AvGas in a Bug?

I think it is illegal in the US, from a tax point of view but I won't tell :)

People have done this sort of thing in 1/4 mile street racers, but it ruins o2 sensors and cat converters fast but that's obviously not a problem in bugs. Would the SP (pre unleaded) valve seats be able to take it, I wonder..

Hou have a good point - now you got me curious what others here think about it. :)

Remco

You would lose power.

Jan

Cessna

It won't be for long. The next time the FBO fills his tanks, it'll be back to at least $.25 a gallon more.

What is the recommended octane rating for air-cooled beetles my book indicates there was a label on the fuel door. We run AV gas in our Norton sidecar racer it is 100LL (100 octane low lead ) it has a high compression ratio. The airport has no problem selling it to me in 5 gallon cans and they do ask what it is going into. Glenn

Nothing magical will happen. Just curious - are you using the Blue or the Green stuff?

Cessna

BT, DT. Avgas runs really spectacular in an aircooled engine..better than any fuel you can get at a regular gas station pump.

Chris

I've been running 100 for years, with no problem, in the north, in the cold, etc., etc.

And no power difference, either.

------------------------------------------

Roger that.

-Bob Hoover

There shouldn't be any problem with taxes. We pay more in taxes for av fuels than car gas.

I've run 100LL in various engines and never had any problems, especially in aircooled. Cleans things out a bit too. I wouldn't run it straight for a long time, but 5 gallons per fill up or every other tankful shouldn't hurt.

If you want to be really cheap. Most FBO's have to sump their tanks and trucks regularly, usually daily. Give the line guys a few bucks and a 5 gallon can and they will probably give the stuff to you. Not supposed to run it through the filters twice.

We use the Blue Stuff.

AvGas 100LL (Low Lead) is blue (2.0 ml max. of lead per gallon). Standard 100 AvGas (3.0 ml lead) is green.

We normaly use a 98 octane fuel with lead aditive. Recomended for a "complete combustion" in stead of the 95 octane.

Only 2 sorts available in Holland (germany has also it's 91 octane without lead)

hth Roger

"Al Gilson" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

A stock T1 engine requires only 87 Octane..

J.

..................And there is absolutely no advantage to be gained by using a higher octane. My Berg 1679 actually runs a little hotter when I use 93 octane gas.

running the higher octane(when not needed) is in a sense retarding the timing...so it can run hotter...

Said it before, saying it again. You lose power. You should use the lowest octane that the engine can use, for best power.

There's nothing to be gained by using higher octane than what is needed, it does NOT give better power or better mileage. Higher octane gasoline burns slower, and doesn't ignite as easily as lower octane. Those are the main reasons it exists. High compression engines would need it, to slow down the burn and prevent self-ignition. Neither is an issue in a stock engine, and the slower rate of burn will only cause a reduction in power.

Jan

OK, that brings up a question regarding what octane the engine really needs. I have a new (2K) 1600cc engine and have been running the "mid-grade" fuel, which I believe is 89 octane, vs. 87 for "regular". If this is not good, then I will certainly switch down to the regular--it's just that I didn't know what grade the engine was designed to take. I remember Beetles in the

Bottom line - it doesn't HURT to run higher octane. It only hurts your wallet. The decrease in performence is marginal.

Stock beetle engines do not require "premium", but they used to require leaded fuel. In the last years when leaded gasoline was still available, it was only available in the high octane version. Lower octanes went unleaded first.

But in reality, VW beetle engines built after 1966 or so, do not need lead additive. You can use lead substitute additive if you want, and it won't hurt, but it's not required.

Go ahead and try 87, it should be fine. If there are lots of carbon deposits in teh combustion chamber, they may cause dieseling when you turn the engine off, or detonation/pre-ignition (you can't always hear it). Rule of thumb: if the engine tries to keep running at all after you turn it off, even one little sputter, you have glowing carbon deposits in teh chamber that ignite the gasoline that's still in there. Switch back to higher octane to eliminate this, and drive longer distances on the freeway to burn off the deposits.

Jan