[Healeys] Fuel (was: tuning and timing)

[Bob Spidell]

re: "With the poor quality of todays fuel ..."

What quality issues are we having with today's fuel?  Many modern cars--'family' sedans, even--will do 150MPH and 0-60 
in six seconds or less on 'pump' gas.  I just put 3,773 miles on my BJ8 over 6 states on pump gas--granted, my car is 
not high-compression; nominal at best--with no fuel-related issue.  I generally buy the 'name' brands--Chevron, Shell, 
etc.--but will buy no-name gas if necessary.

AFAIK, the octane-rating tests--motor ('M') and research ('R'); the US uses the average of the two--haven't changed in 
decades, if ever, so today's 91-octane gas has the same anti-detonation quality as 91-octane gas from 1950.  Many, if 
not all, gas stations have had to replace their underground tanks to prevent leakage into the environment; the 
side-effect being there shouldn't be much 50-year-old crud and water sitting on the bottom.  It's only anecdotal, but I 
put pump gas--probably containing ethanol--into an unlined steel can for my lawnmower and have had it sit for 3 years or 
more with no visible deterioration of the can or the gas (and the mower still runs fine on it).

Not heckling here; I'd just like to know what fuel quality-related issues people are having--I haven't heard of any (the 
carping about alcohol is another issue--I'm not a fan of the fuel or the political policy, but I haven't had any trouble 
with it).  Now, if the issue is 95-octane ((R+M)/2) gas isn't available at the pump any more; well that's not a quality 
but a supply&demand or maybe a cost issue (you can get 100-octane avgas at some stations in the southwest if you're 
willing to pay $6+/gal).

Bob


On 6/5/2013 11:48 PM, Derek Job wrote:
> John
>
> With the poor quality of todays fuel I think that 35 degrees advance is too
> much for a road car. To answer one of your questions, that would be the
> total advance when the mechanical advance is fully operational. The vacuum
> advance is a fuel economy measure and only operates when the throttle is
> slightly open.
>
> Derek
>
>
>

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Bob Spidell           San Jose, CA            bspidell at comcast.net

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