Gas Story

Without a doubt. The plugs were burning so hot that I could turn the key to the off position and take key out and the engine would continue to run. I could also climb steep hills without putting my foot on the gas. This all seemed rather "odd" to me, but like I said....she "SCREAMED FOR MORE!!" The octaine boost was all that I did. .....I know.....we all probably have "stupid-youth" tales to tell. Jim Jim's Miata Web Page

Sounds to me that there was something in that additive other than an octane booster. Something like nitromethane might have resulted in increased power delivery combined with enough of a lean condition to heat your plugs up. I do vaguely recall "fuel boosters" in the earlt 1980s that contained nitromethane.

Certainly the octane boosters I'm familiar with today are basically mixtures of toluene, xylene, MMT, methanol and maybe some MTBE. All of these are used as components of pump gasoline without causing engines to explode.

Dana

Notwitstanding some of the other responses, my stock '96 has always tended to ping on 87 octane, so I use 89.