I gather from various bits of advice that I should not use low-octane fuel in my bus w/ type 1 engine. Words like "no lower than 96 octane" were offered. However, at the gas stations here in San Diego, 91 is the highest octane offered. Is this a SoCal thing? Do you have higher octane available in your area? If so, in what mystical land do you live?
We get 93 here, BUT there's a twist. Up here in the Winterlands, the gasoline changes formula during the winter. We really don't know _what_ we are getting because the companies don't have to disclose it.
Yeah same up here in the "Great White North". I *assume* that in the winter they add methyl hydrate or something similar as a gasline antifreeze. The highest octane we can get is 92 IIRC. When we were in Portugal their lowest octane was 96 and went UP from there. They must have a different way of figuring it out in Portugal/Europe/U.K.? C'mon Jan, Ant, James, etc. fill us in.
Cheers,
there are two ways of figuring out octane, RON and MON. almost everybody else uses RON. You use RON + MON /2... so your 91 is more or less the rest of the worlds 97... lowest down here is 93, like your regular..
One way to add octane cheap - add diesel fuel to the gas. Not a lot. Sure does bring down the flash point, and has a lot more energy.
......................Here in NY, Exxon & Mobil have 93 octane. I think that Sunoco sells 94 or 95 but I'm not sure.
I found this little bit on line:
"How to make your own octane booster (this is the basic formula of one of the popular octane booster products). To make eight 16 ounce bottles (128 oz = 1 gal):
100 oz of toluene for octane boost 25 oz of mineral spirits (cleaning agent) 3 oz of transmission fluid (lubricating agent)This product is advertised as "octane booster with cleaning agent *and* lubricating agent!". Diesel fuel or kerosene can be substituted for mineral spirits and light turbine oil can be substituted for transmission fluid. Color can be added with petroleum dyes.
Don't know how accurate it is, but it's worth a try. You can get Toluene at your local paint supply store.
Neil
Tops in Seattle area (normal gas stations) is 92. As Eduardo says, however, there are different methods used in different areas for measuring octane. That is why someone will say you should use no lower than 96 (RON method) and somebody else (from the U.S.) says no lower than 91 octane (RON + MON /2 = U.S. measurement) and they are talking about roughly the same thing. I have witnessed significant difference in heat produced by
87 octane vs. the 92 octane I normally use. In the bus, it's so far back to the engine and the stereo is so loud... I cooked a set of heads thanks to somebody's stupid mistake (not me this time!) as I drove just as hard as I normally would. This prompted the addition of a 4 cylinder head-temp gauge, a new sticker at the gas filler that says, "92 octane minimum," (in Oregon, the attendant must pump the gas) and I started hauling a couple bottles of octane booster with me just in case. I used to run 115 Av-Gas in my racing motorcycles - and chainsaw! The chainsaw saw the most significant improvement in my opinion, but it had hogged out intake and exhaust ports, altered port timing, oversize carb and reedvalve, opened up muffler... One hot woodcutter!low-octane
96 octane"Diego, 91 is the
higher octane
you live?
Forgive -- I'm confused. Are you saying that down here in the Lower 48, our 91 is like 97 elsewhere? Because when you say, "lowest down here is
93, like your regular," what does that mean? That the lowest octane you can buy in the Lower 48 is like 93 octane elsewhere?
Squirrelman, Eduardo is in Chile....so he really is "down" there....LOL
------------------- Chris Perdue
*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"99 octane here with lead substitute :) It's disappearing fast though, then we''ll be stuck with 95 and 98 unleaded.
But, we count octanes differently. There are 2-3 different octane rating formulas used around the globe. The US formula produces lower numbers. Your 91 probably goes between our 95 and 98.
Jan (Northern Europe)
OH and one chain sells 100-102 octane racing gasoline! (Pricey, only sold to consumers over the counter in 20 liter cans)
Jan
If you keep the RPM above 6K, you don't really have to worry about marginal octane. :) Kinda hell at idle, but...
Designer gas? They sell racing gas here. Used to be from the pump, but now they drive in a tanker and leave it there all summer. I forget the octane. It has an interesting smell. $3.75 a gallon last year.
This stuff has no color, smells different, and makes your hands all dry and white if you let it touch bare skin. I mean super dry.
Jan
I used a petrol-free degreaser that was similar. It desicated your hands and make them feel very cold even when they were not. I swear it also leached out lipids. Very, very bad stuff. I quit using it.
sounds like 110 octane "cam2" to me....man i love the smell of that stuff...reminds me of the racing days....
------------------- Chris Perdue
*All opinions are those of the author of this post* "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug"Isn't a hoot when you see some wannabe swear that his ricer runs faster on "racing gas"or premium.LOL Steve
Hi,Rocky.There must be a different way of figuring octane in CA.I know that SoCal is the land of BMWs and they only reccomend 94 I think.Any way,the grade between regular and premium should be safe.I forgot how many ways different countrys measure octane.Steve
hehehehehe
yes and the look on their faces when you tell that the higher octane stuff actually combusts WORSE than the low octane "dishwater"....
But hey, if the engine was built and tuned for high octane and the poor broke student insists on driving it with low octane crap... then yes the higher octane would yield better performance.
Jan
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