Shitty Pump Gas

[TEXAST1]

What is the deal with the quality of street gas lately? :x

This is the second tank of pump gas I have had to dial the boost back on my twin turbo. The Shell gas I couldn't dial the boost back far enough to get it to stop knocking. I had to take it below stock boost! :roll:

I just filled up with Chevron and it still knocks but I can go back up to stock pressure and maybe a little more.

I prefere Exxon, but it is not convinient to the house and is usually a lot higher priced, Todd. :shock:

[Mike Bell]

Could it be that 15% ethanol mix?

[michaelmosty]

I saw something on the news last night regarding the "new" gas that is being produced and the large amount of water that is in the gas. They said the gas stations weren't following the proper procedures for cleaning the tanks before filling with the "new" gas.
Supposidly dealerships are seeing a very large increase in breakage due to this. It was said that the problem should go away as time goes on. :?

This is just what I heard last night on the news as I have no input of my own on this subject. :lol:

[TEXAST1]

I thought they had held the ethanol mix to increase supply. Remeber a few weeks ago they had some BS about prices being higher because of the "Lack" of ethanol supply.

What a load of crap that was. Sounds like someone trying to creat a false supply VS demand scenario! :x :roll:

[AI#97]

I thought they had held the ethanol mix to increase supply. Remeber a few weeks ago they had some BS about prices being higher because of the "Lack" of ethanol supply.

What a load of crap that was. Sounds like someone trying to creat a false supply VS demand scenario! :x :roll:

Ethanol when it evaporates leaves water.....problem is NEVER going to go away. This is just a shitty solution for getting rid of MTBE.

With super hitting 3.20/gal....race gas might not be so bad at $5/gal if you can get your power out of it. I am thinking I would dyno atleast 10hp less with this crap in my tank. With an 11.5:1 motor, I am going to go find me some torco or REAL octane boost to be safe. 35 minutes of detonation is not going to be good on Sunday.... :x

[marshall_mosty]

With an 11.5:1 motor, I am going to go find me some torco or REAL octane boost to be safe. 35 minutes of detonation is not going to be good on Sunday.... :x

Matt,
Pushrod motors don't mind the detonation as much. I may be deaf, but I've NEVER heard detonation out of my car (assuming it's running )

[oz98cobra]

Ethanol mixes readily with water, and gasoline containing ethanol will absorb more water than straight gas or gas/MTBE. This small percentage of water in solution in your gas is not going to cause any detonation, noticable loss of power, or other problems other than maybe a slight decrease in fuel economy (over and above the decrease in economy that ethanol or MTBE already causes - gee this alcohol additive is great for the fuel companies isn't it? Sure is hard to see how it benefits the environment though? :roll: )

The potential for problems occurs when water is present in the fuel chain in large amounts - like where there is a significant layer of water at the bottom of your gas tank or a gas station storage tank (which there almost always is some!). In this case, the water can pull the ethanol out of solution from the gasoline - which of course lowers the octane rating of the gas - and this is the problem that has been in the news lately.

A potentially bigger problem occurs when the storage tank gets low and you get some of this water/ethanol mix in your tank. In the past, getting some water in your tank (which sits in a layer at the bottom of your tank) may have caused your car to stop when you ran your tank low, but didn't cause any permanent engine damage, but with a water ethanol mix, this can still combust, but cause a very lean condition, so in an engine without all the modern self preservation sensors, it could cause damage?

Nothing new here - info on this has been available on the EPAs website for years: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/fuels/rfg/waterphs.pdf

Do we need to do anything to our race cars? Maybe? Short of fitting a water separation filter to the fuel line like the ones commonly found in marine applications, make sure there is no water in your tank - perhaps drain it before each race weekend if that's easliy done? - and be careful where you buy gas for your race car - just after the gas station has it's premium tanks topped off would be ideal.

[TEXAST1]

Darren you seem to know more than the average guy about gas. 8)

Last time I checked water was non-combustible. Could cause a problem.

I just bought a 55 Gallon drum of Track Tek for $295 of 111 Octane Leaded. I plan to mix with 93 octane street around 5-4 or less of street. I don't have that high of compression but would prefere to eliminate any knock.! :wink:

[marshall_mosty]

Kevin,
Which car is your street car?

[AI#97]

Actually, the more I think about this....we are essentially getting water/ethanol injection for free....if it were only methanol!!! :roll:

I am not really THAT worried about it as there was some pretty safe tuning for my car and it's all forged internals now anyway....however, 40 minutes of detonation in ANY motor is not good. Just have to attempt to listen for it and back out as necessary.