[Healeys] Fuel (was: tuning and timing)

[Bob Spidell]

re: "I run Shell V-Power 99 octane." 

'poor quality' fuel? 

Bob 


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Bob Spidell - San Jose, CA 

----- Original Message -----




You can call it whatever you want but it is too low octane for our cars and lower than they were designed for so the shop manual guidelines are not directly applicable. I run Shell V-Power 99 octane. 

BTW most octane boosters do not increase the octane content by the amounts claimed. 

Derek 



On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Bob Spidell < bspidell at comcast.net > wrote: 


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: 

<blockquote>
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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