ANYONE USING 100 octane in there F car?

I put 100 octane in my 16m today - anyone else every try it? Any down sides i am not aware of?

Thanks
Frank

 

I put 100 in a couple times a year just to clean everything out. I'm told because the ECU is mapped for 91 octane there's no hp or performance gain. Maybe someone could confirm this?

 

No horsepower gain.
I've dynoed thousands of engines, and once the octane requirements are met for a particular engine, buying higher octane fuel is just a waste of money.
In fact, lower compression engines will have less horsepower running 112 octane racing fuel, than pump gas. I've seen the readings on the dyno. And yet, I still have people tell me "Yeah, I put some race gas in my lawn mower and man, did it run good."
WTF ever.

 

I'm assuming it's not avgas (LL) but unleaded race fuel. The ECU is the limiting factor on this.

 

I've run street (91)/race(100) gas, back-back on sequential track days in a CS and not noticed any difference between the two.

 

Thanks for the info - thats honestly what i thought - is there any truth to higher octanes cleaning out the system?

 

The ecu is mapped for 91 minimum octane, not optimum. 93 would be the octane needed for full performance (98 RON).
I mix some MS109 with 91 to bump it to 93 or so just to stay within optimum requirement. You would probably not feel a difference in power between the two but it is there.
Turbo engines on the other hand love high octane fuel especially if they are tuned for it, not the case with NA engines.

 

Not sure what difference is/if any between the U.S & Australia. I ran 100 octane in a Supra a year back on the dyno, and noticed a small if barely noticeable difference. But since Shell has stopped selling V Power racing (100 octane) the highest we can get is 98 now.

 

Some of my customers in Indonesia use racing fuel on their cars, or mix the high octane fuel with pump gas which is said to be 95RON (91AKI), they say there definitely a difference in performance yet the car is said to be programed by the factory to use the lower quality pump fuel available in that market, instead of 98RON (93AKI).

However after we tune any Ferrari ECU's its really recommended to use the higher octane fuel, some even use a full tank of 102 octane and that can get very very expensive, some 600USD to fill up an F430 tank.

 

Great info thread...

Cheers,

 

I ran it a few times at the hillclimb and while it didn't improve performance the motor ran *noticeably* cooler (About 20degs F IIRC)

Cheers,
Ian

 

In my CS i run a mix 25% of the 100 oct unleaded (you can get from some unocal stations) and balance prem unl...could be mental but i swear it seems faster....OH and the smell is much better from the warm up in the garage!!!

 

Not quite. It averages for 91-93 octance.

If you map it for 91 and you use 91 it will burn better and your fuel mileage will increase by 2-3 mpg's.

 

That's a pretty significant difference. Any truth that the car runs cleaner on 100 (cleans out the injectors)?

 

Singh AutoSport in Fremont, CA, does software tuning that's somewhat reasonable - $1,500.00 -$,2000.00.

He told me the biggest gain is the 91 octane optomization yielding the better fuel mileage and a bit better mid-range performance.

He is quite realistic in his evaluations as he stated Ferrari does a very good job of it. They just can't set for specific fuel ratings.

Have to ask him about cleaner running at 100 octane. I don't know.

I did pick up 93 octance (or so the attendant said it was) one day from a Union 76 in the San Juan Baptista area going to Concorso a few years ago and it made a noticeable difference but that's not normal.

 

I thought a good run on the highway cleans the system out.

 

Yes, its mapped for 91....but come on, we all know here in Cali the fuel is junk....even the 91. I'd never blow the $$ on a full tank of 100 but for days I was going to really lay the wood to it, I'd mix 25% or so for good measure. I'd bet w/Cali 91 pump under load you get detonation and it pulls timing and thus power...Now if you slap a couple of turbos on there....well that's a different story...you'll need to run 100 and have a very good bail bondsman....

 

I have never used it in a car but we ran it in our motocross bikes while racing. It didn't increase HP but it made engine run more efficiently so it FELT like it made more power.

 

a lot of times 100 octane fuel from pumps at least around my area is LEADED. You do not want that in your car regardless of how cool 100 octane may sound. Be careful...

 

What about bio-fuel? I know you can't just put it in and go but would that not make any difference?

 

I have tried using the 100 octane compared to 91. I was told that it lets the engine make more power by letting the ecu advance more timing etc.

 

no.

in a turbo car, if its tuned for race gas, itll help a bit. in your NA car, it will do nothing except cost you 2-3x/gallon

 

I thought the same!!!

If your car is tuned for lets say 91-93 octane fuel (which we know when we buy 91 in So. Cal...it is probably a bit less than 91) And your car is sensing a detonation issue...it will automatically retard the timing to protect itself...

So if you truly are putting in a higher Octane fuel wouldnt it stand to reason the ECU would adjust??

I know it wont adjust for 100 octane...but i would think it would adjust to its maximum setting of the 91-93 octane..whatever it is pre-rated for...

So too me, yes it would be a waste to use 100 octane straight...but too add it with some 91 premium seems to make sense..

 

Good Thread.

I recall just the other day when my collegues and myself were arguing on the best petrol for rides and the argument concluded
with contradicting informations of what's best...... I was a little bewildered over the fact that there's such an array of ideology
as to what makes a great fuel since we ARE working in the Petroleum Industry!

 

when i first bought my 360 last year, i used our pump gas which is 95 Ron (91 octane compared to USA), that's the highest we got, i had 24/7 knocking with that...
since my car was imported from Italy, i went to our local dealer and asked them if they can remap my ECU for our gas, they said it can't be, i believe they never done to anyone so they don't know what i meant even... i just didn't have time to search for it, and since i have 2 other cars to use, so i barely use the ferrari.. i decided to go with VP MS103 (99 octane) which i buy from performance shops, and been happy with it and feel that the car was mapped for that or maybe mapped for 95 octane...

anyone knows what does Italy F cars are mapped for? and anyone can give me Ferrari international e-mail address so i can ask them if they can help me explain to our dealer what i need and map the ECU for 91 octane?