Fuel for 1987 328

I use 4* lrp,but faced with a choice I use optimax,not really sure if there is a benefit but as far as I am concerned the extra cost of either certainly gives me peace of mind.Enjoy the drive as for the weather it"s snowing here and I was supposed to be going to the dealer(Glenvarigill Edinburgh)to test drive a 355 F1 GTS guess thats now for the new year.
Hope everyone has a great new year.
Best regards
Dave McGuire

 

Hi,

Thought I'd throw in my tuppence worth....

In the abcense of any clear advice on this matter, I thought I'd go "belt and braces" as it were, so I use super unleaded (optimax, as it you can get it at all Shell stations), but I also add Castrol unleaded additive with octane boost. My car purrs like a kitten (or is that cub).

I considered LRP, but the octane rating is a tad on the low side, and, having been a "classic" car owner for most of my driving life, the general opinion on LRP there insufficient additive to protect anything but the stongest of valve seats.

Most valve/seat damage occurs over 3000RPM, so judicious use of the loud pedal to get to your cruising speed helps, but this may conflict with your motives for aquiring this type of car inthe first place!

Given the shocking costs of Fcar engine rebuilds, I thought every precaution I could take would be worth it......

Happy new year

Stig (BTW, I drive a 1981 308GTB)

 

Hi im going to agree with Stig on this one we have supplied lots of cutomers the castrol unleaded additive for there classic cars with no problems at all,during tappet service always go to the wider setting,
have a good new year all
cheers
Dale.

 

I used super u.l in my 328, then Optimax by preference; Optimax did very well in an EVO test- measurable increase in performance in modern engines, and actually made the cylinder heads cleaner.

That said, I have it on very good authority that 328s will run fine on normal unleaded.

Don't mix LRP fuels or additives; stick to one brand or problems can occur with mixing the different types of protective chemicals (not sure what, but read it somewhere)

 

You can get it at Halfords or from any decent motor factors.

If you can't get the Castrol stuff, you could try and find Millers VSP. It's a different formula but it does the octane boost as well. Just don't mix them; pick one, and stick with it.

Stig

 

I've got as piece of paper from Ferrari somewhere that confirms 328's as being perfectly OK with unleaded fuel, they don't have a knock sensor or a very sophisticated ECU so can't take advantage of performance fuels, however original spec was 4* which was 97 octane so SUL,Optimax would be best

 

Next time the castrol reps in i will price a box up for you,just to see how much a box of additive is you dont have to buy it ,dont think you will need that much anyway,can only buy castrol in bulk,and its a lot cheaper,will pm price to you, think they are in boxes of 24 but could be wrong,
cheers
Dale.
ps if you need anything castrol pm me with what you want can get good discounts boxed 4-5 litre contianers of oil,could bring it to one of the meetings and load your boot space if theres much room,

 

Hi thats what we keep in stock,castrol valvemaster plus, as Mark said if they have got hard valve seats you will be ok without this additive,
Mark's got the tech info on paper so id go with his post,it still wont do any damage to the engine for piece of mind to add it to the fuel though,
just add less than it says on the bottle,
cheers
Dale.

 

As the heads are Identical to the ones fitted to our colonial friends cars (who have been running unleaded since the early 70's) there really shouldnt be a problem (F-UK lists the same part numbers for inserts + heads for both markets)
I've been running Optimax in both my cars (and if on long journeys plain unleaded in the 400) with no problems.