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Moth balls in gas


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Has anyone ever heard of putting moth balls into the gas tank to help remove

water and to up the octane?

Little of the subject of Hybrids

Just bought an older motorhome with 440 and 1 year old tank of gas.

need to drive this beast about 80 miles to home and I do not want to emty the tank

and refill.

 

i know balls of a moth in gas would hurt but will it work?

 

Thanks

Any info would be great

 

-Adam

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Yes, I`ve heard of it and done it. When I was younger I pulled a 22 ft camper with a 3/4 ton ford van around the state of michigan to set up sound equipement at county fairs. my boss insisted on my using moth balls in every tank to help with spark knock. There were a few times that I forgot to put them in. Believe it or not, it did make a difference. I`m not sure if moth balls still have the same properties, but it worked 15 yrs ago. ;) By the way, I ran our boat this weekend on a full tank of gas that had been in there for over 3 yrs. It ran great for about 3 hrs(untill the timing chain went out) cuss.gif

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Guest Anonymous

Yeah, I'm sure the moths aren't happy about it, and look how many of them it takes. ;) Ya beat me DAW but we had the same language... :D

 

Regards,

 

Lone

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My step dad used to always tell me about putting moth balls in his 427 fairlane to raise the octane. JFYI, I'm pretty sure you will need to disolve them in gas before you put them in your tank. Toluene also works good as well. Buddy of mine has had good luck with it in is WRX.

JT

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Well, two bottles of 104 octane and they way it went.

The RV ran great all the way home. To my surprise the RV ran handled great also.

This thing has been sitting for two years.

Only 65,000 miles

 

Now can any Mopar fans or motor heads tell me the difference between a

440-1 and a 440-3 motor?

 

They take different spark plugs.

 

Thanks again

-Adam

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Here's the balls ;)

 

6.20 Can mothballs increase octane?

 

The legend of mothballs as an octane enhancer arose well before WWII when

naphthalene was used as the active ingredient. Today, the majority of

mothballs use para-dichlorobenzene in place of naphthalene, so choose

carefully if you wish to experiment :-). There have been some concerns about

the toxicity of para-dichlorobenzene, and naphthalene mothballs have again

become popular. In the 1920s, typical gasoline octane ratings were 40-60

[11], and during the 1930s and 40s, the ratings increased by approximately 20

units as alkyl leads and improved refining processes became widespread [12].

 

Naphthalene has a blending motor octane number of 90 [52], so the addition of

a significant amount of mothballs could increase the octane, and they were

soluble in gasoline. The amount usually required to appreciably increase the

octane also had some adverse effects. The most obvious was due to the high

melting point ( 80C ), when the fuel evaporated the naphthalene would

precipitate out, blocking jets and filters. With modern gasolines,

naphthalene is more likely to reduce the octane rating, and the amount

required for low octane fuels will also create operational and emissions

problems.

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Guest bang847

posted June 25, 2002 11:15 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bang847:

 

I think you got a hold of a bunch of female moths! Shame on you for looking!!

It was Adam who started it!!

 

Here's the balls

 

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6.20 Can mothballs increase octane?

 

The legend of mothballs as an octane enhancer arose well before WWII when

naphthalene was used as the active ingredient. Today, the majority of

mothballs use para-dichlorobenzene in place of naphthalene, so choose

carefully if you wish to experiment :-). There have been some concerns about

the toxicity of para-dichlorobenzene, and naphthalene mothballs have again

become popular. In the 1920s, typical gasoline octane ratings were 40-60

[11], and during the 1930s and 40s, the ratings increased by approximately 20

units as alkyl leads and improved refining processes became widespread [12].

 

Naphthalene has a blending motor octane number of 90 [52], so the addition of

a significant amount of mothballs could increase the octane, and they were

soluble in gasoline. The amount usually required to appreciably increase the

octane also had some adverse effects. The most obvious was due to the high

melting point ( 80C ), when the fuel evaporated the naphthalene would

precipitate out, blocking jets and filters. With modern gasolines,

naphthalene is more likely to reduce the octane rating, and the amount

required for low octane fuels will also create operational and emissions

problems.

Hey SleeperZ, I was wondering where you quoted this from....

Also I think I will whip up a batch this week... It is a cheap A$$ present for all the gearheads friends... YUP.. MY own homemade moonshine. make yer ker Goes Fatter!!!

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Originally posted by bang847:

intersting... very interesting... but where are the balls??? twak.giftwak.giftwak.giftwak.gif

I skipped the Moth Balls because of this:

 

Naphthalene has a blending motor octane number of 90 [52], so the addition of

a significant amount of mothballs could increase the octane, and they were

soluble in gasoline. The amount usually required to appreciably increase the

octane also had some adverse effects. The most obvious was due to the high

melting point ( 80C ), when the fuel evaporated the naphthalene would

precipitate out, blocking jets and filters. With modern gasolines,

naphthalene is more likely to reduce the octane rating,

Besides, I have easy access to large quanities of (free) Toluene.

(No, I can't get you some) smile.gif

 

Formula #1 - Toluene

 

Mixtures with 92 Octane Premium

10%...........94.2 Octane

20%...........96.4 Octane

30%...........98.6 Octane

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