DCR and Octane
If you believe the simple DCR formula, A prostock car would need MORE compression to run as good as they do.
Maybe the person saying 8.8 is the magic number, has data that points to that direction, but I wouldn't trust it 100%
Maybe the person saying 8.8 is the magic number, has data that points to that direction, but I wouldn't trust it 100%
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My honest opinion is that there are way too many variables involved to say that a simple formula will tell us what octane fuel an engine will run on. The chamber design is one of them. If you took an average ls style head, flow numbers be damned, and changed nothing but the chamber design the octane requirements or tolerances would change. The question was brought up about boosted motors. DCR does not take into account any added air to the cylinder. Same with a high VE NA motor.
I don't believe there is a quick and easy universal formula to determine this.
I based my answer above mostly on his SCR rather than his DCR. He will be on the edge, but it should work. I would run at least a tr6 heat range of plug in it, but he should be OK.
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You reckon VE goes up when the DA goes down?
You cant pre determine what you are trying to do.
I run 12.6 to 1 static and 8.8 dynamic, I run Shell 93.
David
That's on a dyno, of course, but it oughta run fine on the street on 89, and certainly on 91.

I understand the VE argument, but I also think that SCR in reality is more important than DCR the more I read and the more I talk to people, and that overall VE of the motor as well as head design (even material), temperature, squish, piston design, DA, yadda yadda will untimately determine wether or not the motor is pump gas friendly. I guess I just had foolish high hopes that there was some benchmark guideline as to what is safe and what isnt. I guess it just comes down to running what you know is safe and then if you get greedy, try and push the envelope some and experiment and see how high you can go in compression with a certain fuel.
With a site like this, I can see why DCR would be hyped up because it is the easy "comparo number". It is the "If so and so has these heads, and this cam and has this DCR and he has no problems running 93 then you should be safe" mentality, and so far it has been working fine but I'm sure it has bitten some people. I'm just gonna use DCR as just another number to see if I'm at least in the ballpark of what is acceptable to run 93, and just hope for the best. If that doesn't work, I'll just have to back up and punt.
You could have a 9.0 to 1 static engine with more DCR than a 11 to 1 engine.
All depends on the cams intake valve closing point, head/intake/exhaust efficiency.
You could have a 9 to 1 static compression engine with 8 to1 dynamic detonate on 93 octane and a 12 to 1 static with 8.8 to 1 dynamic NOT detonate on 93 octane. Why? Because the 9 to 1 motor has the piston .025 in the hole with a .039 head gasket. The quench, which is THE most important item when on the edge running pumpgas, is way too big.
DCR can be stated as the ACTUAL cylinder pressure/load that is acutally SEEN by the engine after the intake valve closes and the piston reaches tdc on the compression stroke.
David
At the least you will need to know your
1) Bore
2)Stroke
3)Deck Height
4)Chamber volume (combustion chamber on your head + piston dome or dish)
That should be enough to get you close.
Static compression is what the factory uses not Dynamic compression.
For a good reason I might add....


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