust, Drivetrain, Tuning Modifications

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      12-27-2024, 06:36 AM   #1
BroDoze
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Ethanol or octane booster on stock tune? (Only have CO 91oct available)

Not real educated on Ethanol and am currently running just the stock tune. Not sure I want to tune or piggyback this car yet.

I think I’ve read the stock tune can take advantage of 93oct over 91oct.

Is anybody in CO or similar state with only 91oct availability using an octane booster or Ethanol?

I know it wouldn’t be a ton of power, but I may try to see if there’s a difference there.

Any recommendations on octane booster? Would Ethanol be a better (cheaper) choice?
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      12-27-2024, 06:53 AM   #2
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I believe the only real octane booster is torco... and it would be pretty expensive to run it all the time. Also it stains orange.

Most people who want daily octane boost use ethanol, but I can't speak to the need for a jb4 to take advantage on this platform. One thing to know about running ethanol is that gas mileage will suffer noticeably and we don't care about MPGs because racecar but the range hit combined with the need to go to an e85 station to get more makes for a precarious arrangement
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      12-27-2024, 07:52 AM   #3
M_Power Rob
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BroDoze View Post
Not real educated on Ethanol and am currently running just the stock tune. Not sure I want to tune or piggyback this car yet.

I think I’ve read the stock tune can take advantage of 93oct over 91oct.

Is anybody in CO or similar state with only 91oct availability using an octane booster or Ethanol?

I know it wouldn’t be a ton of power, but I may try to see if there’s a difference there.

Any recommendations on octane booster? Would Ethanol be a better (cheaper) choice?

Do not waste your time with octane booster.

You can use a blend of a small amount of e85 and your 91 octane to get the octane up to ~93. You will need to know the approximate % of ethanol in the e85 as well as the e cobtent in the 91 and then download an app to calculate the blend. Without a tune, despite what some posting say, do not try and run higher than e10 or e15.
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      12-27-2024, 03:00 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M_Power Rob View Post
Do not waste your time with octane booster.

You can use a blend of a small amount of e85 and your 91 octane to get the octane up to ~93. You will need to know the approximate % of ethanol in the e85 as well as the e cobtent in the 91 and then download an app to calculate the blend. Without a tune, despite what some posting say, do not try and run higher than e10 or e15.
These cars run fine with E25. I run E20 with no issues in my car and it gets me to 93 octane. As far as octane boost, what you want is a race fuel concentrate such as Torco, VP and Boostane.

To the OP: You can run a race fuel concentrate like Torco, VP Racing Unleaded Octanium as well as Boostane. I would keep it to a minimum as running to much in excessive amounts can start to contaminate the 02 sensors. When I use VP Racing Unleaded Octanium I only run 5 oz per tank full which gets me to 93 octane. Anymore than that you run into issues of contaminating the O2 sensors and such. Here is the graph. They changed the formula as it was 2.6oz for 10gallons to get to 93 and still be safe with the old formula. If you do run the race fuel concentrate its a good idea to run a fuel system cleaner every once in a while. I use this from VP as well.






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Last edited by Dave07997S; 12-27-2024 at 03:10 PM..
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      12-27-2024, 03:27 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave07997S View Post
These cars run fine with E25. I run E20 with no issues in my car and it gets me to 93 octane. As far as octane boost, what you want is a race fuel concentrate such as Torco, VP and Boostane.

To the OP: You can run a race fuel concentrate like Torco, VP Racing Unleaded Octanium as well as Boostane. I would keep it to a minimum as running to much in excessive amounts can start to contaminate the 02 sensors. When I use VP Racing Unleaded Octanium I only run 5 oz per tank full which gets me to 93 octane. Anymore than that you run into issues of contaminating the O2 sensors and such. Here is the graph. They changed the formula as it was 2.6oz for 10gallons to get to 93 and still be safe with the old formula. If you do run the race fuel concentrate its a good idea to run a fuel system cleaner every once in a while. I use this from VP as well.







I disagree but obviously you are entitled to your opinion.
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      12-27-2024, 03:42 PM   #6
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I disagree but obviously you are entitled to your opinion.
The beauty of America...
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