anyone run high octane 101 or better in their rotary? if so did it make any difference? I know the theory for fuel, the higher the octane the cooler the flame front, ie less detonation. Back to the original question, I put 3 gallons of trick in an empty tank yesterday, engine ran smoother, idled higher and had more pull on the top.

what is your opinion?
Joe

 

I dont think that it should run any better on higher octane unless you tune it to run on the higher octane. The only thing you should get as a benefit is less chance of knock.

 

yup, putting in higher octane alone should not change anything about how your engine runs. Assuming it ran fine prior anyways. Octane is a measure of the fuels resistance to burn, not how powerful the explosion is.

 

Normally I'd say there should be no "noticeable" difference with a rotary especially, but I've noticed a bad trend in "regular unleaded" as of late. They are using alot more addittves etc. so mileage is worse as well. May be that going from crappy "filler" gas to high octane just made it run like it should normally without he extra crap in the fuel.?

 

Hmm... When the guy accidentally filled my car up with premium, my fuel economy suffered.. Nothing noteworthy otherwise.

 

You Would Think - Higher Octane = Better Proformance? You see the guys who run like 92 than like 100+ and the HP output is higher.

What are the advantages of running Octane booster?

 

In a N/A rotary higher octane hurts gas milage. The elongated combution chamber of a rotary makes it difficult to get a complete burn from every combustion cycle. Hence why there are 2 spark plugs per rotor. The higher the octane the less of the fuel in the chamber will burn. Less burn = less power, less mpg, more pollution.

If I had a N/A rotory I would put 85, or even 83 octane in it if they were available.

The turbo rotary needs the higher octane to prevent detanation under high boost levels.

Newer N/A piston cars (like my 350z) are tuned from the factory to run on 91+ octane because they are pushing the limit of reliable factory N/A tuning.

 

I've always wanted to find out if there would be a measurable performance/fuel economy boost if I could get 85 octane.. Though I think 83 might be too low.

Strangely.. Stock turbo FCs are tuned for 87 octane. I didn't believe it at first, but it's true..

 

Do you have a source for this? I'm currently running 88 TII stock and always fill up with midgrade or higher...

 

1990 Turbo: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/6422.shtml

Spyder says he even runs regular in his 99-spec FD.. Though the EPA says that the fuel type is premium for US spec and 99-spec is higher power so...

 

If I had a stock turbo 2 I would run 87 octane. Up the boost and you got problems with 87.

 

Spot on! Exactly whats going on with N/A rotary's!

 

Ive heard stories that back in the day rotary racers used to run on special low octane fuel.

Its interesting however, that the rx8 wants premium fuel. I think it probably has to do with the ignition advance on that motor. They can probably get away with alot more with premium fuel.

 

I "heard" that the 787B was running 87 octane when it won LeMans. Everyone else was on race gas...... and losing.

 

yeah, I remember reading the same thing.

BTW, whassssssup brah!

 

What up man-g? Got some some Volks for the 7 and new street tires to mount on them. Getting ready to paint the 7 as well. Yup, gonna do it myself. Might need some of your advice/help on that. Do you have something up and running to take to the drag strip? Need to see what the 7 will do.

 

Ooooooh, I like the choice on painting yourself! It is a path fraught with danger, but oh so rewarding... Best thing you can do to set yourself up for success is to have moderately good tools. Air compressor with a solid CFM and a big tank is a must. Like, invest in 30 gallons + and the more CFM the better. Top quality guns require 15CFM. In contrast, my compressor puts out about 5 or 6...

You need the CFM to create the air necessary to break down the paint particles finely so as to help prevent the orange peel look. My jobs have always required a couple (HARD) days of sanding the entire car down after the paint and then cutting/polishing the finish to remove the orange-peel. A great gun/compressor setup will probably allow you to lay down an excellent finish from the start with no FULL sanding required. If you have the money, you can save 10+ hours (or whatever). It depends on what your time is worth. When I bought my tools my money was worth more then my time...

But yeah, I've got your back! Your garage is perfect too...

 

See here's the strange part about that..... On 87 octane, I got 14 mpg city, where on 92 octane, I got 18 mpg, in my FC. It also didn't reek of fuel nearly as bad with the 92 octane. Anyway, that's just what I found with my car.