110 octane safe?

elmir50 · 03-28-2002, 02:53 PM

One of the most misunderstood things about fuels is the relationship between octane and burn rate.

Octane is simply the fuels abilty to resist detonation.

Burn rate is NOT related to the octane number.

All the pump gases that you buy at the gas staion will have approximately the same burn rate.

One thing with pump gas is chemists add what they call "low end volatiles". Low end volatiles aid in cold engine temp performance and starting your engine when it is cold. Race gases don't contain low end volatiles. These low end volatiles ignite at lower temps, they aid to create heat to set off the rest of the charge when the engine is cold.

So, if you tried using 110 octane race gas, your engine would be very hard to start and would perform very poorly when cold, this is assuming the 110 has the same burn rate as the regular pump gas.

As far as fuel requirement for low or high compression motors. Their are more variables to consider then I care to mention.

Just cause the static compression is low that doesn't mean squat. What are the actual cylinder pressures when the engine is running??? Maybe it's runnig a ton of artificial boost.

And now how about if the static compression is high, with alot of valve overlap, cylinder pressures will not be so great while the engine is running. This is an extreme example but it should show you that alot depends on the dynamics of the engine.

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03-28-2002, 02:53 PM	#1
elmir50 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 1999 Location: Tsawwassen BC Canada Posts: 413	One of the most misunderstood things about fuels is the relationship between octane and burn rate. Octane is simply the fuels abilty to resist detonation. Burn rate is NOT related to the octane number. All the pump gases that you buy at the gas staion will have approximately the same burn rate. One thing with pump gas is chemists add what they call "low end volatiles". Low end volatiles aid in cold engine temp performance and starting your engine when it is cold. Race gases don't contain low end volatiles. These low end volatiles ignite at lower temps, they aid to create heat to set off the rest of the charge when the engine is cold. So, if you tried using 110 octane race gas, your engine would be very hard to start and would perform very poorly when cold, this is assuming the 110 has the same burn rate as the regular pump gas. As far as fuel requirement for low or high compression motors. Their are more variables to consider then I care to mention. Just cause the static compression is low that doesn't mean squat. What are the actual cylinder pressures when the engine is running??? Maybe it's runnig a ton of artificial boost. And now how about if the static compression is high, with alot of valve overlap, cylinder pressures will not be so great while the engine is running. This is an extreme example but it should show you that alot depends on the dynamics of the engine.