Crazy Craven

this is especially for you my **** little friend-just press play... http://www.littlemikey.com/properenglish.htm

got_hp?

this reminds me the difference between 2 types of employees........one who comes in and does the bare minimum that is asked of him with a satisfactory quality level, just good enough so that he doesnt get fired
on the other hand, you have an employee who comes in and does the best job he can, and spends a little extra time to make sure things are done right.

you can see who is who.

Briank8811

got_hp? just about summed it up! I'll shell out my extra 5 bucks(and im 16 on budget like you wouldnt beleive)than risk my motor. 5k of motor work and that $5 seems like nothing. Just my .02 and hey, if you dont use all the premium up, I will.

Nestromo

OK... how many of you that are blasting people for not running premium are running a stock shifter or no subframes? If you are driving hard on a stock shifter then you are risking your T56, and if you are driving hard with no SFCs then you are going to turn your car into a rickety old rattle trap in 2 years.

But hey, the owners manual doesn't say anything about a shifter or SFCs....

S8ER95Z

*Applause*.. a ... good anology there...
Ok, no its not.

If your owners manual said "Run Synthetic Oil." DO IT
If your owners manual said "Use 35psi in your tires" DO IT
If it says to only use 5 quarts of oil..... See the trend??

They tell you these recomendations for a reason, and its just plain smart to follow them. If the owners manual told me to buy SFCs, I would. It says to use 91+ octane...this should be a no brainer really.

Robert_K

Sh*t, I say run whatever the hell you want. I'm running 93 and believe i' doing the right thing. Keep running 87, its ok for an everyday go-to-work/school car. Whatever suits your lifestyle. This thread is over!!! No more posts!!! PLEASE!

Nestromo

Owners manuals don't say buy shifters and SFCs because...

1) Most people don't want a bumpy ride and a loud shifter.

2) They don't expect you to bolt up slicks (SFCs) or powershift (good shifter).

35psi huh? So thats what I should run in my drag radials? No. Thats a modification, so the owners manual doesn't apply. Other modifications would cause you to want to run good gasoline. Like I said, I've never put anything but 93 in it, because thats the smart thing to do if you want to use your car to it's full potential. Much like SFCs and a good shifter are the smart thing to do if you plan to use your car to it's full potential.

Briank8811

I guess the way that i see is it why risk a stock motor, much less my $4,000+ investment that i have into my motor? I just can not fathom how myself, at 16 years old can afford that extra $5 for premium working odd jobs and paying for my ohh so inexpensive insurance......Talk about a bitch....

S8ER95Z

LMAO, ok.. are you agreeing or what, cuz you came off like you weren't but then reinforced what I said?? Obviously modifications change things, and in that respect the manufacturer of the modification usually has recomendations to follow as well.

enzo1267

i see the same thing here in brooklyn...the other day i see a ws6 trans-am pull into the gas station i was in and he filled up on 87 oct. to save a few, and i mean a few at most dollars........yet he was drinking a 2 dollar bottle of water??????????????
make sense?????? no fu@kin way. if you can spend $2 on 24 oz of water ,you can spend $2 for a gallon of gas

Mindgame

<~~No stress.

2001 views and counting..... wow.

-Mindgame

Nestromo

My only point is that when you start in with modifications, the owners manual can go out the window. I don't do anything simply because taht is what the owner's manual says. I want a shifter with stops, which the stock one does not have. Like you said, the owner's manual says nothing about that, but it is important to me.

I use 93, but my buddy used to use 87 in the car when he owned it. When 87 was in the tank, it never went over part throttle or 3,000 RPM. He had a turbo 5.0 to take care of the need for speed. I'm not worried about it's time with 87. As for the SFCs, they make the car feel a lot better and after a while you will find that the car with SFCs has fewer rattles and squeeks... especailly a T-Top car which is weaker to start off with.

'68LT1camaro

Although I recommend running the highest octane fuel available in a high performance/high compression motor, one size does not fit all. Just as someone mentioned above.

There are two types of compression. Static and dynamic. If you granny your LT1 (drive it like your granny would), your static compression is still 10.5 to 1 (remember ladies and gentlemen, this is HIGH for pump gas) BUT your dynamic compression will be lower. This will limit your clylinder temperature before ignition, efectively reducing the chances of detonation. Your dynamic compression is highest at WOT at peak torque. Your engine reaches it's highest VE (volumetric efficiency) at peak torque while under WOT (wide open throttle). Like I mentioned before, if you GRANNY your LT1, the dynamic compression will stay low. This will alow you to run low octane fuel, but only if you GRANNY it! If you plan to drive your LT1 car like I do, LIKE YOU STOLE THE MO**ER FU**ER, your dynamic compression will be high, requiring high octane pump gas, because your cylinder temperature before ignition will be high. Especially if you live in a hot and dry climate (example, Phoenix Arizona during the summer)

Have you guys noticed that some circle track cars that run restrictor plates run VERY high compression. Around 15 to 1. This is because that restrictor plate lowers the VE, thus lowering DYNAMIC compression, therfore they raise their STATIC compression to help gain some power back.

BOTTOM LINE,

if you drive your LT1 hard, (I assume you do, why would you want one if you didn't) you should use 91 or higher octane gas.

If you do for some strange reason (to each his own, I'm not knocking you) GRANNY your LT1 car, you can get away with running low octane gas (87-89). Especialy in cold and/or very humid climates.

Just my $.02 I'm not trying to disagree with anyone. I'm just trying to help!

DropZ

If GM says use 91 octane, and I have no way to prove that 87 isn't damaging my car, I'm going to use 91 octane. Notice that I don't accept the butt-o-meter or changing gas mileage as proof. Proof would be a scanner hooked up and 0 knock retard under all conditions. If you don't know for sure that it's not damaging the motor, you just say "well I can't hear it pinging, it must be okay" well then you're taking unnecessary chances with your engine.

"My gas mileage went up with 87 octane, so it must be running better" is not proof.
"It feels faster with 87 octane" is not proof.
"I don't hear pinging with 87 octane" is not proof.
"Joe Blow engineer/mechanic/rocket scientist told me it's okay" is not proof.
Unless you know for sure by monitoring your engines knock retard with a scanner that it doesn't knock with 87, then you are risking your engine every time you fill it up with 87. Hope you save that $5 a tank and put it in a piggy bank for when your motor craps out.

Oh, and points of octane = .1 octane. Octane booster that adds 7 points to your octane rating will take it from 87.0 to 87.7. So unless you were mistaken in your terminology, that .3 octane decrease you can take from having aluminum heads or .1 from cooler weather is negligible.

I don't think there is anything here to discuss. If you can run 87 safely, and have tested it, good for you I'll go get you a cookie. Please don't go around telling everyone and their dog about how you don't have to listen to the manufacturer, and premium is a waste of money. Your case is the exception to the norm, most people need to run premium.

Oh, and I will say that when I was using Datamaster on my 95 LT1 I got up to 10 degrees of knock retard when running 89 octane. It wasn't pulling timing in every situation, but put a load on the engine and it'll start retarding like crazy.