bucwheat

Just ask,someone has an answer,great forum

vms4evr

You can get answers on any forum. Bigger question is whether the answer is accurate This forum seems to do a good job at that and is self policing.

Mean Gene55

Another thing about Av-gas is that most of it is oxygenated to allow for the thinner air at altitude. I'd stick w/automobile specific fuels like those from VP, Sunoco, et al.
Also stay w/the Top Tier fuels for keeping your injectors & valves clean & deposit free.

http://www.toptiergas.com/

TOP TIER Gasoline Retailers:

QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.
Chevron-Canada
Aloha Petroleum
Tri-Par Oil Company
Shell-Canada
Texaco
Petro-Canada
Sunoco-Canada

Gee - I wonder WHO I work for??!!

Gene

rustyguns

I put LUV's truck stop super unleaded in mine. It was cheap but.... It pinged and rattled like it was on 75 octane! It was bad!!!! sounded like a damn diesel car

rustyguns

most racing fuel is oxygenated ie...alcohol

http://www.vpracingfuels.com/vp_01_fuels.html#leaded

Dave concrete

My customer owns a Mobil station and he layed down the facts to me. there is no true mid octane such as 89.All stations have mixing valves that mix low and high grade to achieve this grade.When the pump says min 89 octane rating you will not have less then 89 and could be as high as 93.This also goes for 87 were you can go as high as 93.Now 93 will have a min of 93 but can go as high as 96.He tells me its often they test higher then there numbers.No stock vette needs anything but 87 unless tweaked or s/c etc.He is the first to tell you mid grade is a waste of money and his biggestmoney maker.Last thing all Mobil gases have the same additives and detergents.Hope this could help shed some light on this.

Mean Gene55

Dave - I don't know about Mobil so I'll take your friend's word for that but I've worked for Royal Dutch ( Shell ) for 26 years & we pride ourselves on truth in advertising. Yes, we DID screw up many gas gauges immediately following Hurricane Katrina due to refining problems ( excessive sulphur ) but we covered the repairs. I've been to 2 of our refineries & have personally seen all three blends of gasoline in separate tanks so I'm certain that we ( Shell ) don't mix our 93 & 87 to reach 89. We sell a true 89 ( as U say, minimum ) octane & if U'll notice that many of the magazines use our gasoline in their tests because in the 2 octane tests I recall reading, our 91 ( Cali ) always tested higher than 91 ( generally by .5 - .75 ).
Yes, I've also have worked on the distribution side of the business so I've seen some LOCAL stations do some "not so honest" things but for the most part, what U pay for is what U get.
BTW - all of our gasolines contain detergent additives as well. That's why we have achieved & maintained Top Tier status. Sorry if I'm blowing my company's own horn but I don't see Exxon/Mobil on the current T/T list ( despite their record profits!! ).

Gene

Sick Z06

I can assure you as someone who repairs equipment in stations, there are 3 seperate tanks, and NO mixing equipment, here in ANY station in CA.

rustyguns

wow! i remember talking to a chevron station owner and i could swear she said they mix the mid grade. Maybe this is different from state to state?

slwhite

What is wrong with mixing a properly weighted blend of 87 octane and 93 octane at the pump to obtain 89 octane gas? This seems perfectly legitimate to me and, unless I am missing something, having a third tank seems like a waste.

I have made my own octane rating many times by combining properly proportioned amounts of different octane gas. I even recall Sunoco stations back in the 1960s having an octane selector on the pump. You could choose about 5 different grades all the way up to 103 octane. I am certain that they didn't have 5 different gas tanks in the ground.

BlackZ06

From the API (American Petroleum Institute) ...

Manhole covers to tanks are recommended to be colored according to American Petroleum Institute (API) standards (white - unleaded, blue - midgrade, red - premium, yellow - diesel, brown - kerosene).

From the US Govt site (Energy Information Admin) ..

Midgrade gasoline: Gasoline having an antiknock index, i.e., octane rating, greater than or equal to 88 and less than or equal to 90. Note: Octane requirements may vary by altitude.

Midgrade is blended by the refinery, or by the distribution company ... or in some cases SOME fuel pumps are set up to blend as you fuel .....

http://www.benfordfueling.com/shop/product445.html

Note that the service station is not blending the fuel ahead of time, the pump is set to create the "blend" on the fly.

I suspect these are not allowed in California as the CARB maintains VERY strict standards for gasoline, and probably won't allow blending at the station.