Is 87 octane adequate?

Locally, we have a choice of 87 Octane without ethanol or 92 Octane with ethanol (the ethanol free is more expensive).

Has anybody run 87 Octane with acceptable results?
Is it worth considering?

Cheers,
Vincenzo

 

Sorry but I have to ask - did you buy a car with a flat 12 and bespoke bodywork because of low running costs??? Dude, buy the highest octane purest fuel you can. Don't buy Ferrari keyrings or car covers to save on costs

 

I don’t think OP is trying to save money but using gas with no ethanol. Like the gas available when the car was new


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Can you obtain an octane booster additive locally?
My preference would be no ethanol and raise the 87 octane to 98+ separately.
In the UK we can still buy a tetraethyl lead additive.

When I add booster to our 98 octane pump fuel I do notice a difference.

 

yo... can you read?

Try again... “ethanol free is more expensive”.

Cheers,
Vincenzo

 

Good idea - but not lead. The cats will crater with lead. I’ll need to do some research.
Thanks!
Vincenzo

 

Most of the time it is the premium fuel that is ethanol free, you are lucky to find the regular pure gas. The compression ratio at about 9 : 1 is not that high, and the fuel injection system is modern enough to adjust to various fuel qualities. I think the fuel octane for the car is recommended at RON91 which would be 87 in North America.

 

I've never had trouble with using 87 AKI fuel (although sometimes I'll buy some 89 AKI just in the hope that it has a better additive/cleaner package), and it meets the required OM specification (OM = 91 RON minimum = about 86 AKI minimum).

Discussions here can get a little mixed up because Europe uses RON octane ratings and the US uses AKI octane ratings.

 

sometimes I get fuel from a friend who is working at the airport. leaded fuel but over 105 octane ( so he told me ) and in my BB I can adjust the ignition more 5 ° more before TDC and I feel the power increasement without knocking. even at low rpm and full acceleration. this I can not do with 95 octane. have then to put the ignition back to original timing.

 

Are octane boosters just ‘snake oil’?
Has anybody seen actual test results? Not HP tests.... but actual before and after octane tests of the fuel???????

In my ‘94 truck, with a low reving 460CID engine, it is easy to hear pre-ignition. Even slight pre-ignition.
In a high reving engine that stays in each gear for only moments, it can be very difficult to hear low level pre-ignition.... but the damage still occurs. Is there an aftermarket instrumentation solution to detect pre-ignition?

Cheers,
Vincenzo

 

87 octane would only be acceptable at high altitude.

I would 100% stay with the 92 octane with ethanol.

 

depends on what car, and what condition your hoses and gaskets are in.

my first reaction is go for the higher octane, since that is much more of a problem.
but, if your hoses and gaskets are old, you will need to replace them soon - and put in ethanol resistant ones.

 

https://www.musclecardiy.com/performance/exhaust-system-component-design-flow-and-function/

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I know my 85 308 QV manual specifies 91 RON = 87 AKI. Using higher octave is a mixed bag. On one side, higher octane fuels may have better additives and therefore help keep the fuel system cleaner. The down side is that unless the timing can be adjusted (advanced) when running higher octanes you may actually loose a little power, particularly at higher RPM, because higher octane fuel burn slower and combustion will not be completed if the timing remains set got lower octane fuel.

 

btw, on this subject, i highly recommend using shell nitro power ultra.

 

problem with those aftermarket knock sensors is, that every engine has its own frequency and so it is hard to adjust the electronic right without destroying an engine

have a look here:

http://www.superstreetonline.com/how-to/engine/0703-turp-knock-sensor-monitor/
http://www.matrixgarage.com/products/knocklink-g4-knock-light

have no experience with those, but I think it would be worth to try?

 

Things were much easier when I was a kid.

Back then, a set of Webers were complex, high tech and exotic.

These days, the systems in the TR are considered ‘basic’.

Too bad my budget wont’ allow a Daytona in the garage.....

Thanks to everybody for their input!

Cheers,
Vincenzo

 

Fwiw, all gasoline, pump or race fuel have very similar burn rates. Octane and burn rate are 2 unrelated characteristics of a fuel.

Higher octane is higher resistance to auto ignition and detonation, not slower burning. Still there is some variance and some of the fastest burning fuels are race fuel (would be a problem to achieve complete combustion on nearly 20k rpm F1 cars with slow burning fuel).

That being said, you can realize a power loss in a mild combination that does not require -race- fuel as some race fuel has a lower energy value (btu/lb) than pump gas at the same stoich value.

Shouldn't be a power loss from 87 to 93 but agreed it may not make -more- power if timing was optimized on 87.

 

https://find93.com/octane-mixture-calculator

Very cool tool for octane raising.

 

this calculator is not working
try to change some and is always shows the same: 95/84/15
so what is cool then on this?