Fuel type usage
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 13,592
Likes: 187
From: Hudson WI
NCM Sinkhole Donor
Link to owners manual.
http://www.chevrolet.com/content/dam...12corvette.pdf
Last edited by timd38; Jan 21, 2015 at 03:50 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 2,625
Likes: 195
From: On the east coast we drive until we die
You can use regular but there's really no benefit and you will lose power. If you're out somewhere and all that's available is regular, do what you have to do to get home. But premium is preferred. The only reason I can see to use regular over premium would be to save money. On average regular gas is about $.20 cheaper than premium. Multiply that by the C6's 18 gallon tank and you save $3.60 per fill up. If you fill up once a week you'll save $187.20 by the end of the year. I don't think that's going to bring you much closer to becoming a millionaire anytime soon. Use premium and get the full 430 horsepower you paid for.
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 14,475
Likes: 785
From: Las Vegas NV
You can use regular but there's really no benefit and you will lose power. If you're out somewhere and all that's available is regular, do what you have to do to get home. But premium is preferred. The only reason I can see to use regular over premium would be to save money. On average regular gas is about $.20 cheaper than premium. Multiply that by the C6's 18 gallon tank and you save $3.60 per fill up. If you fill up once a week you'll save $187.20 by the end of the year. I don't think that's going to bring you much closer to becoming a millionaire anytime soon. Use premium and get the full 430 horsepower you paid for.
Saving that little is no reason not to use premium.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 12,502
Likes: 3,629
Max power comes from spark advance.
The car can use one of two spark octane tables, hence low octane, and high octane tables.
On the lower octane table, the spark advance is retarded over the higher octane spark table, and you get a reduction in HP of what you could have if you where using higher octane. Even worse, if the octane is low enough, then the motor will sense knock as well, which the motor will decrease the spark advance over just the lower octane spark table.
Bluntly, LS-3 motors has 10.7:1 compression, and needs the higher octane fuel to prevent knock in the first place. So if your driving a vet, and trying to run it on low octane fuel, you made a big mistake up by buying the corvette to begin with.
Its kind of like buying the car for is handling capabilities, only to throw high mileage tires on the car since they are way less expensive than the summer performance tires; that is part of the math of why the car has it/s handling capabilities in the first place.
The car can use one of two spark octane tables, hence low octane, and high octane tables.
On the lower octane table, the spark advance is retarded over the higher octane spark table, and you get a reduction in HP of what you could have if you where using higher octane. Even worse, if the octane is low enough, then the motor will sense knock as well, which the motor will decrease the spark advance over just the lower octane spark table.
Bluntly, LS-3 motors has 10.7:1 compression, and needs the higher octane fuel to prevent knock in the first place. So if your driving a vet, and trying to run it on low octane fuel, you made a big mistake up by buying the corvette to begin with.
Its kind of like buying the car for is handling capabilities, only to throw high mileage tires on the car since they are way less expensive than the summer performance tires; that is part of the math of why the car has it/s handling capabilities in the first place.
