High Octane Gas
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 278
Likes: 14
High Octane Gas
I have a gas station close to me that sells 110 octane gas. I have a 69 BB 427/390. I wonder if I buy some of this gas at $7.35 a gallon will it be beneficial for performance? Or will harm my motor?
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,165
Likes: 24
From: Boston MA
That is what your car wants to run on...unless of course the compression ratio has been lowered and the timing has been retarded to run on 91/93...if that is the case, your car will like it, but you will need to do some tuning to get it to perform better.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
More octane will not increase your HP. You only need to run as much octane as needed to keep it from knocking. If you have detuned the car to run on lesser grade than yes the higher octane will help but yo ualso have to bring the tune with it. If the car is running fine on 93 and you did not detune it there will be no performance gain. It will smell better, I love the smell of race gas! 
Racer
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 308
Likes: 0
From: Salem MA
thats basically B.S. with stock fueling and timing a 427/390 runs great on 93. i run my 427 through 3 gears WOT all the time without issue.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 497
Likes: 0
From: Streator Illinois
If 93 octane isn't enough for your car, 100 octane low lead aviation gas may be a cheaper alternative than the Turbo Blue or whatever the 110 is. Most small airports (around here at least) will not let you pull your car up to the pump but will let you fill a can. I bought some a few days ago for my T-Bucket at $3.85 per gallon.
Terry
Terry
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,165
Likes: 24
From: Boston MA
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,545
Likes: 3
From: 406ci SB, AFR 180 Heads - 490 HP @5,600 RPM 529 lb-ft @ 4,100 RPM
Have my 490 hp engine tuned to run perfect on 87 octane, so as stated above higher octane gas is not really needed with the correct tuning. 
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
10 Revolutionary 'Corvette Firsts' Most People Don't Know
Joe Kucinski
5 Reasons to Upgrade to an LS6-Powered Corvette; 5 Reasons to Stay LT2
Michael S. Palmer
2027 Corvette vs The World: Every C8 vs Its Closest Competitor
Joe Kucinski
10 Most Common Corvette Problems of the Last 20 Years!
Joe Kucinski
5 MOST and 5 LEAST Popular Corvette Model Years in History!
Joe Kucinski
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 23,419
Likes: 22
From: In limbo
St. Jude Donor '13-'15, '17 thru '22
Who is "they"? I don't know who "they" is, but they sure seem to know a lot!
I run 93 from the pump at 10.25 compression and I have never heard my engine knock. If you are not knocking, you have no need for the race gas. If you are knocking, I would recommend reading the tuning papers here and following the procedures to properly tune your engine before spending big bucks on exotic fuels.
I run 93 from the pump at 10.25 compression and I have never heard my engine knock. If you are not knocking, you have no need for the race gas. If you are knocking, I would recommend reading the tuning papers here and following the procedures to properly tune your engine before spending big bucks on exotic fuels.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 703
Likes: 2
I have a friend who held the world record for a certain stock class of boat racing. He said higher octain gas burns slower so you will actually make more power with lower octain fuel, which burns faster, provided you dont detonate (spark knock)..
Racer
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 308
Likes: 0
From: Salem MA
