I doubt if anyone is testing the octane rating any more and with the
computers controlling everything on a car nowdays it may not be necessary if
the rating is off a point or two.
That being said, In the mid 50's while in high school I worked for Western
Union as a messenger and one of our services was "Purchase Pack and Ship" A
major nationwide customer was the Ethyl Corp. We would buy a gallon of gas
periodically randomly and ship it back to them via Railway Express (remember
them) where they would test it to see if the quantity of tetraethyl lead was
proper. If not, they would go after the refinery.
John Sims, BN6
Aberdeen, NJ
http://www.healey6.com
-----Original Message-----
From: healeys-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:healeys-bounces at
autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Bob Spidell
Sent: Sunday, May 01, 2011 8:40 AM
To: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Stainless Steel Fuel Tank for Big Healeys
My Mustang will run on anything from 87-octane on up. The specs say I get
10ft-lbs more torque in the midrange if I run 91-octane or higher. It's
pretty subjective--you'd have to put it on a dyno to be sure--but there is a
slight, occasional hesitation when I punch it with the low-test. It seems
to run a tad smoother on the high-test, too. I've mixed 93, 95 and 100
octane fuel in and didn't notice much difference (you'd need to raise the CR
to get any gain from higher octane, I suspect). Again, totally subjective.
I don't know about Europe, but I believe there is a difference in octane
ratings. The refiners know what they're making, and unless there's a
screwup you should be getting what the pump says (some brands only put their
'special'
additives in their premium). The Bureau of Weights and Measures checks the
volumes the pumps dispense (I used to work there). There should be a
sticker on every pump showing the last time it was checked. I don't know
who checks the fuel octane--probably the refiner; I think that's a fairly
complex test--so some may cheat, though. Would make an interesting
'investigative reporting' episode.
What do you think of 'Top Tier' fuel?
Bob
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