[Kissarmy93]

Hey I recently have been reading up on the different gas grades and I wanted some input on if a higher octane gas has any real benefit to it. I have a 73 camino 350 small block, I've been using regular unleaded and I'm just curious if it's helpful to the car to use a higher grade.


- thanks


P.s. this is my first post, not sure if I did everything right

 

[1980SteelBeast]

Depends on if its am old stock 350. Most high performance engines like a higher grade for better response and MPG's. I run premium 80% of the time but you can also buy NOS Octane Booster for about $12 to get a better bang for the buck.:beer:

 

[464elky]

If you are not getting any pinging or after run with the regular then you won't really realize any gain with a higher octane.

 

[oldtinsmith]

If you are not getting any pinging or after run with the regular then you won't really realize any gain with a higher octane.

X2!

Doug

 

[Lenny Carey]

Drake , Welcome to NECOA ! I agree with what the others have said . I have always run premium in my vehicles thinking it was best . While several of them needed the premium due to being an older engine with a higher compression ratio , the others including my El Caminos , would have run well on the lowest grade of gas and would have saved me money . After all these years , I wish I had the money back that I wasted . Most new vehicles nowadays recommend the lowest grade as their systems are set for that octane . My 87 has a 350 with a 5 speed manual , non computerized Quadrajet , 3.42 posi , done by 464 Elky . I followed his advise and for about 6 months ran the middle grade and it ran just as good . After 6 months , I went down to the lower 87 octane and can say it runs just as good or better . As Neil said , try the lower grades and if it does not ping , smile all the way to the bank !

 

[BOOSTED-SS-ELKY]

If you are not getting any pinging or after run with the regular then you won't really realize any gain with a higher octane.

X3

The pinging sound is detonation. This means the fuel you're running is beginning to ignite while the piston is still coming up on the compression stroke. Basically the explosion in the cylinder is trying to push the piston back down while its still coming up.

This is called detonation. Minor detonation causes pinging noises, major detonation causes crankshafts to come out the botton of engine blocks. The higher the octane in a fuel, the harder it is to burn the fuel. If you put 118 octane in a stock engine, it will lose performance because the stock engine does not have enough compression to burn 118 octane fuel.

Different engines require different octane levels. Stock engines like yours with 8 or 9:1 compression are fine with regular gas (87 octane). Now, I don't know what the timing is at in your engine, but you could probably add a degree or two of timing, jet up the carb and run 91 octane and gain a little power.