LA area - highest octane gas readily available or special?

[turbolou]

Re: Re: Re: Re: LA area - highest octane gas readily available or special?

Originally posted by TRBON8R
The downside is that you will never make as much power on alcohol and 91 octane as you will on race fuel. With no ill effects I run a Max Effort chip on the street with 23 psi and 26 degrees timing on 114 octane with no knock. Now that is fun. I could probably run 25 psi if I really wanted to push things.

I challenge anyone to try and run that kind of boost and timing on alcohol and pump junk. Alcohol and 91 octane is only around the equivalent of 100 octane,......not exactly race fuel by any measure. Like I said before if it's a daily driven car where you have to get some mileage then I can understand the alcohol angle.

I think that the point here is 99% of street driven Buicks never see 25# boost especially on a production motor. Therefore it makes better sense to run an alky injector. Now if you prefer spending $5.00 + a gallon for racing fuel & the hassel that goes with it. That doesn't necessarily make you a bad person.

 

[TRBON8R]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: LA area - highest octane gas readily available or special?

Originally posted by turbolou
I think that the point here is 99% of street driven Buicks never see 25# boost especially on a production motor. Therefore it makes better sense to run an alky injector. Now if you prefer spending $5.00 + a gallon for racing fuel & the hassel that goes with it. That doesn't necessarily make you a bad person.

Lou I think we mostly agree here. As I said if my car was driven a couple hundred miles a week it would be a different story since I sure as hell wouldn't want to fill up once a week with $5 a gallon gas. Under those circumstances I'd definitely do alky. However for a weekend play car which in my case might see at most 300 miles a month I prefer race fuel. If we can afford $6000 motors, $1000 turbos, $2000 heads, $2000+ transmissions, we ought to be able to afford the best fuel to protect our investment. Not to mention with race fuel not only can I run more boost and get better performance, but there is one less variable involved in tuning than there is with alcohol. I know you've worked on enough of these cars to know that we have our hands full as it is with tuning these Buicks! I know no one here has said it, but I see a lot of posts on this board where people seem to think that alky is a substitute for race fuel and it just isn't the case.

 

[turbolou]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: LA area - highest octane gas readily available or special?

Originally posted by TRBON8R
Lou I think we mostly agree here. As I said if my car was driven a couple hundred miles a week it would be a different story since I sure as hell wouldn't want to fill up once a week with $5 a gallon gas. Under those circumstances I'd definitely do alky. However for a weekend play car which in my case might see at most 300 miles a month I prefer race fuel. If we can afford $6000 motors, $1000 turbos, $2000 heads, $2000+ transmissions, we ought to be able to afford the best fuel to protect our investment. Not to mention with race fuel not only can I run more boost and get better performance, but there is one less variable involved in tuning than there is with alcohol. I know you've worked on enough of these cars to know that we have our hands full as it is with tuning these Buicks! I know no one here has said it, but I see a lot of posts on this board where people seem to think that alky is a substitute for race fuel and it just isn't the case.

In your case of course your right. But in mine . I try to recommend whats best for the average
person. With the alky injector I'm able put some perf back into the car. any way I'll give you the last word. Regards Lou

 

[TRBON8R]

Lou I wasn't looking for the last word. Even those of us here in the area that have chosen a different path understand that you know what you are doing with these cars and respect your knowledge.

 

[turbolou]

reply

Originally posted by TRBON8R
Lou I wasn't looking for the last word. Even those of us here in the area that have chosen a different path understand that you know what you are doing with these cars and respect your knowledge.

Thanks Ben! Just busting your chops a little. Anyone who's familiar with me knows that's one of my favorite pastimes. Probably a side effect from breathing in all that C-16 from when I used to race. LOL

 

[TRBON8R]

My chops are so ugly and old they are hardly worth even working up the sweat to bust anymore....