this may sound stupid, but what octane is everybody running in their stock or near stock LT1's? ive always ran 87 and it does fine. i had a girlfreind ride with me down the track and had her watch the knock retard on my scan tool and she said it was only retarding it 1 degree, and that was for like half a second off the line, and i dont need more power off the line, need more traction . so does anybody think i would benifit from running better octane and if so, 89 or 93? like i said, maybe everybody is running premium, but the 20 cents off the gallon is nice if its not gonna do me any good. thanks

 

couldnt hurt

 

They are ment to be fueled by 91+ octane. Your gona thank yourself in the long run.

 

91 is the highest they sell at the pump out here, so thats what she gets.

 

the difference is like $5 after a fill up. Why not just use the better gas?

 

Just because your not getting knock retard doesn't mean your not running on the low octane timing table.

 

93+ here

 

i always run the best there is for me car becuase the better oil gas spark plugs ect. i use will make it last longer and run better i run 91 and i use 100 once and while on the weekends and i run royal purple oil =]

 

by the way when you run 100 and really good oil you can notice that the car has more power and runs alot smoother

 

I use 93. With the tune I have it realy runs better on 93. I once put 89 in it and it ran bad.

 

these motors have almost 10.5:1 compression they need better than 87 octane thats just how it is and seriously at .20 a gallon if you put 12 gallons in thats $2.40

i notice my car runs different between the 91 octane i can get around here from shell stations and the 93 octane from some of the holiday stations i can get around here

 

I only use 93 octane, you can feel the difference with lower octane especially around the redline.
Car is alot happier and backfires less with the 93 octane

 

For the most part you will get bad info too questions like this on a forum like this.

Octane is resistance too detonation, if it is not detonating and not pulling timing to avoid detonation based on "learned" info then higher octane will not make more power.

Datamaster is the only logger I use, so I am not familiar with what you have. In Datamaster I can see if it is Low octane retard mode and I think that is what you need to be able too figure out.

People here get all workedup about octane but reality is the b-body was 10:1 with iron heads and tuned for 87 from the factory. "conventional wisdom" says aluminum allows up too one full point more compression without detonation problems, seeing as the aluminum head LT1 was just 10.4 it can easily be made to run just fine on 87 octane. Also consider the factory tuning and octane recommendations are going to be "safe" if your motor is in perfect running order you would not need the safety margin they were allowing for.
Altitude is another variable, higher elevations mean less cyclinder pressure and less likelyhood for detonation.

 

ok thanks everybody. however, i honestly believe capricemgr over everybody, and not just because thats what i want to hear. ive done lots of research on octane in the past, and what everybody doesnt realize is that mostly all it does is resist detonation. and yea 10.4 is relitively high for a factory car, but it was setup for 87, and with alluminum heads and reverse flow cooling, i dont think it is having a problem with it. i laugh at some of my freinds dumping octane booster into there stock 1970 1600cc vw bug and saying they can feel the difference. yea they say higher octane burns hotter or something, but i think ill keep my 2 and a half jr bacon cheeseburgers everytime i go to the pump

 

im not trying to dog u cus i appreciate the input, but are you saying your not gonna yell at bush if gas goes up 20 cents?

 

THANK YOU!!!!

I've been trying to tell my buddy he really doesn't need to be running 91/92. Plus we're at 6k feet, so it even adds another reason to the list.

LoStOCeAnZ63 - While I think your car is absolutely gorgeous I don't really think you'd be able to feel the (maybe) 8 extra hp you gain from using Royal Purple. It's a great oil, but I just don't see how you'd "notice" it.

 

octane plays a lot more of a role in boosted applications or nitrous setups as the higher the octane you run the more boost or nitrous you can run and thus more power you can make with no detonation. it also depends on your tune and what timing you are running. the octane in itself does not add power it just allows you to safely push your car farther then it would otherwise be able to go. unless you hear knock or it throws any codes you are fine running whatever octane you want. now if you drive it hard and take up in the rpms a lot it will be a bit smoother up there, but for everyday driving you will notice no difference.

 

Well explained!!

 

Note: There's a sticker from the factory right on the inside of the fuel door that says premium recommended.With that being said , give me the good gas thanks.-all set with the cat ****.

 

I'm getting a Hyundai Accent for the fuel economy. 29 city/ 39 highway and you can get them used for less than $2,000 with under 100k miles on them. I only put 91 or higher in my Trans Am.