100 Octane Gas for F430?

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Ok the rest of us...

I have heard in San Jose, CA there is a gas station that sells 100 octane gas. My questions are:

1. Will this damage my F430 engine or is it a good thing?

2. I don't want to drive all they way to SJ for gas, so a friend of mine is trying to hook me up with Chevron Airplane Gas at a local airport. Is this effectively 100 octane gas as well? Can I run it in my F430?

I have heard the benefits are:

1. Cleaner Engine (I had to start with that one)

2. More horsepower

3. Any others?


What are my cons? I don't want my F430 to catch on fire...

Thanks - F430XTC

 

The ECU will probably adjust but if your car is under warranty might it not be more sensible to use the fuel recommended in the manual (which probably also suggests tire pressures) ?

 

100 octane in your ferrari will do fine. the ECU will add timing to adjust to fuel with high knock index(octane).. btw, just make sure you use unleaded because lead or anything added to fuel that has metal in it will DESTROY your exhaust cats.. (stay away from airplane fuel, it usually has lead in it.. if you want the highest octane fuel, check out www.vpracingfuels.com . they make 109 unleaded race fuel..) good luck!

p.s. one more thing, VP has a gas station near DAVIS st, in sanleandro. they sell 93 and 100 from the pump! cant beat that. hehehe... peace

 

Avgas is also labelled 100LL, for Low Lead. This means that contrary to earlier mixtures, it now "only" contains four times the lead that the old leaded automotive fuels carried!!!

=> An absolute NO NO for your car. Even without taking the utterly destroyed cats into account, the lead deposit that will build up inside your engine will contaminate your oil (synthetic oil and lead don't go well together), will foul your spark plugs and will eventually cause your valves to stick (with predictable results).

I've run avgas in a Subaru engine on my plane for about 6 hours prior to an engine teardown. You wouldn't believe the grey coat of lead that has built up inside the engine.

AVGAS is meant for the agricultural engines that power aircraft. DON'T EVER use it in your 430!!!

Hans

 

No need to drive to SJ. Just go to ERC in San Leandro , they have 100 out of the pump.

 

O/T.

I think I saw you about 3 weeks ago. You were going West on Crow Canyon going to make a left on Doughrty. I was in the red tan 355 with my wife. The sound of that 430 was sweet!

If that was you, is that the stock exhaust?

 

In North Carolina you can get 99 octane racing fuel at most Sunoco's. It's the same stuff the NASCAR guys use. It has a special red pump. It's a classic.

Somewhere there is a thread about the octane conversion from the way they calculate the rating in Italy versus the US. From what I remember the recommended worked out to 97 by the US calculation.

 

100 octane street gas is fine, and runs great on the motor. But stay away from airplane fuel.
I get 101 octane at my local 76, and many other stations have similar blends. I also keep drums of VP 110.

 

You have to have a "need" for 100 octane. My non-F car comes from the factory with 11:1 compression and can "make do" with California's 91 octane piss water. The engine would be happier with the East Coast's 93 octane.

Your F car was sent out into the world by the factory tuned to burn the crap that comes from most gas pumps. Unless you are running a lot more advance and compression than the factory specs, 100 octane ($8.50 per gallon at the pump on the corner of Pico Blvd. and Barrington Ave. in West Los Angeles) is a waste.

Scott

 

Exactly what I was going to say. The computer will only retard timing to avoid knock. It doesn't advance it past the base table if there is no knock to begin with. The only benefit would be if the computer was constantly retarding timing because of knock caused by the 91 octane fuel (highly unlikely since the timing table was set up to work with 91 octane fuel originally.)

 

Great email. Thanks for the detailed information.

 

Thanks for your response. I will find that gas station. Nice pics of the 355. The 430 is stock exhaust. It sounded good because I always rev it past 4K to open up all four. i like the back and forth sound from 2 to 4 exhaust. It makes it hard to turn on the radio or play a CD because I rather listen to the engine.

 

really? f360/f430 base timing table is set to only 91 octane? thats very odd because even my "common" 2006 BMW m3 has 11.5 compression, 8000rpm red line, and stock timing adjustment up to 96 "motor" octane. oh well.. i'm still looking forward to purchasing my first ferrari in a few months.. peace

 

the gas is located at W. juana ave and Hayes street.. very near the bart station, and Right behind the local Safeway store..


richard's automotive services/VP GAS
1495 Hayes St
San Leandro, CA 94577
(510) 483-4318


good luck!


p.s. as with most carswith ECU's that adjust timing, cam-over lap, fuel trim, etc takes time to adjust to fuel.. when the ECU detects knock it immediately retards timing a few degrees and slowly advance timing to find the equalibrium.. it usually takes 200 or so miles of driving to allow the car's ECU to adapt to the new fuel. so, when you get some of that STREETBLAZE 100 fuel in your ferrari, dont expect much change right away.. expect change near the end of your first tank and after..

let us know how you like it.. you will gain some responsiveness and might gain some milage too..(not that you are worried about it)

 

If your M3 is really tuned for 96 octane, you would think it would be way down on power with 91. The computer would be constantly batting timing down and then slowly trying to come back to its base table. Unless the base table itself gets adjusted after a while. I don't know how newer computers work. I know they adjust the fuel table long term so maybe they do that with the timing table too. I'm interested to see if that 100 octane makes an actual difference now.

 

indeed.. 96 octane makes the BMW m3 engine more responsive and more efficient. gas milage goes a up a little, too.. i have not dynoed with 96 octane so, i dont have numbers to see the ACTUAL difference in power.. i've been told e46 M3 ECU advances timing 2 degrees on non-oxygenated 96 octane fuel vs oxygenated 91 fuel.. m3 fuel trims will compensate from 87 octane to 96 octane. (its bmw's way to protect the engine from the idiots.) there is a difference you can feel, but its not earth shattering tho..


when i get my 360 i'll do some dynos with different fuels, unless someone beats me to the punch..

peace!

 

Why don't you just simply try it out. I have. I have put 100 octane unleaded race gas in my E46 M3 and also the Ferrari F430. I usually mix it with the 91 that we have in CA. I don't do it that often but once in a while I'll put some in.

My E46 M3 is a 2001 year model. Back then CA still had 92 octane gas for Premium. Other parts of the country and even out of the country had or still has higher octane ratings. My feeling is that these higher compression cars run best at aroun 93 or 94 octane.

In addition, Race Gas is a better quality type fuel which burns better than regular gas.

I usually put about 5 gallons worth in the M3 and a bit more in the Ferrari since the gas tank is bigger.

Now...will I say it makes a big difference? The answer is no but I do feel a difference. Here is how I know. When I have the race gas mixed in I can get bigger 3rd gear chirps in the M3 under same weather conditions. I have raced another M3 and my car starts to pull over his in the upper rpm range.

Same with the Ferrari. When I first put it in and stomped on it (I usually leave it in sport mode) I noticed the traction control kicking in more so which was kind of telling me that more wheel spin was occuring. Pulls harder too.

I can only share with you my experiences with it.

 

For San Jose area F-Chatters, the Union 76 station at Almaden Expressway and Foxworthy Ave. has 100 octane.

 

One difference I know of: Racing fuels typically lack the corrosion inhibitor additives that plain old pump gas has. This can lead to accelerated internal corrosion over time, particularly if the engine is not run regularly. This is not really an issue in race engines because of the frequency of rebuilds.

 

Thanks for the address and setting my expectations.

 

Makes sense.

 

Wow I cannot wait to try 100 Octane!

 

that is true of most race gas. StreetBlaze 100 and ms109 fuels are tech advanced fuels over most other types of race fuel(like: C10 unleaded and C16 leaded). these fuels have to be meet certain standards to be sold at the pump in the state of california, unless it is at the track like SearsPoint.

from the website.. www.vpracingfuels.com

"Oxygenated with ethanol, this CARB-legal fuel is specifically engineered for high-performance street cars including sport compacts, muscle cars, street rods and more. It's environmentally friendly and street legal throughout the U.S. In applications with anything from 4- to 12-cyclinders or engines equipped with a turbocharger, supercharger or nitrous oxide system (NOS), StreetBlaze 100 will generate optimum power and performance. In turbocharged or supercharged applications, it allows an increase in boost without fear of detonation. NOS users can also leverage their higher octane ratings to step up to a more powerful nitrous oxide system. Dyno tests with a turbocharged application proved StreetBlaze100 generates up to 14% more horsepower compared to premium grade 91 octane unleaded gasoline. Designed for use in cast-iron head engines with CRs up to 13:1 and aluminum head engines up to 14:1. Works well on the latest generation of electronically-controlled turbo engines. Contains no metal compounds and won't harm catalytic converters or oxygen sensors."

• Color: Orange
• Oxygenated: Yes
• Motor Octane: 96
• R+M/2: 100
• Specific Gravity: .746 at 60° F

peace

 

dont worry about it. if you buy the gas at the gas station using the pump it has all the protections needed to be sold in this state.. why do you think we use to pay more for gas in this state? it has to do with meeting certain qualities which make gas sold at every station the same, minus certain additives from station to station and refineries.

good luck to you.. i look forward to seeing what you think about it.. peace

 

From a hybrid owner, tell Rick you got recommened by me. He'll probably fill your ears with comments.

Art