100 octane unleaded

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MIGHTY 8
Posts: 307
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:55 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider
Location: North Chatham NY

100 octane unleaded

Post by MIGHTY 8 »

Hello petrolheads!

Say if you happen to one day find the Holy Grail, and come to find 100 octane unleaded gas available for sale at a gas station....would it be safe to use in our cars without damaging the engine?

Mine is stock, save for the dual IDF's, exhaust, flywheel and cams...but I just didn't want to damage it, IF I happen to come across it one day and decide to use it.

Lord knows, I've scoured the Internet enough in search of gas stations that do!

Thanks for the replies!
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engineerted
Posts: 531
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:57 pm
Your car is a: 1974 124 spider
Location: Farmington Hills, MI

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by engineerted »

Yes, come to Michigan. In the Detroit metro area you can find 100 and110 octain unleaded at a few select gas stations. $6.50 to $8.00 gal. 93/94 VS 100 you are not going to see any difference, so save your money. I run the 110 in the race car but i also have close to 12/1 compression ratio.

Ted

Sorry, i should add that it does smell good, and if you do not have a cat, so does the exhaust. that alone is worth trying it.

Check this link out to find your gas station: http://www.racegas.com/fuelfinder
Ted
1978 124 Spider, Complete Restoration
1974 Fiat 124 F Production Race car
BEEK
Posts: 1833
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2010 10:45 pm
Your car is a: 1975 Spider
Location: clermont fl

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by BEEK »

running too much octane, will make the engine run a bit cooler as combustion temps will be down, it actually will decrease performance in an engine not requiring higher octane like 110 or even 100,we arent talking a noticeable decrease in the seat of the pants, but on a dyno it will show. you can change plugs and timing to compensate. i greatly agree the smell is worth it alone, i have driven race cars for years. nothing like the smell of racing gas.
Automotive Service Technology Instructor (34 year Fiat mechanic)
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TX82FIAT
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:04 am
Your car is a: 82 Fiat Spider 2000 CSO
Location: San Antonio

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by TX82FIAT »

agree with Beek. you will find the car may need to be tuned to the Octain of gas you are running. if you are going to run 100 Octane all the time then use that when you tune it. I try to buy only Shell 93 Octaine in HC engine for that exact reason.
Buon giro a tutti! - enjoy the ride!

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MIGHTY 8
Posts: 307
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:55 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider
Location: North Chatham NY

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by MIGHTY 8 »

engineerted wrote:Yes, come to Michigan. In the Detroit metro area you can find 100 and110 octain unleaded at a few select gas stations. $6.50 to $8.00 gal. 93/94 VS 100 you are not going to see any difference, so save your money. I run the 110 in the race car but i also have close to 12/1 compression ratio.

Ted

Sorry, i should add that it does smell good, and if you do not have a cat, so does the exhaust. that alone is worth trying it.

Check this link out to find your gas station: http://www.racegas.com/fuelfinder

You are AWESOME!

Even though I mentioned scouring the Internet I was not able to find any in my area! Thanks for the handy link-now I see 3 places I can try.

I'll give 'er a whirl next chance I get. Would love to see for myself if I can see any difference performance wise. Just wanted to make sure that I'm going to damage anything by doing so to my relatively stock motor.

Thank you all.
Daniel

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by Daniel »

My buddy buys his at a local air port before he hits irwindale drag strip
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Kevin1
Posts: 399
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:55 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000 FI
Location: Maine, USA

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by Kevin1 »

I doubt you will see any change in performance unless your motor was knocking with the fuel that you have been using, even though a stock fiat shouldn't be knocking with 87 or 89. If you do switch to 100+ octane you should advance the timing to compensate for it, which would bring you back to about the performance you could expect from your engine properly tuned for regular gas.
100 octane by itself isn't going to make more power unless you increase compression to the point that 100 octane fuel is needed.
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divace73
Posts: 1380
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Your car is a: 1980 Fiat 124 Spider Silver
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by divace73 »

just thought I'd drop my 2c worth, here in Oz we commonly have 98 available at the pump (always use it in my spider), I saw one day 100 at a United station when I noticed they used Ethanol to pump it up to 100.
Not sure what the story is in the US but I have found that ethanol is not too kind to older rubber hoses and bits in our fuel system. Just a thought....
Cheers David
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131
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Your car is a: 1982 131 Superbrava warmed 2.0 litre.
Location: Tasmania, Australia

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by 131 »

divace73 wrote:just thought I'd drop my 2c worth, here in Oz we commonly have 98 available at the pump (always use it in my spider)
The Yanks octane rating is different to ours. They use Mon or Ron, where ours is (Ron + Mon)/2, or the other way around, it's different anyway..
Mick.

'82 2litre 131, rally cams, IDFs & headers.
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engineerted
Posts: 531
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:57 pm
Your car is a: 1974 124 spider
Location: Farmington Hills, MI

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by engineerted »

131' yes you are correct, in the states we use the average of Ron & Mon. The 100 race fuel does not contain any ethonal unlike the gasoline that can have up to 10%. Now the EPA or gov. Wants to go to 15%.
Ted
1978 124 Spider, Complete Restoration
1974 Fiat 124 F Production Race car
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v6spider
Posts: 1035
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Your car is a: 4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
Location: Mount Vernon WA

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by v6spider »

100 octane smells faster 8)
http://www.v6spider.com
4.3L V6 Powered 1972 124 FIAT Spider
paintdudeluke

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by paintdudeluke »

sunoco stations have 106 and 112 at the pump here. i run it in my zx11 ninja. makes it a different bike, wheel comes up in one more gear.
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kilrwail
Posts: 1100
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Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Sport Spider
Location: Perth, Ontario

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by kilrwail »

If you use 100 octane regularly, you can increase the timing advance to take advantage of it, not to compensate for it. In my track Porsche, when I mix 91 and 109 to get 96-97, I advance the timing by 2-3 degrees at wide open throttle to add measurable power at the top end. But it's not noticeable at lower rpm's, so it would be a waste of money for street use.
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1978 Fiat 124 Sport Spider - original owner
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fiat218
Posts: 5745
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 5:06 pm
Your car is a: 1969 124 AS spider

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by fiat218 »

MIGHTY 8 wrote:Hello petrolheads!

Say if you happen to one day find the Holy Grail, and come to find 100 octane unleaded gas available for sale at a gas station....would it be safe to use in our cars without damaging the engine?

Mine is stock, save for the dual IDF's, exhaust, flywheel and cams...but I just didn't want to damage it, IF I happen to come across it one day and decide to use it.

Lord knows, I've scoured the Internet enough in search of gas stations that do!

Thanks for the replies!
How can that be stock ,with idf,exhaust,flywheel and cam
Jim
East Grand Forks MN
1970 Fiat Spider BS1 ( FOR SALE
1969 124 AS Spider
2017 Abrath
2018 Alfa Romeo 4c Spider
pooldoctorstl

Re: 100 octane unleaded

Post by pooldoctorstl »

Ted, what's up with all of the race gas suppliers in MI? I guess a lot of tracks creates demand.

Jeff
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