Hello all, Thought I posted this a while ago... but guess not. First off, long time Ferrari enthusiast... mostly due to my father's passion for all racing a cars in general, particularly F1. The old man finally took delivery of his F430 and he's loving every minute of it. What worries me is the questionable octane of our local fuel (95RON) which I have assumed to be 90-91 PON at best (pump octane as in US pump rating). I know we will need to get the injectors cleaned regularly... but aside from that... what type of performance mishaps might we expect running a lower octane fuel ? Still getting used to the car's sound to listen to the engine, but my high compression 4 cylinder motor and even my station wagon ping sometimes on this 'premium gas'. Will the CPU compensate enough with timing to avoid any issues ? I will look into purchasing a barrel of VP unleaded... but in the mean time... should we worry ? Would a can of Amsoil (or other brand) octane booster help protect anything at all ? BTW... having a Ferrari in the family really is awe inspiring.
Lower octane fuel is not dirtier, it simply detonates easier. It will not make a difference as far as injector cleaning intervals. Where do you live? Premium gasoline is available pretty much anywhere, and should be used.
I live in Trinidad, the last island in the Caribbean. I know for the fact that the fuel is not the cleanest....at least twice a year I have to flush the injectors on my modified N/A honda civic (don't laugh... it's my autocross bish).... and that car is driven MAYBE 100 miles a month. The fuel is definitely lower octane than most of you assume.... about 90 octane (R+M)/2 and it pings in the honda even at stock ignition timing settings. Judging byt he complaints I hear from performance enthusiasts in California, I can only assume that closest octane level and power potential in their gas at 91. I do not live in a high altitude area either. The car seems to perform well here... but not having driven an F430 on 91+ octane before, I cannot tell if the CPU is killing the party. I am tempted to try an octane booster but I have no idea how it may react as I'm not yet familiar with the S-F computers.
All I can say is that I've been using 91 octane on my F430 and so far all is fine. I don't hear any pinging. Of course I do not know if I am getting full performance out of the car though. If there were issues with 91 octane for the F430...I'm sure you would have read something on here already. I haven't seen anything. Also...just because your Civic pings doesn't mean there will be an issue with the F430. The F430 and all modern cars have knock sensors in them. Since your Civic is modified it's possible that's why it is pinging. Doesn't necessarily matter that the timing ignition is set at the stock setting. Older engines too have a tendency to ping more also. If you're still concerned...instead of adding octane booster I would try and find a fuel station that carried 100 octane unleaded gas and try mixing it with the 91 octane and see if it runs better.
The civic has a powerplant with a very efficient head design and a knock board and sensor.... once pinging begins, it runs alternate timing maps with a small corresponding loss in power. I have run it on US 92 octane when I had it in Florida... no pinging at all. I am assuming this computer does it the same... probably better. 100 octane is not available unless we ship in a barrel... which is the next step.
If the electronics are the same or similar to US models, shouldn't be a problem. All cars sold in the US are required to run on the cheap stuff. What most manufacturers do is to set a knock detector, and if you run the cheap stuff, changes the timing, and you're ok, but the motor makes less power. Unless you drive full throttle all the time, you'll probably never notice the difference. Art
basically what I was hoping to hear. I look forward to trying out some 100+ unleaded some time in the future to feel if there is a noticeable difference.
