Here’s a Zeltex 101C octane test meter that I acquired on Racejunk.com for much less than the current new price of $11,000. It had been used for a few years by a dirt track owner for testing gas in some class of racers who were limited to using pump gas. He recently sold his race track in the Albany NY area, and had no more use for this equipment. But we surely can make good use of this for tuning trail machines on the dyno. And once again, who but me would be interested in buying a used octane tester? We often encounter what we think is substandard gas, and now we can be sure. The Zeltex octane tester uses near-infrared spectroscopy to measure both motor and research octane and prints out both along with R+M/2 and ethanol %. These Zeltex testers are used by most states’ Bureaus of Weights and Measures to test octane at gas stations. This one is calibrated to test unleaded gas with or without ethanol, and if I can obtain lab certified samples of commonly used race gas, it can be calibrated to do those, too. This will be especially useful for companies that demonstrate pump gas safe engine modifications and tuning at this facility. Is the 93 octane gas really 93 or is it 102 or 86? This will take the guesswork out!
