A1 conversion to 86 octane

As you are all aware the price of fuel has increased! I am driving Rabbits

83 & 84 that require at least 89 octane minimum. Is there anyway to modify the A1 engines to run on regular.

Ty for your anticipated responses.

Reply to
Michael
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I drive a '84 GLI and use regular (85 octane at this altitude of 5400 feet). My thinking is that regular is OK regardless of the octane rating because it changes with your altitude.

Reply to
DWebber711

Put in a lower compression engine with a knock sensor. The reason for the higher octane requirement is due to the two above factors....

Reply to
Biz

Lol I use fuel with an 98 octane level

I probably should mention I live in Europe

I believe the engine type JH should be able to use 86 octane...

Roy

Reply to
-= Roy =-

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

I have an 83 Audi with an 83 VW GTi engine installed in it. It has been running great running regular fuel. I have owned it since 1991 and over 140K miles added to the original 85K miles it had when I bought it. I installed that engine (with same mileage) when I bought this Audi

later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris

Reply to
dave

If it pings, then just back the timing back a few degrees.

Reply to
Woodchuck

Octane ratings are not the same across the globe, octane can be measured (represented) a number of ways.

To simplify things, what is the normal range of octane available at the pump where you are?

btw- Installing a low compression motor means you won't need a knock sensor.

TBerk

Reply to
T

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

hmmm did we forget about those Rabbit diesel engines?

later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris

Reply to
dave

23:1, I believe, maybe 24:1. But then, there's only one grade of diesel fuel(alright, two, but ones mainly for colder climates).
Reply to
Johann Koenig

I guess the question is this. Who the heck cares to run low octane in an engine that would have cetane speced? Ok, since the question was about octane I guess the correct comment for nitpickers is that all US spec Rabbit gasoline engines were rather low compression.

snipped-for-privacy@aol.comANTISPAM (dave) wrote:

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

83 and 84 Rabbits came with engines that only required "Regular" gas. The manual specifies a minimum requirement for 91 RON or 87 AKI (RON+MON/2).

You should be able to run with "Regular" gas. If it pings with regular, try backing the timing off a bit. If it still pings with the timing backed off, then you might have a bad case of carbon buildup on the piston crowns and combustion chamber surfaces. That could boost compression and increase the octane required by the engine to run without pinging. Milling the head to repair warpage from a blown head gasket and/or overheating damage would also boost compression and increase fuel octane requirements.

But if your engine is stock, you should be able to run "regular" gas without any problems.

-- Racer X

1984 VW Jetta Diesel GT 1992 Mazda Miata 1994 Caravan (OK, maybe it's a keeper, but I still want a VW Caddy) 1995 Ford Escort (Hey, it was free) 1983 VW Rabbit GTI (ITB racer) 1988 Mazda RX-7 (Soon to be ITS racer) 1992 GMC Topkick (portable garage for racecar[s])
Reply to
Racer X

Yeah, So?

TBerk

Reply to
T

RON, AKI, and MON?

Does anyone know what is displayed on the pump? RON or AKI?

Is different in different countrys?

Will, 89 8v Jetta

Reply to
Will

Sorry, should I have done my research first. Looks like the pump is labeled with AKI.

The anti-knock pr> Racer X wrote:

Reply to
Will

(M+R)/2 in the US which is AKI per

formatting link

Yes.

Per

formatting link
: In Europethe advertised octane number of fuel is RON (Research OctaneNumber), in North America it is the AKI (Anti Knock Index).

Reply to
Tom's VR6

So all this and it seems to have comes down to the original poster, who has long since left this thread, was wrong about the fuel required for his cars in the 1st place....

Reply to
Biz

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

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