jeff@wjvax.UUCP (Jeff Albom) (03/12/85)
When looking for mothballs for use in enhancing the octane of gasoline,
be sure to use napthalene and not p-dichlorobenzene. These
are the two most popular types of mothballs and it seems the p-dichlor-
benzene type are more popular in the stores. From my experience, these
two types are clearly labelled (read your ingredients lists) on the
package. Also available are napthalene mothballs WITH trace fragrance.
Although the trace fragrance amounts are relatively small (approx.
.25%), I do not know what effects the trace elements will have. Don't
count on it making the gas smell any better!
In Northern California, the following stores have napthalene mothballs
available:
Pak n' Save , (Orchard Supply Hardware - I think)
The following stores DON'T have napthalene mothballs:
Pay n' Pak,Lucky's,Thrifty Drug,Safeway,Gemco
I mixed 10 napthalene mothballs (brand name Enoz ... 100% napthalene) in
in approximately 1/2 gallon of Chevron regular leaded gas ( "88 octane")
It took about 4 hours for complete dissolution at 50 degrees F without
agitation. Slight agitation seems to have speeded the process. Dumped
the 1/2 gallon of gas into a tank with about 10 gallons of the same
base gas (Chevron reg leaded). Before the mothballs, the engine
would ping/knock very loudly under full acceleration while lugging
(fourth gear and 35MPH, second gear and 10MPH, etc.). Now the
knocking is greatly reduced and I need to mistreat the gearing even
more than before to cause bad levels of knock.
I then put 8 napthalene mothballs directly into the tank after
calculating how much fuel was left. This worked out to be another
1 mothball/gallon. The knock was reduced much further and was
barely noticeable under hard lug conditions as described above.
In addition, better acceleration (more power) was evident in
second gear and smoother overall performance was noticed in all
gears. This seems to indicate poor uniform combustion due to
bad base gas quality (just conjecture). By better performance
I am referring to less throttle dependent dead spots (single
barrel Solex carbuerators have plenty of them if the carbuerator
is not in "like new" condition) which results in smoother acceleration
and generally more generous power range for each gear.
BTW, I put the 8 mothballs in at night and just let the car sit
until I went to work in the morning.
Approximately 2 mothballs/gallon of low octane gas (generic regular)
seems to work fine in eliminating knock and making the engine run
smoother. 3 mothballs /gallon would probably work better but
perhaps just marginally. The performance increase from 2 mothballs/
gallon is similar to using Union76 leaded premium gas but the
cost is much less (~$3.50 extra per fillup on Union76 versus ~$.25
for mothballs). I wonder what would occur with Union76 leaded
premium and mothballs...perhaps I'll check one of these days
when I bring my car to the track.
Judging from the rate that mothballs dissolve in gas, I would suggest
putting them in the gas tank at the time of a fillup ONLY if your
fuel sender unit is screened (so that mothballs don't get sucked
in and cause clogging). Perhaps 15 minutes of driving would provide
enough agitation in the tank to completely dissolve the mothballs.
These tests were performed on a rather beat 4cylinder engine (oil leaking
head, bored out cylinders probably resulting in 8.8 compression ratio,
heavy carbon deposits on valves and hemi chambers last time I lifted
the head). The fuel sender on the car is screened (BMW 2000 series car).
Sorry, but I don't know how far the timing is off spec and it's been
a long time since the last tune up.
jeff@wjvax