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What is this thing?
Well, it’s a device you drop into the gas tank, and
in the words of the manufacturer:
“The Fitch® Fuel Catalyst improves the
combustibility of hydrocarbon fuels by treating the
fuel immediately before it enters the combustion
chamber. As the fuel is exposed to The Fitch® Fuel
Catalyst in the fuel tank of small engines or as it
passes through a canister containing the catalyst in
the fuel line of larger engines, the catalyst acts
on the naturally degraded extreme ends of the fuel
spectrum. Most fuel is made up of high energy
constituents which burn with a fairly high degree of
efficiency. However, there are others which tend to
cause problems during the combustion process. The
lighter components burn too fast at the beginning of
the combustion process causing pre-ignition and the
heavier ones burn too slowly at the end of the
process causing both excessive smoke and carbon
buildup. The Fitch® Fuel Catalyst acts on both of
these problem fuel components insuring that they
burn with the same efficiency as the rest of the
fuel. As a result, fuel burns cleaner and more
completely in an improved combustion process.”
“By facilitating more complete combustion, the
Fitch® Fuel Catalyst improves fuel economy and
increases power, while reducing emissions. The use
of the Fitch® Fuel Catalyst also results in cleaner
engine oil, reduced carbon buildup in the engine,
easier starting, reduced maintenance, and prolonged
engine life.”
Now I’m no chemical engineer, so I can’t comment on
whether the theory behind this thing is sound or
not. But that “increases power” claim (which is
backed up by dyno results on their web site) caught
my eye, and I do know how to run a dyno. So let’s
cut to the chase and see if I can substantiate at
least that claim.
To make the comparison fair, I bought five gallons
of hi-test at a local station and put it into 2 gas
cans, one with the Fitch device and one without. To
give the device ample opportunity to do it’s magic,
I waited a couple days. The mule (my Buell S1) was
flushed of all old gasoline and the un-Fitched fuel
was put in. After a thorough warm-up, dyno testing
commenced. The bike was tuned up, and once a solid,
repeatable result was obtained, all of the gasoline
was drained out and the Fitch equipped gasoline
poured in, along with the Fitch device. Testing
resumed, and after about an hour of pounding on the
S1, trying my damndest to find some justification
for the $50 I had parted with, I gave up.
Not only were the “best”
pulls in each configuration (shown) virtually
identical, but more importantly, the range of
results between the treated and untreated gasoline
was well within the repeatability of the
measurement.
Bottom line, while I can’t comment on all of the
claims made by the folks at Fitch, I can say that
with this bike on this day I couldn’t detect one
iota of difference in the power with or without the
Fitch device.
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