Regular Or Premium??
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 771
Likes: 0
From: Washington District of Columbia
Regular Or Premium??
I just "Googled" — "best rated gas for Corvettes" — and saw a lot of info
saying there's not much difference in REGULAR and PREMIUM gasoline.
Is this a fact? Wouldn't the higher OCTANE in the PREMIUM be better
for these "muscle" cars? WHAT DO YOU USE?
saying there's not much difference in REGULAR and PREMIUM gasoline.
Is this a fact? Wouldn't the higher OCTANE in the PREMIUM be better
for these "muscle" cars? WHAT DO YOU USE?
Pro
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 584
Likes: 1
From: Near Lockport NY Black 1986 Coupe
Looks like another one of those "regular vs. premium" threads.
Stock L98s with 9.5:1 compression will run great on 87, 10:1 run well on 89. LT1s will run fine on 87 but, because of the higher compression, will run better on 89 or 91 so the ECU will not retard the timing. Now, all of this is according to stock setup and ECU. If you altered the heads, block, added nitrous or other forced induction to raise the compression, you will need to run higher octane fuel according to what the maximum compression is.
Octane is only a measure of resistance to spark knock, nothing more. It will not "add power", only give you optimum performance that the motor already makes. The ECU is what controls the timing and, therefore, the "power".
Stock L98s with 9.5:1 compression will run great on 87, 10:1 run well on 89. LT1s will run fine on 87 but, because of the higher compression, will run better on 89 or 91 so the ECU will not retard the timing. Now, all of this is according to stock setup and ECU. If you altered the heads, block, added nitrous or other forced induction to raise the compression, you will need to run higher octane fuel according to what the maximum compression is.
Octane is only a measure of resistance to spark knock, nothing more. It will not "add power", only give you optimum performance that the motor already makes. The ECU is what controls the timing and, therefore, the "power".
Pro
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 552
Likes: 2
From: Dubuque Iowa
Yes, read your owners maunal! It explains it all.. 91 and higher is recommended. 87 can be used for narmal driving conditions but if you have a heavy foot your engine won't be making its max power because the timing is being retarded to keep from detonation "pinging."
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