Why is the highest Octane in California only 91?

Approximately 10/12/03 22:03, William Oliveri uttered for posterity:

No, but there just doesn't seem to be a market for Sunoco 260 or SuperShell 120 any more. It may be because nobody is running Kieth Black Ram/Hemi's on the street any more and the fuel management systems on modern cars can handle up to about 12:1 with the current brew.

There *may* be some technical issue with that high of an octane and the Kalifornia air resources board, but don't know of any.

It's easier to increase octane by adding lead, so we don't see any really high octane unleaded gasolines... Here in Houston, we have some stations that sell 91 octane whereas others sell 93 octane... I don't know of any of the production cars that need more than 91 octane although there might be a couple that do... If you need more than 93 octane, your choices are one of the octane booster formulations in a bottle that you can buy at the auto parts stores or if 100 octane is acceptable, you can buy it from your local airport... It's called 100LL (Low Lead), but in reality, it should be Lotta Lead since it had more lead in it that the old 80 octane leaded avgas... The really nice thing about 100LL is that if you get it on something, it evaporates and doesn't leave a gasoline smell to it... You'll pay anywhere from $2.00 to $3.50 per gallon for 100LL, depending upon the airport that you get it from...

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 13:26:44 GMT, the following appeared in rec.autos.makers.jeep+willys, posted by "Grumman-581" :

Don't get caught. In addition to the issue of illegal use of leaded gas in a vehicle designed for unleaded, there's also the minor issue of tax evasion, both state and Federal (since IIRC no road tax is collected on avgas). Sorta like using #2 fuel oil in your on-road diesel.

Catalytic converter? That's that thing that the straight pipes are supposed to be running to, right?

Right now, I'm running semi-straight-pipes... I've got a serious crack where the manifold connects to the exhaust pipe leading to the CC and it is quite noticeable... It's not possible to weld it in place since I can't get to the top of the pipe... The car is past time for its inspection sticker, but they won't pass it with the crack in the exhaust, so I just drive it with an expired inspection sticker... The shop wants too much to replace the header... I'm wondering if perhap I could put multiple layers of fiberglass around it and if perhaps it would be able to withstand the heat and vibration...Damned inconvenient place to work without removing a lot of other stuff...

My XJ runs quite well on 87 octane, so I've never needed to resort to 100LL in it...

You're talking about the 100LL airport tanker? I've never tried to fill a car with 100LL, but considering some of the people that I've seen working at the airport, I doubt that they would say anything... I usually run 93 unleaded in my plane instead of 100LL -- leaves less lead deposits in the engine, less plug fouling and such... The limiting factor for putting 100LL in a car directly would probably be the fact that the nozzle is quite a bit larger than would fit a car fill-up opening without some modifications... There are some airports that have self-serve tanks that you could avoid even having to deal with an FBO employee... As far as getting a reluctant FBO employee to fill some 5g cans for your use in a highway vehicle, you could just tell him that the fuel is for an ultralight aircraft that you fly out of an off-airport pasture / field...

Don't need it for my XJ -- 87 octane works just fine... As far as the tax evasion standpoint, you're paying taxes, they're just going into the aviation fund instead of the road fund... Avgas probably costs about as much to make as 93 octane, so the $2.00-$3.50 costs of it reflects a lot of taxes (in addition to not that much competition between the various FBOs)...

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 14:32:15 GMT, the following appeared in rec.autos.makers.jeep+willys, posted by "Grumman-581" :

All true, and all irrelevant. The tax law is what the gov says it is, and the excuse that you're paying aviation taxes won't mean a thing if you use it on-road. Check it out (use a pay phone if you're worried about being ID'd); the "nice" IRS people will tell you the same thing.

Not sure but I don't think Av-gas is taxed at the same rate as regular pump gas is. Buddy of mine tells me it might be hard to get Av-gas because of this.

Greg

I guess I should read the whole thread before I post... This is twice tonight...

Greg

towing right?? heh heh

Greg

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 15:09:44 -0700, the following appeared in rec.autos.makers.jeep+willys, posted by L.W.(ßill) Hughes III :

LOL! Yeah, you're probably right.

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 19:40:31 -0400, the following appeared in rec.autos.makers.jeep+willys, posted by "GMP News" :

Of course! I mean, why *else* would they buy them? ;-)